Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Hunted ❯ Chapter 12 ( Chapter 12 )

Atem didn't even bother with checking the pair that they had captured; he just had Duke and Tristan put them in the holding cells. He headed to Yugi's room to talk. “Yugi, do you still want to find out why the sunlight burned you before?”

 

“I've thought about it, and decided that I don't want to make you go through it,” Yugi admitted. “You did say that you almost lost me a few times and that you felt terrible about it. I don't want to hurt you like that again.”

 

“Thank you,” Atem replied. “Listen, Yugi, I'm going to have to give responsibility of you over to another member of the team.”

 

Yugi jumped off the bed, “Why?”

 

“Because we're brothers and it goes against the rules of the Council,” Atem answered. “Siblings cannot take responsibility over each other when one of them is a vampire, werewolf, or any other such creature. It was meant as a precaution to prevent the possibility of that `altered' sibling turning against the Society and forcing their sibling to put them down. I am bound by my honor and duty as a Hunter to inform the higher-ups that you are my twin brother and then name the one who is to take responsibility for you.”

 

Yugi ran from the room in tears, leaving Atem alone in silence. He felt bad for Yugi and for himself. Atem sighed and went to find the rest of the team (with the exception of Odion, Ishizu, Marik, and Bakura) for an emergency meeting. He wanted someone that either had no ties to Yugi's past or wasn't currently responsible for one of the other two.

 

“As you guys know, the rules prevent me from keeping responsibility for Yugi,” Atem stated. “I need to know which of you would be willing to take responsibility from me for him.”

 

Joey and Tristan both spoke up at the same time, “I'll take him…No, I will…” They both glared at each other.

 

Tea shook her head, “I'd volunteer, but I believe that he needs a member of the team that can protect him better than I can, so I decline.”

 

So while Tristan and Joey are fighting over who got responsibility of Yugi, Duke spoke up, “Until we can get the Council or Seto to allow YOU responsibility of Yugi, I'll take him. That is, if you have forgiven me for that incident.”

 

Atem nodded, “I have. Thank you for taking temporary responsibility for Yugi.”

 

 

Yugi changed into his cat form and crept into his room after Atem left. He hid under his bed and stayed there. He didn't like the fact that his newly found brother had to follow such rules and that he was like a child in a custody battle. Yugi decided to stay in his animal form to avoid being found for now. He curled into a ball and fell asleep.

 

 

“Has anyone seen Yugi,” Atem asked the next day at lunch.

 

Ryou shook his head, “He missed breakfast and never showed up for `snack' last night when Malik and I split a bag.”

 

“His bed was empty this morning,” Malik added.

 

Atem was worried now. He had called Seto to inform him of recent discoveries and now he had less than five hours before Seto arrived with half the members of the Council to find Yugi. “Search every room in this place,” Atem ordered the group. “I want Yugi found before Seto gets here. I just hope he's ok.”

 

Everyone set off in different directions to search. Atem decided to check Yugi's room just in case. He checked the walk-in closet, the bathroom, under the bed. Then it hit him, Yugi could change form! He rechecked the room and forgetting to look under the bed again, left to search another room.

 

 

Ryou and Malik were looking in the library. “Hey Ryou,” Malik started, “How long has it been since Yugi's last share of blood?”

 

“Well, considering that we really only need to split a bag about every three or four days; and we had one about five days ago, I'm not counting last night for him, he's not had any for…” Ryou paled. “Oh no, he hasn't had any blood in six days!”

 

Malik stopped walking, “We need to find him now. Ryou, your animal form can find him a lot quicker that a regular search would.”

 

Ryou nodded and quickly shifted into his jackal form. He picked up Yugi's scent and followed it into his room. ^The scent's coming from under the bed,^ Ryou announced.

 

Malik saw Yugi's form under the bed and pushed the intercom button, “Ryou and I found Yugi. We're in his room. Someone's going to have to bring a bag up fast!”

 

While they were waiting for someone to show up, Ryou resumed his normal form and helped Malik pull Yugi from under the bed.

 

Atem showed up and saw that Yugi was lying on the floor between Ryou and Malik. They were trying to hold him down. “What's wrong with him,” he asked apprehensively.

 

“He hasn't had any blood in six days and it's hurting him,” Malik said, trying to keep Yugi down. “Did you bring a bag in?” Atem shook his head. “Then leave before Yugi loses it, he might hurt someone in this state and regret it when he snaps out of it later.”

 

Duke ran in and was stopped. “Don't come in here, just toss the bag in and lock the door,” Malik ordered. “Don't let anybody in here until we are sure that Yugi's alright.”

 

Duke did as Malik said and pulled Atem from the room. He locked the door from the outside and pulled a chair into the middle of the hallway to block anyone from gaining access to Yugi's room.

 

Atem leaned against the wall, listening to the struggle that was going on in the locked room. All of a sudden he heard a scream and silence. A few minutes later an empty bag slid under the door with a note:

Atem told Duke to unlock the door. As soon as it was open, he ran in and saw that Yugi had a cut on his forehead and a rapidly forming bruise.

 

“I had no choice but to try and hit him to prevent him from further injuring himself and us as well,” Ryou explained through sobs. “I had to hit him with…with…Oh Ra, I hurt my best friend.” He ran to Atem crying, “I'm so sorry I hit Yugi with the strange pyramid that his Grandfather gave him the last time he was here.”

 

Atem nodded to Duke, “Take Yugi to the lab and have Ishizu and Tea tend to his head.”

 

Duke picked up the semi-conscious vampire and headed for the lab with Malik in tow. Atem stayed to comfort Ryou.

 

 

Yugi woke up to a massive headache. He realized that he was in the lab and locked in one of the cells there. He noticed that the room was empty and dark. Yugi curled up in a ball in one of the corners and started crying. He wound up crying himself back to sleep.

 

 

Atem found Duke in his room. “Where's Yugi and why are you not with him,” Atem questioned.

 

Duke looked at him, “He's in the lab and I'm not with him because he's unconscious and locked in on of the cells in there for safety.”

 

Atem lost his temper, “YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE WITH HIM UNTIL HE WOKE UP!!!!” He turned and headed for his lab.

 

Atem noticed that the lab was dark and cursed Duke for his carelessness. He turned on the lights and saw that Yugi was lying on the floor shivering. That's when Atem realized that the temperature had been turned down. Now he was angry. The colder the temp, the deeper a vampire would sleep. But Yugi wasn't a regular vamp and apparently Duke forgot this important fact.

 

He looked at the clock. Atem now had one hour to get Yugi to wake up enough to speak with the Council. But the question was, how was he going to do that without causing further harm to his brother? Ha called Ishizu in and asked her to help.

 

Odion came in with an electric blanket and Ishizu had found some hot-water bottles. She arranged the bottles around Yugi and covered him with a sheet before placing the electric blanket on top of him. “We cannot leave him alone, even for a moment,” she said. “From what you have informed me, Duke should not be allowed to accept responsibility for the young one. I will inform the Council on this matter.”

 

“Thank you Ishizu,” Atem replied. “If it didn't go against the Council's rules and regulations, I would ask to full responsibility of Yugi to be given to me. But to not to be able to ask you to take responsibility has put me in a tight spot as he trusts you.”

 

 

Yugi woke up again shortly after they stopped speaking. Atem saw him looking around, still lying on his back. “Yugi,” he asked, “are you ok?”

 

“I think so,” Yugi replied. “Why does my head hurt so badly?”

 

Atem sighed, “Ryou had to hit you in order to stop you from hurting the three of you. Apparently, you skipped out on your `snack' last night and reacted to it. Ishizu had to give you stitches.”

 

“I'm sorry…” Yugi said. “I didn't mean to cause so many problems.”

 

Atem felt bad for his brother, “Yugi, don't you ever feel that way. You haven't caused any problems. If anything, I am to blame.”

 

Yugi looked at Atem with tears in his eyes, “I almost hurt my friends, you aren't allowed to have responsibility for me, someone tried to freeze me, and I'm afraid.”

 

Atem held Yugi as he cried.