Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ The Proliferation of the Lotus Flower. ❯ Chapter Eight ( Chapter 8 )

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Yami leaned against the oak wood desk, staring at the tiny boy, who was somehow still blissfully asleep. Wine coloured eyes glowed faintly in the darkness of the late night, or early morning as it was.

"T'is funny… something so innocent out of such a fuck up." He was bitterly tired.

Sinking his teeth into the remnants of the green apple in his hand the pirate captain shook his head as he chewed. The ship lurched casually, a bit of tide finally having broken out. Warm night air drifted in through the open round window of the cabin. The pirate captain had not had a good night.

Yami rubbed his forehead and threw the apple core out the window. "What foolishness. To be blinded by greed. Am I losing perception in the growing years?" this didn't make sense, he was only in his mid twenties.

But the fact remained, he'd screwed up tremendously.

The sleeping boy opened his lips to coo softly and rolled over, one arm slipping out of the blanket to hang limply in the air, small fingers curled inward.

Yami closed his eyes. He could barely even remember the events at the palace all that well. They'd busted into the guarded room and found this sleeping kid. Cursing Yami had seen the sigil that proclaimed the kid as a prince, they'd turned, and were about to leave the room when a cat had leapt from the shadows into the hallway. The next few minutes were complete blurs; there had been shouting, running, and a blind need to get the hell away from the palace as the guards were alerted. In his haste Yami had grabbed the little prince, (who slept like the dead) and made a dash for it. The guards began gaining as they breached the outer palace walls and Yami had been forced to kill a few of them. It wasn't easily using a two-handed battle axe with one hand and balancing a sleeping kid with the other, but the pirate captain had succeeded. Then they'd been at the docks and there was a great deal more yelling as they boarded the ship and Yami was responsible for even more yelling as he commanded them to set sail, sending the kid to his room and commanding a few guns shot at the city and the lines to be cut. It was all very, very dim in his head.

Yami took his boots off and slipped into the bed, one hand automatically curving around the small boy's waste and pressing their bodies close. The kid didn't seem to mind or notice, and just slept on.

Yami stared at hair the same colour as his own and wondered.

What was with all these clones of his crew? And himself. It was unnerving, uncanny and downright unusual.

The little prince cooed again and rolled over, head burying in Yami's chest like he was having a nightmare. The pirate wondered what could trouble such an innocent looking kid, the kid was practically dripping in oozy buckets of innocence, it almost made Yami queasy to think of all the things such a pretty creature knew nothing of.

Not quite unconsciously the pirate captain brushed the bangs away from the kid's face and hummed a lullaby softly. Whatever conspiracies were up, Yami felt he could handle them. If not for himself, then for the little form he pressed against his chest.

The pirate's harsh face relaxed as he closed his eyes, breathing in the soft fruity smell of the boy in his arms and basking in the comfortable position.

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Lavender eyes rolled over the slim, un-breathing form that slumped in the hammock.

The body was nice, slim, soft and curvy. Although, Malik suspected that the body had died at the age of 14 or so.

How old was the vampire? One hundred? One thousand? With the bloodsucker unconscious the half-Elf had no way of finding out. Yawning Malik straddled the slim waist before him. He hadn't had time to tie the vampire up, but he'd managed to haggle some iron chains off the slave masters and he slipped the slim wrists of the vampire into these now, screwing the bolts a bit tight, but he gathered this bloodsucker would get over it.

It made Malik laugh to think this soft, delicate looking kid was not only a mage, but also a vampire. But then he felt the sharp ache in his chest and the pull of the bandages and he stopped laughing. No matter how delicate, the kid fought bravely when threatened. Although no single combatant was powerful enough to stand against others armed with magic and enchanted weapons.

The vampire's throat swallowed and Malik smiled. The whitette was coming around. He'd been trying to figure out how to wake the vampire, as the more normal ways didn't usually work on the legions of the undead.

"W-where…?" The corpse mumbled, opening his hazelnut eyes to look around in confusion.

"The Lost Pharaoh… well, that's the name of the ship." Malik replied, not unkindly.

Hazelnut eyes focused on the Half-Elf navigator and Malik saw the vampire flinch, the full impact of the situation hitting his captive.

"What's your name, fang-face?"

The whitette shifted uncomfortably, hazelnut eyes examining the room further. There wasn't much to see, it was a small wooden room in the bowels of the ship, more correctly, in the place that most pirate ships reserved for people they were going to torture and 'discipline', but the captain of this vessel didn't believe in such things, those they captured were won over or dumped on a deserted island, the galley slaves were the only exception. But the lower area had been re-styled into dozens of small rooms. The ship had enough rooms to house just about every crew-man, and those that it didn't have single rooms for usually worked shifts, swapping beds between them.

"Well? It's not a hard question to answer, zombie." Malik pressed after the hazelnut eyed vampire didn't seem inclined to answer his question.

The zombie insult got the desired response.

"Riii-yuu, or Ryo for short. I am not a zombie. My kind makes those brainless flesh eaters."

Malik rolled his eyes. "What are you then? A vegetarian?"

Ryo snorted. "I used to be. What do you plan to do to me?" A note of fear percolated in his voice, even if his eyes didn't show the emotion.

Malik raised an eyebrow. For Bakura, Ryo was a panda bear, a cuddly freaking panda. "I'm not sure, at the moment Bakura is off humping that chaotic little 'me', I think I heard screams a few minutes ago, although I wouldn't know who from-"

"A chaotic little you?" the mage interrupted.

"Yeah, an apprentice mage, as I'm told, some little chaotic Half-Elven shit, worse then me. Put our own little fire hurtler through his paces- hey! You know that kid?" Ryo's face had dawned a sort of sick prideful recognition as Malik talked.

"… Marik is my apprentice. He put up a fight you say… was your ship the one to attack our cargo vessel?"

"My! You are quick. Yes, Jounouchi said it had the most precious gem in the world aboard, and if you know Yami like I know Yami, it was enough to make him careless- which is saying a lot for that cold bastard- he's precise most of the time, but he forgot a lot of things, and blundered… personally, I think the idea of the wealth was what did it, he's usually fine if it's no more than a few thousand gold pieces, but unlimited wealth… enough to make him have wet dreams." The navigator laughed, sharing the in-joke as if it should have been the topic for appropriate discussion.

"That's very nice, but my apprentice?"

"Oh, what did you want to know?"

"Marik, He put up a fight?" Ryo prompted, looking exasperated.

"Hmm, yeah, you should have seen it, I only caught the last bits, but he and Jounouchi were facin' off, then Bakura interrupted, Bakura got his ass handed to him, and the next thing we know, the whole fuckin' ship is covered in shit deep and thick fog. Jounouchi says it took him forever to cast the spells to get rid of it and that's sayin' something, he was really banged up too, scorch marks everywhere! Had to heal, and heal, and heal, and boy, if Bakura hadn't gotten that piece of chaotic ass into his cabin, Jounouchi would have kicked the shit through the kid. Wait- what did you say that guy's name was?"

Ryo stared at the sun bleached blonde, was this seriously what his capture was like? A chatterbox? It was going to drive the whitette insane! "His name is Marik… how can you possibly talk so much?"

"Oh. Talk so much… what do you mean? I barely ever talk, everyone wants to tell me where to go, and I mean, how often do they-"

"Please stopping jabbering, it's so pointless. I mean, don't you have anything more interesting to talk about?"

"… oh? And what's more interesting?"

Ryo shrugged as best he could. "I don't know."

They sat in silence for as long as Malik could stand; which was about twenty seconds. "You don't really look much like Bakura, or sound like him. Have you even cussed yet? Or threatened. Or smirked… what kind of vampire are you?"

"Who is this Bakura?" Ryo asked, rather than answering.

"The first mate; if you're good and I can insure you won't try blowing us up or somethin', probably because if you did your little apprentice would die pretty slowly, and painfully, you'd meet him. You two look like twins… except… you're dead and his fuzzy."

"Fuzzy?"

"Bakura's a were-tiger. He's the first mate too."

"Right. So who are you?"

Malik smirked. "My name is Malik."

That told Ryo absolutely nothing. "What do you do?"

"I'm the ship's navigator. My magic is with direction and finding things, I can't be a mage because I'm a half-Elf."

"Wait, my apprentice is a mage, and he's half-Elven."

"Yes, yes, but a Dark Elf, I'd say? They can do it because they don't have the kind of taboos we normal Elves have."

Ryo conceded to this knowledge, although why a pirate would care about half-species taboos was beyond him.

They talked well into the early morning, until Malik just fell asleep on top of Ryo. The mage caught the feeling of the dawn and with a sigh, he fell into the dreamless place that all vampires go to during the daylight. A last thankful thought that there were no windows in the room.

~ To be continued…

Sweetdeily: Reviews? *is hungry for any feedback*

Yugi: You dislike me?

Sweets: Not really, but since my last story was *allll* you, I think it's nice not the concentrate on you. Anyway, the reviewers want other couples as the main.

Yami: I'm not disagreeing, as long as I get to grab me some virgin ass!

Malik: Yeah!

Bakura: I think mine was spoiled *cries*

Shizu: Experience adds wisdom… and sexiness.

All: *stare because Sweets doesn't usually let other female characters into the end notes*

Sweets: What? I don't have any dislike of Shizu…. She's better than that annoying fuck Anzu and Isis is just weird (kinda obsessive) but Shizu, she's quicker than the rest of the characters, I mean, while they all cried, she jumps into the water to DO something. She's a cool head in emergencies. I don't solely dislike characters because they get between romances between Yaoi couples.

Duo: So this means you like Relena?

Sweets: *laughs* fuck no; she's annoying as all hell. Same with Anzu! It's not just that they're main female character stereotypes (although that's a big part) it's that they're so fuckin' dillusional. Not to mention stupid, naïve, and pathetic too.

Otogi: so you like Shizu cause' she's a girl of action?

Sweets: Yeah, she didn't know how to duel, and wasn't very good at it, but when the bad guy got her into it, she kept going, and even though she panicked, she eventually came out alright. She's capable.

Shizu: *glows* Oniisan! She doesn't hate meee! *melts on her brother*

Jounouchi: I'm very proud; now get off so Kaiba can hump me.

Seto: Wheee!!! *humps*

Shizu: *vanishes in the pit of anime girls Sweet's keeps locked up*

Sweets: well… that was odd. Reviews?