Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Hunters ❯ Hidden Thoughts Revealed ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! Nor do I own the "Dark" series. I am just a fan fiction writer having fun. So please don't sue me. ^_^

For all of you who have been wondering about my grammar mistakes, I am making them on purpose. This story is meant to be like oral conversation. How many of you actually watch your grammar when you talk out loud? See my point? With the more descriptive parts, I will try to use correct grammar. The spelling mistakes…well, I will have to work on that. ^_^

/ Yugi to Yami / // Yami to Yugi // \Ryou to Bakura\

\\ Bakura to Ryou \\ [Malik to Marik] [[Marik to Malik]]

(Seto to Jou) ((Jou to Seto))

* General conversation * Personal thoughts +Commands+

The Hunters

Tiger_Serenity

Chapter 21

Hidden Thoughts Revealed

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Jou's View

(Jou? What is wrong?)

((I'll be back. I'm going outside for a few minutes. I just need to think. With all off the…interesting smells floating through here, I can't think.))

(You'll get used to your enhanced senses, Jou.)

Jou walked out the door into the sunshine, as he felt Seto's presence leave his mind. He could see white powder lying on the ground where the earlier puppet had once stood. He just shook his head, and continued strolling down the street to clear his head of the thoughts filling his mind.

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Seto's View

Seto led Jou to believe he had left his mind. Instead, he muted himself to shadow Jou's thoughts. Something is troubling him, but he will not tell me what it is. I hate having to deceive him like this, but I am worried about him. What could be troubling him so?

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Jou's View

How much will it hurt? A lot? Depends on the person? I started off as a quarter. Will it hurt me as much as the others? Whatever it is, I will take it. It's my choice.

I choose to stay with Seto. I love him. I know it. I can feel it. But, does he really love me in return, or is it just some trick of the bonding spell? Yami said the converted one could go crazy. I don't want to go nuts. I could hurt someone. Like Seto, or Yugi, my best bud.

With Seto, I finally feel whole. Like I'm who I'm supposed to be. Everyone at school thinks I am a dumb loud-mouthed knucklehead. Sometimes, I could teach them a think, or two.

I didn't mean to get in fights. They just happened. Hmm…maybe the blood I have was trying to wake me up, or something? I knew I was a little different because I was unusually strong, and I healed fast.

I know I want this. I need this. Just like I now need blood. Which is a little strange, but it seems natural now. Even better when Seto does it…

I need Seto…like everything. He's my life now. I would do anything for him if I could. And that includes taking a chance, and facing pain. I love Seto Kaiba.

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Seto's View

Seto paused as he took it all in. He's worried that I do not really care for him. Jou… He slowly raised the block from his presence, blocking the memory of what he just heard. Jou could now sense him in his mind. (You all right?)

((Fine, Seto.))

(Just checking. Anything you need to talk, or ask me about?)

((Not really.))

(Jou, you can tell me anything. Ask me anything. I cannot lie to you. You cannot lie to me. I know there is something bothering you. I feel it. I love you, Jou. I want to see you happy.)

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Jou's View

((Do you really…love me?)) Jou finally sighed after a few minutes of silence.

(Jou…look inside me. What do you see? What do my own memories and emotions tell you? They cannot lie to you. Look.)

Jou looked up to see that he had unconsciously walked to the park. It was his private safe haven. He had come here several times after his confrontations with his father. It was a natural reaction.

He sat on a bench across from the lake. The water shone like blue crystal. Like his eyes…blue and depthless.

(Thank you for the compliment.)

((Just so you know, I knew you were following me.))

(See…I cannot hide from you. What you feel in me is the truth. And what do you feel. Emotions cannot lie in a bond such as we have.)

Jou sighed. The emotion was washing over him like a warm blanket around his mind and soul. ((Love.))

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Normal View

"Exactly." Seto pulled Jou to him. He kissed him on the forehead first. He then kissed each cheek before brushing lightly of his lips. "Jou?"

He was shaking. His head was bent down with his bangs over his eyes. Seto gasped as water fell on his hand. (Jou? Why do you cry?)

Jou sighed. He leaned his head back to stare at the sky. Birds flew overhead, chirping to each other happily. Squirrels argued and tussled over who had right to eat the seed they had just discovered in the grass. A family of four was playing Frisbee with a large chocolate lab running between them. Jou smiled softly as the dog snagged it mid-air, causing the family to chase after it screaming and laughing.

He began talking slowly, revealing the thoughts that had longed plagued his mind, only to have them resolved in one instant of Seto's love.

"The last time I remember feeling really loved was when my mother made me breakfast on the day she left. Buttermilk pancakes with maple syrup, and crispy bacon. She tussled my hair, and kissed my cheek.

She looked really sad, but at the time, because I was so young, I didn't understand why. I knew something was going to happen because she hugged and kissed me whenever she got the chance. She kept whispering, 'I'm sorry. I tried. I tried. Asman, please guide and protect him' over and over.

Right after breakfast, she drove away with Serenity."

Jou was shaking. He felt Seto watch the memory. It still felt fresh in his mind. "Oh, Jou…"

"I chased after them, screaming for them to stop. I knew I wasn't going to see them again. I just knew.

That night, I met Asman. He scared me to death when he showed up in my room. I cried in his lap for hours. He just held me and told me everything was going to be all right. He told me that he was going to protect me. I know he cares and loves me, but that wasn't the love I wanted.

My father…he wasn't the same. He wasn't even really human after that vampire got a hold of him. I felt no love for him.

When Asman was taken from me, I remember feeling lonely, but I couldn't remember what I was missing. I was alone. Completely alone. I didn't hang around a lot of people, so I didn't develop very good social skills. Therefore, I got into a lot of fights.

That's how I met Honda. We became good friends. We watched each other's backs. Sure, we argue a lot, but that is normal for us. Its just banter.

Then one day, Yugi stood up for us against a rather large bully. Not even I could take him down, and I was one of the best. Yug and I became best buds after that. I didn't feel alone anymore. But, I still felt incomplete.

My father started beating me…and…and…raping me. I couldn't tell anyone because he threatened to hurt Yugi. I knew he would do it, too. He was that crazy. He robbed me of the piece to myself I had found. I sank back into feeling alone."

Jou looked at Seto, who had gathered him up into his arms. Small tears were still coming down his face. He lifted on hand to trace it gently down Seto's cheek.

"Then three nights ago, you floated into my room. I knew right then who you were. With you in the room, I felt whole. Like I could face and finally defeat my father and my loneliness.

I heard you tell me to forget about you, but I refused. I concentrated on your name so hard in my mind I think it is burned in there somewhere. Then, I felt you inside, healing me. I felt warm…whole at last.

Then I woke up the next day. I felt incomplete again. I could feel you, but just too far out of reach. I began to think you were a dream created by my lonely mind to try and console me.

The police came to get me at school. As soon as I stepped outside, I felt you. My mind panicked. What if I was making you up? What if the comfort I felt from you wasn't real? What if it was just my deluded mind?

When you told me to relax…your voice washed over my mind. I felt complete again.

I panicked.

I wanted you to be real so bad it hurt. You had told me to forget… What you heard as I got out of the police car was me berating myself for making myself remember you.

Then, you walked up behind me. I felt you. I didn't know how I did. I knew you were there. You called out to me.

For a minute, I wouldn't believe it. I turned, and you there you were. Really there. I grabbed you for a reason. It was to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. I was whole again.

When you told me you were going to disappear, I started to panic again. I stopped myself. As long as I could sense you, I was fine. My father was going to get his punishment for his crimes.

The police gave me my mom and sis back. I had long hoped that they weren't dead. I kept hope. Somehow, I knew that they weren't gone.

Then, my father started yelling. He said something about killing you. I didn't call out to you in fear of my own safety, but for yours. For a while, I remember the same story the policeman told gramps. He died of a heart attack.

I now remember Dreg torturing him like a rag doll, tossing him into the air, and gnawing on him like a dog would a bone. You caused his body to catch slow burning blue fire, then buried him half dead. Yet, I didn't feel sorry for him as I watched.

When Dama told me my past, everything clicked. That was how I felt you. I remembered Asman. With his return, I regained a piece of myself. But, only you could make me feel whole.

Then, Pegasus used Malik to attack me. I thought I was going to die and lose all I had just found in a cruel twist of fate. I was ready to give up because I felt incomplete again. Then, you returned making the feeling go away.

I sensed your fear. You were inside of me, working as fast as you could. I was so close to just letting go, but you screamed at me not to give up on you. I couldn't leave you. I grabbed onto your mind like a drowning man would a life preserver.

I woke up hearing your voice. I had been jealous of Yug and the others because they could answer back in their minds. I couldn't. Then, you heard me, and answered back to me. I felt your confusion, then happiness.

Then, I had to know. I had to know what you tasted like. I craved you. I knew I could have called Asman, but I didn't. I wanted you to feed me.

I'm addicted now. It was sweet and tangy. I wanted more. So I kissed you. I had kissed people before, but never felt fire. It felt like I was being burned from the inside out. Yet, it was a good feeling.

When you told me that I was your mate, and that the marks on my neck proved it, I started to freak out again. I blocked it from you. What if all of this was a lie? What if the marks were accidents? What if the emotion I felt from you wasn't really love?

At the party, when you told me about Yami, I made a decision. To hell with where we were. I think the smell was affecting me a little as well. My mind was screaming at me to touch you again to assure myself you were real. I wanted to know that the desire I felt from you was real. We proved that to each other nicely…

After that, I thought I was going to slice ever person that looked at you with any interest in half. It didn't matter if it was male or female. I guess that's when my eyes started showing red. You looked good, and your confidence drew people to you.

Your dueling skills surprised me. You used strategies I would never have thought of to use in a million years. When you lost, I felt your frustration. I wanted to hit Yami so bad, but I knew I couldn't. With the way he moves, I probably wouldn't have been able to land a punch anyway.

Then, I heard your conversation with him. You called him 'King of Games.' Then, you brushed it off like it was an everyday occurrence. I still glared at Yami a little. I guess he noticed, and saw my eyes through Marik's illusion.

On the ride home, I was happy. I was so… scatterbrained, I barely warned Yug in time to keep us from crashing into the invisible barrier. I refused to lose anything I desperately clung to in my life. That includes Yugi. I couldn't let him be taken by those monster freaks of nature. I was exhausted, but I still fought. Yet, I kept my eye on you. I prayed to every deity I knew that they would keep you safe. They must have listened.

You left with the others to go find nourishment. I was so woozy I was forced to call Asman. He barely caught me as I started to collapse. His blood helped me, but it wasn't the blood I wanted and craved.

I fell asleep waiting for you. The incomplete feeling came back. I knew the second you returned. I went back to sleep with your arms wrapped around me.

When I woke up, I was going to wake you, but you looked too peaceful. So, I went downstairs. I was still so weak and tired, I couldn't think straight. I had just left you, but I was looking for you.

Asman gave me more of his blood before I fell back asleep. I vaguely sensed receiving more. I think it was Dama's. It helped me greatly, but it wasn't their blood I yearned to taste.

When the others started coming downstairs, I began to grow uneasy again. I could see the love shining between them. I could smell their reaction to each other. They looked so happy.

They were going to be converted. They wouldn't go crazy. I could sense it. But, then I started thinking again, and my mind when out of control. Would it hurt? How much? But, I would do it. I would take the risk. Yet, I still doubted our bond. Did you really love me?

Then, you reentered my mind. I knew you were invisibly walking behind me the whole time, but you stayed quiet. I know you were just watching over me.

I froze when you told me emotions couldn't lie in a bond. You told me to look. Did I dare? After so many years of feeling incomplete, did I dare hope?

When I did feel your mind, everything came crashing down to one conclusion.

After not having love for so long… With you, it was finally mine…forever."

Jou finally looked back up into Seto's eyes. They were both crying softly. "Oh, Jou…why did you hide this from me?" Seto pulled him tightly against him.

"I don't know. I didn't know how to tell you."

"You will never feel incomplete again. I'm here. If you ever need me, all you have to do is call me in your mind. I would have to be deep asleep not to hear you. We are connected now."

" I know." Jou smiled. "I do love you." He didn't hold anything back from Seto.

"And, I love you." Seto kissed him gently, purring low in his throat.

They settled back on the bench to watch the world pass them by, wrapped in each other's arms.

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Author's Note: Please read completely!! Votes at bottom!!

I am starting to wonder about this story. It doesn't seem to be getting very many reviews. I want to know what you guys think about this story. Am I wasting my time on this? I know that I am enjoying writing it, but are you enjoying reading it?

I know there are two readers that have loyally reviewed on Mediaminer every time I post an update. I thank them for that. Still love ya both! Sorry for the long wait on the new chapter. Job searching has been hard. Finally found one though! Yeah! I will get money to replace all I spent in Spain. @_@

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Vote #1 - I want to create more pairs. Here are the people that remain from our cast.

Human: Anzu, Honda, and Malik's sister - Is it spelled Ishizu?

You decide if they are human, or like Yami: Otogi, Shadi, and Mai

Like Yami: Mokuba, and Serenity (quarter)

If you want Bandit Keith in on this, you can decide if he is good or bad, but understand that if you want him evil, he can't be a hunter.

Pair them up how you want them to be in the story, or if you want them in the story at all.

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Vote #2 - Should I give Jou an item, or not? If so, which of the remaining items should he receive? This can include the eye.

I will total responses on Saturday of this week…that is if I continue the story.