Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction / Fan Fiction ❯ Vacation Blues ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

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You know, Ahelpfulanon, as much as I like your review, I don't particularly like or need your opinion. Sorry if this sounds bitchy, but I wrote that entire chapter in one night, literally from four in the evening until 6am the next morning. I didn't eat, drank over eighteen cups of coffee and consumed four doses of paracetamol in order to provide chapter four. INSTEAD of simply posting a 'Thank You' chapter, which I suspect would have been even more disappointing than a short chapter...which by the way ran to ten pages in my word program...in size TEN lettering.

I am writing this less than six hours after updating, and I would like you to note that it is NOT months later. In fact, I would LOVE to update regularly, but due to the fact that I lost EVERYTHING on my computer, all my baby pictures of my kids, my letters to everyone and vice versa...all the things I'd written over the past six years, losing a helluva lot of notes...character stats and little things I'd cataloged, logged, and noted for interest and for evidence have all GONE.

So. Forgive me if I decided that I wanted to at least write proper thanks to people WITHOUT emailing them individually...which quite frankly I haven't got the time, patience or inclination to do. At least I added SOME story to that last chapter.

Sweet Mary preserve us. I feel like ripping my hair out now.

And another thing...

I write for myself. Not for you, not even for everyone else. I write because when the mood and the muse strikes I can't help but write, or type. I start the chapters where they feel right, and I end them when they stop talking to me. If I had wanted to be cruel, I would not have posted, and waited for the next strike of the muse.

...Or didn't you notice that chapter two was rather short in comparison to the rest of the chapters? Hmn?

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To everybody else:

I loved your reviews. Thank you. I apologise if I sound short, but I really have not had the best of months. I think my inner bitch is finally getting loose, not to mention it's also that time of the month.

I had figured that regular, if slightly shorter chapters of ten to twelve pages every so often would be preferable to a twenty page chapter every two months. Although this chapter ran to almost twenty pages.

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[Borath] Thank You! Many, many thanks! Especially in regards to your response to Ahelpfulanon. That really did make me feel better, and your review was wonderful! It cheered me up and made me feel like everything was worth it. Hugs.

I'm glad you agree with the way I see Yami. Yes he is definitely a dark creature, and that is part of his appeal. But if that's all he was then I don't think I would have been able to respect his character as much as I do. It's the little things which count. It's the butterfly's wings beating, and the tidal wave on the opposite side of the world kind of thing.

And you have no idea how happy I am that you like that.

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[TeeDee] Wow! You really did go all out, didn't you? I read your review over and over again, then read it out to my other half. Thank you! I'm glad you got the references to the flowers. Every flower I use also has a meaning. For example, Peach Blossom means: 'I am your captive'. And in Chinese culture is regarded as a defence against evil.

P.s. I never say anything I don't mean. And you so deserved that recommendation at the bottom.

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I'll address the rest of the reviews in the next chapter. I want to be able to respond fully to everyone. Thank you all for your absolutely terrific support and responses.

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Hugs all,

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Love,

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~Shi-koi~

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*WARNING* This chapter contains some Yugi-torture. There is also YAOI (otherwise known as SLASH) as well as some control issues. Nothing too extreme, but still very unpleasant for Yugi. Plenty of angst and emotional/physical/mental trauma. Everything works out in the end, but just be prepared for some bits that aren't all sunshine and roses. 'Kay?

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Stargate African Violets: For visual reference. Don't forget to remove the spaces, 'kay?

http:// www. african-violets.com / stargate_fantasy_example.jpg

http:// jimmythrasher.com / albums/album12/ abi.jpg

http:// heritageavs. margaretdentfineart.com /images/stargate.jpg

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Chapter Five

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(the flight of the bumblebee)

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The boy was whimpering, soft kittenish mewls of pleasure that sent Adrian's heart racing. His eyes were glazed and over-bright, his body shivering uncontrollably in Adrian's hold. He had allowed the boy to speak sometime during his ministrations, focusing on teasing the tiny form before him to the edge of ecstasy and beyond.


A smile tugged one corner of his lips up. So delicate...so responsive. Such a delightful Dark Angel.


Adrian sighed softly, relishing the satiny feel of hard flesh wrapped up in his hand, at complete odds with the softness of the rest of the boys flesh. His other hand skimmed lightly over Yugi's back, trailing down his spine with a feather-light touch.


Yugi didn't want to be here. Anywhere would be better than this...than these conflicting feelings. He was frozen, each limb burning so hotly that he felt icy cold. Because it wasn't really his body anymore, was it? It was that man. He had taken it over.


Yugi wanted Yami. His beautiful, dark, protective, vindictive, ruthless, vicious, gentle, enthralling and utterly his yami. Yugi hated being kept from what was essentially part of his own soul. But then again...who wouldn't be? The two of them together were truly Yin and Yang, although such a crude and often misleading and overused term couldn't really apply to them.


They were the Sun and the Moon, each fighting for dominance, yet ultimately bound to, and needing each other. Forever dancing in an eternal chase. The moon reflecting the sun's brightness, yet not without it's own light.


He knew people often saw them as that Yin/Yang, Yin being Yami, and Yang being him.


But they were wrong. Oh were they wrong.


Yugi was Kun to Yami's Li, the support to Yami's fire, who nourished Yugi's spirit. They were Khonsu and Amen-Re in human form.


They were balance and upheaval, restlessness and contentment.


...and Yugi needed to find his strength.


"How can anyone so beautiful be so dark?" Adrian murmured, his attention completely caught on the youth before him.


"Not...not...dark." Yugi mumbled, his voice soft and detached, his head lolled against Adrian's chest, the fabric muffling his voice


Adrian pulled back, raising the other's head. "Not dark?" he asked, amused. "Then what are you?"


The potion was still working, and Yugi smiled. Once. Lightly. He couldn't lie. Didn't want to lie. He wasn't weak, but he had almost forgotten that.


Yugi wasn't a toy, he wasn't a toy to be played with. He was more...he was so much more than any mortal could have dreamed.


How could he have forgotten that?


But it didn't matter now. He could feel the laughter bubble inside of him, feel it cleanse his body of it's despair.


"What...what am I?" Yugi asked, his voice husky from his earlier screams. He chuckled, small shakes shuddering his abused form as he searched for the light he knew he carried, the pure energy he truly embodied.


"What am I...?" The question was aimed at himself, half whispered in Yugi's sweet, soft voice.


Adrian frowned. Something wasn't right. This feeling of unease was dissipating the desire he could feel for the boy, replacing it with something he didn't like.


He buried his fist in Yugi's tri-coloured spikes, yanking the boy's head back to stare into laughing violet eyes, the pain was still there, as was the shame. But there was hope there, mingled in those wide jewel-toned orbs that seemed to glow.


Then Yugi shut his eyes and fell.


He had done it before, when he had searched and found his love. His darkness, so he had to, could do, it again.


Yugi reached down, so deep down that even he didn't know what was there. He was not weak. He had battled monsters, both human and creature alike, he had faced his deepest darkest fears and come out half-broken but alive. He had looked death and insanity in the face and stood up straight and proud and fearless.


Who was this man...this mortal to him, to tell him what he could and could not be and do? How could he have forgotten that he was strong?


Yugi knew though. He had come to rely on Yami for everything, had come to depend on his Dark other to take care of all his problems as his yami was prone to do. He had left a part of himself behind and in doing so left himself free to an attack.


He had become complacent, secure in his assumption that Yami was always going to rescue him before he could get hurt, before he had to do any more than wait.


And now he was paying for it. With his body, with his blood...


...but not with his soul.


Eyes the colour of amethysts faded and bled into a gleaming silver, glowing with the essence of Yugi's being. His tri-coloured hair rippled and changed, turning the same startling silver as his eyes. Gravity-defying icicles of purest diamond. Small arcs of white light crackled inside his eyes.


High, unnaturally bubbling, tumbling laughter fell from Yugi's lips as he gasped for breath amidst the giggles, laughs and warm belly-aching bursts of joy. His voice echoed and danced like the moonlight over the waves of the ocean, their true depths unseen. It was the laugh of a hyena in play, never one to kill, never one to chase...but always on the field, following destruction.


"What am I?"


His voice hurt Adrian's ears. It pulsed and rolled, like no mortals voice ever should. The auror had once been privy to one of the great Albus Dumbledore's darker moods, when facing off what was left of Grindlewald's followers. Even though that had been virtually half a century ago he'd never forgotten the sheer presence and power that shone from the elder wizard.


That power was dwarfed now.


This child. This boy...it was like comparing a twinkling candle flame to the might of the sun. Words just did not do him justice.


"I am the Light. I am Yami's light. I am he-who-was-born-from-the-ashes-of-Darkness, I am the Challenge, the Mythos, I am the Radiance of Night and the Symphony of the Sun. I am the child re-birthed from the heart, the sorrow of the everlasting day."


Adrian shook his head. There was no way for things to have changed this fast. He couldn't move. His hand felt numb where it was touching those pale, cold spikes of hair. His belly twisted and churned, his instincts warring inside him, one half telling him to run, the other half commanding him to attack, to grind this tiny being into the ground.


It whispered at him to tear the boy as if he were a butterfly. Pin the youth to the table and make him scream.


"I am the one who was, and the one who will be again. I am harmony and accordance."


How could a boy have this much power inside of him? It was absurd. He was completely helpless, his body bleeding, his small limbs bound. And yet...why did he feel as he were the one being held?


"I am the Summer, I am Birth, I am Acceptance, I am Logic. I am Surrender and Selflessness, I am the Child. I am Loyalty and Play. Tenderness and Humility. I am Caution and Obedience."


Nonsense. That's what this was. The boy was trying to trick him. It was an illusion. It was the blood. That had to be it. Dark wizards could do anything with their blood. Maybe he was poisoned. That had to be it. He wasn't responsible for his actions. It was him this boy.


Yugi. He needed punishing. His blood was in Adrian's mouth, sweet and bitter and oh-so rich. He was using these words to confuse him, trying to escape.


"I am Guilt. I am Pity. I am Loneliness. When you are hurt, I am hurt. When another cries, I cry. I hold the World in my heart and I keep it Whole."


Lies. All of them. Lies. Of course the boy was lying. He was trying to tempt him from his path. Trying to trick him. Darkness indeed. Adrian knew that Yugi was dark. Knew it and was vindicated.


All that delicate helplessness was a show, a false show. It had to be. That was why Adrian knew he needed to establish dominance over the boy.


Those petal-soft limbs, gentle eyes that twinkled like Stargate African Violets, and bore their many layered colours with beautiful, unrivaling ease, skin the colour of the palest white rose that just begged to be marked, all of it was to beguile him into thinking this boy, Yugi, was nothing but innocent. But he wasn't.


"I am of the Gods, death and birth, trickery and truth. I am Purity of emotion, of Hope. I am Innocence and Betrayal. I am Ignorance and Delight. I am the microcosm of the Universe."


No. He had to see past the lies. Had to see the boy for what he was. Had to tear him apart and rip the falsehoods from his lips.


"I am Chunyang torn asunder and birthed in two. The Mother, the Father and Existence of Balance destroyed and re-formed..."


Adrian slapped him. Backhanding Yugi so hard he fell to the floor with a crash, the glass from the bottles that had shattered slicing his skin in tiny cuts.


"Nonsense. What trickery is this now?"


"None." Yugi's voice dropped and softened to a breath of whispered air. He coughed, a trickle of blood sliding from his lips to drip in teardrops to the glass-covered stone floor.


"Silent." Adrian snarled, but Yugi smiled once again, sadly, and shook his head.


"You cannot silence truth." he said gently. "And you cannot silence me."


"Then I will have to do it another way." The auror said darkly, drawing his wand and pointing it to the bloody, beaten and still smiling figure bound and naked on the floor.


The brilliance slid away, colours blossoming back in the boy's eyes, the splendour of his hair re-formed into the colours of blood and gold, merged through the darkest of midnight.


Yugi blinked slowly, and confusion clouded his amethyst gaze. He was a child once again, all of that power in him...gone...hidden, ebbed away into the appearance of innocence.


And for only the second time in his life, Adrian Waring, Second Commander of the First Line Division, Veteran of the war against the Dark Lord...was afraid.


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"Niii-san! Niii-saaan! Oi! Nii-san!" The echoing cry followed the empty halls, eventually making their way to their target.


"In here Mokuba." Seto called out, knowing his brother would be able to hear him.


"Maa...Seto, why are you stuck in here? It's sunny outside, birds are singing, I have a date and..." Mokuba paused, the teenager blinking in confusion as his eyes took in the scene in the dark room.


His elder brother was sitting in the center of a large circle, each 045 degree angle sporting a small mound of...was that Earth and salt? And a bowl of water...a metal box...a glittering flame...a spiral of tri-layered powdered incense...


"You're casting!" Mokuba accused, waving a hand impatiently at the circle.


Seto growled lightly.


"I can't believe you!" The black-haired youth cried out angrily, "...you said I could watch you next time!"


"Mokuba!"


Mokuba stopped.


"Thank you." Seto pinched the bridge of his nose. "I am not 'casting' as such. You know I don't need props for my magic."


"So what's all this then?" Mokuba asked suspiciously.


"Did you feel anything odd last night? Then again, earlier today?"


Mokuba cocked his head to one side. "You know...Now that I think about it...I threw up about three times, and I got slapped by Naoko..." he shrugged then, "...'course, it could also be all the um...beer..." Mokuba blushed, trailing off at the increasingly thunderous look tightening Seto's features.


"Uh...I have to, um...go now." Mokuba sidled back out the door, waving once before running with an 'eep!' at the growl that followed him. "Ja Nii-san!"


"MOKUBA!!"


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The doors slammed open, and Yami could feel at least six layers of spells shatter with vivid intensity. The pure warmth emitted from his light rushed over him in a wave of airy freshness...tinged in...pain?


In the room the brown-haired male's head whipped up at the sudden intrusion, his eyes narrowing as he realised what had happened.


Everything seemed to freeze as Yami took in the scene.


The room that was obviously used as a medical ward was empty except for the two figures off center and on his left. Papers, sheafs of parchment if he guessed correctly were scattered like stepping stones across a shimmering, glittering lake of sparkling glass and crystalline shards, cradling his beautiful, delicate other in it's harsh embrace. The light streaming through the windows creating tiny rainbows against the lily pale skin of his aibou.


Yami heard a gasp behind him. "Mr Waring! What...what are you doing?"


The small form at the man's feet groaned, hissing in pain as he tried to lift his head.


Yami couldn't move. He could see the blood and the cuts marring his light from here. Blood. His light's blood. The life-giving liquid which could bind, and call, heal and cast.


Yami saw red.


His eyes bled to a lava-dark crimson, his pupils disappearing as a flood of pure fire ignited in his veins. His fists clenched, and the corners of the room started to blacken with the Shadows that responded to their Masters' unconscious call.


Yugi...


"How dare you disturb me!" The piercing, deep shout thundered through the room. His wand was immediately aimed at the intruders, and his eyes widened a fraction as they took in the appearance of the petite male at the front of the procession of outraged and horrified aurors.


"'Baindo Tenka'." Came the softly uttered words from the dark spirit's lips, and black lightning arched across the room, twisting and lacing around the shocked auror in a black web of bonds.


"How dare you?" The once Pharaoh hissed in a low tone that reverberated with horrifying power. "He is MINE!"


A low rumbling filled the room, shaking the walls, the dark spirit himself at the epicenter of the growing quake, the magic of the building and the ground itself giving it's energy to the spirit, allowing the shadows free reign.


The building shuddered again and a wall of shadows sprang up, cutting off the rest of the room from the three in the center, an impenetrable wall of living darkness.


"'Shichitenbattou na...shittenbattou...'" Intention was half the spell, and Yami wanted this...mortal in agony. The words tumbled out of the spirits' mouth with no rhyme or reason, issuing forth in a flood of hatred and anger.


"'Kagyaku, kurushimi o shihou.'" Justice in pain. Yami thought viciously, his long, tapered fingers moving in intricate patterns in the air leaving sigils drawn in black and gold fire to float solidly before him, a sweep of his arm sending them unerringly towards the unmoving auror.


A crimson mist seeped out around the Pharaoh in a dark aura, caressing him with tongues of twisting flames.


The darkness called to him, reached out it's seductive hidden warmth to the one who was bonded to their master. Yugi could feel them closing in, seeking his light with a desperate, wary need. Then he knew. Yami was here.


"...Ya...yami..."


Yugi heard a deep bellowed scream of pure agony from directly above him. Yami was definitely here then. His sense of justice was truly exquisite. A pain for a pain, a life for a life. The true form of Judgment.


Curses bubbled in the air, ancient languages none had heard for a millenia floated around the room, true words of Power. That was something these mortals could never understand. There was a power in words. Each curse uttered by the spirit could be cast simply by speaking their names.


That was the true power...and thus the true danger of the Old magic. It had once borne the Shadows and given them life, just as those very words had ripped the heart out of his country and defiled their Gods.


It had been by using their names that the essences of the three Gods, Ra, Osiris and Obelisk had been sealed...and Yami knew every nuance of every name he used. He could create a spell on the spot and have it as powerful as any spell cast or taught over a hundred thousand years ago, in any language he used.


The man danced to their tune. His arms bending around, their bones crushed. Yami flicked a wrist, and the doll before him found his skin shredded. His legs held in and iron grip and squeezed. Blood frothed at the auror's mouth, and his eyes rolled up to the back of his head.


"Y...yam...yami..."


That voice. Yami paused. Revenge could wait. It was enough that the man was wounded. The dark spirit narrowed his eyes, and the man was flung back against the far wall, the shadows suddenly disappearing, allowing his large form to crash through the glass-shuttered cupboard at the end impacting against the solid stone wall with a deep thud.


Striding forward, Yami ignored the crunching glass beneath his boots and with one fell swoop lifted his aibou.


Those wondrous, luminous eyes of his love lay closed, and Yami whispered a word, the glass and ropes dissolving into air.


Yugi sighed once, quietly, in relief, burying his head against the spirit's chest. "...Yuumei." he whispered. Light and Darkness.


"Iie, my Light." Yami whispered back softly, the harsh, taut lines of his face easing back into their youthful planes, "Meian...Light and Dark, balanced, together."


"Aa..." Yugi said, his voice a faint breath. "...I like that. Balanced." he took one more breath, a tiny, fine-boned hand reaching up to clutch Yami's clothes. "...Together forever, ne Yami?"


Yami nodded, clenching his jaw to stem the sudden overwhelming urge to cry. He brushed aside a strand of sweat-slick blonde hair away from Yugi's face. "Aa my beloved bright heart. Forever."


"...I'm...glad..." Then, one more shuddering breath later, Yugi fell asleep, his body, soul and spirit spent.


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"I really can't say what it was." Ryou passed the brunette beside him a warm cup of green tea, settling back against the soft cushions of the sofa he was sitting on.


"I see."


"I'm sorry Kaiba-kun, truly I am." The pastel-haired boy opened his hands wide in a gesture of silent apology. "Bakura did say that there was something odd going on, but he also said that it wasn't really something he recognised."


Seto took a sip of the tea, resisting the urge to pace around the room.


"What about Marik? Or Malik?" Ryou questioned.


A deep sigh was his answer.


"...or maybe not."


"I already went to see Isis." Seto gave grudgingly. "Those two wouldn't talk to me...even if they were available. Isis said something had caught their attention. Knowing them it was probably shiny and could be ordered via either a remote or a phone."


Ryou snickered lightly. "Yes. They do seem rather...fascinated...by those pay channels." He tilted his head to one side in curiosity, his chocolate dark eyes alight with impish laughter.


Seto finished the rest of the tea in one go, placing the cup back on the tray. "Thank you for the drink."


Ryou shrugged. "My pleasure. I don't often get many visitors. Bakura gets a bit..."


"Jealous?" Seto snorted.


"Aa. But I think it's more to do with the fact that he considers this partially his territory, if you know what I mean?"


"Hmn." Seto nodded once. He felt that way about his office and his bedroom. Even Mokuba knew better than to disturb him in his room. His office he could do nothing about.


"Have you heard from Yugi since this mess started?"


"No." a shrug lifted his shoulders before he could catch it.


Ryou frowned. "That's odd. Yugi is always the first to contact us if anything big happens." He ignored the small shake of the brunette's head. Yes it was sometimes annoying, especially if Yugi phoned in the dead of night, or disturbed his, er, games with Bakura....but Yugi's heart was in the right place, and with all the things which had gone on in their past, how could he blame the other for being wary and cautious?


"Yugi can take care of himself. Or else Yami will. They are the strongest of us." That was said with a slight grimace.


"Aa, True."


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"Yugi..." Yami whispered, cradling the still form of his aibou.


The shadows dipped and fell, disappearing into cracks and crevices, oozing back into the dark corners before retreating back to their true Realm, revealing a scene of utter devastation, this time not caused by Yami.


Yami turned back to the door, his anger barely held in check. "Remove that thing from my sight." he snarled to the aurors that had escorted him. Their eyes flickered to the prone tall auror at the other end of the room, then back to the petite male standing in the centre of the room, an even small form held protectively in his arms.


They had all seen one of their own torturing the boy in the arms of the other, even if it had only been for a moment. Two of them jumped to obey, not even trying to resist the command in that darkly threatening voice. The woman that he knew to be in charge stepped forward, her face even paler than it had been when she had had to face him when he had first awoke.


"Is...is there something we can do?" She asked hesitantly, her eyes flicking to Yugi.


"What manner of people are you, to allow such blatant mistreatment of those who have helped you?" Yami hissed.


She flinched.


"I...apologise. But we didn't know!" She said quickly, "Truly! We wouldn't have let this happen otherwise."


Yami tilted his head back, meeting her gaze head on. He was rewarded when she stumbled back a step. "I wish to see the one we helped last night. The man with the red hair and pure heart."


She blinked. "Arthur Weasley?"


"If that is his name, then yes. I want a room for my aibou so I may heal him. I do not want to be disturbed by any other than he whom I have chosen. Should any not heed my warning I will not hesitate to make an example out of them. Is this understood?"


The woman blanched. "I don't think that's allowed. We don't know who you are!" she cried out, turning her head rather than meet those crimson eyes.


"I would suggest that you comply, should you not wish to find that out." That murmur was enough to send a shiver of fear down her spine, and she nodded.


"I'll see to it myself."


The spirit smirked. "Good."


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Mokuba grumbled as he walked down the hall from his bedroom. "Stupid older brothers and their stupid punishments. Not allowed to go out, my ass! I'm almost fourteen! Nii-san was running KaibaCorp at my age. It's not fair."


A quick glance down the driveway confirmed the lack of his elder brother's presence.


"I wish Yugi-chan was here. He's fun." The black-haired teen stuck his hands in his jeans pockets, sighing as he tried to remember the last time the other youth called him. It was probably only a week ago, but with Yugi and his Yami having been gone for over half a year, things seemed darker somehow, without Yugi's overwhelmingly bubbly brightness to cheer everyone up.


People were subdued, not unhappy, hell, even Bakura had seemed a slight bit more smug with the Pharaoh not around to mess up his slightly more shady schemes...but that spark was missing.


Maybe I'm the only one that can see it. No-one else seems to notice it...or show it. Well, except maybe Ryou. Mokuba thought as he walked to the games room, plucking one of his manga from the shelves and making himself comfortable on the oversized beanbag by a long window.


I want Yugi-chan. Mokuba thought sadly. Then maybe nii-san wouldn't be so grumpy all the time. And I wouldn't feel so lost.


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A room was found faster than even Yami would have thought possible, given the apparent complacency and lack of competent organisation. But the woman came back and mumbled something about the Ministry never coming across an occasion where the building itself changed to suit it's purpose.


Without his excellent and to be blunt, unnatural, hearing, Yami would have missed the exchange. But he was grateful he did overhear. He sent a brief pulse of thanks into the magic in the stones surrounding him, still slightly off-kilter though when a melodic ribbon of magic responded happily, before fading back into the building.


The woman never noticed the exchange.


"...was going to put in two beds," the woman was saying quietly, "...but this room came already furnished. Highly irregular." She pushed the doors open and stepped back, allowing Yami to enter without giving up his hold on the delicate sleeping burden in his arms.


Yami stepped inside and gave the room a quick scan, both visually and magically. What he found both amused and surprised him.


Physically the room was perfect. A dark wooden floor stretched out for well over thirty feet, a huge double bed on the left with deep blue coverings, and a seating area around a fireplace on the right. There were rugs spread out, and dark abstract tapestries on the walls which Yami realised with a tiny smirk were the impressions that the magic of this building held of him. The faint delicate scent of the Guelder Rose floated on the air.


Yes. This building knew a bit then of what he was. Good.


There was a door to the left closest to this wall, about twelve feet from the bed.. At his raised brow, the woman said 'bathroom'.


Yami gave the room another once-over, nodding his acceptance. "It will do. You may go."


The woman did an awkward half-bow, her face flushing a deep red in embarrassment when she realised what she had done, and she left the room as fast as she could walk, clicking the door shut quietly.


Yami allowed himself to grin as he walked to the bed and laid his precious light on the blankets, wrapping him in a soft cocoon of cotton and silk.


Then he checked the rest of the room with his magic. Tied into everything was a general ward, aimed to keep the magic of the entire building aware of Yami's needs. Interlocking with that were over three dozen smaller magical threads, seemingly independent of each other, and only partially aware of what the other was doing. There were charms to keep the light even, the temperature comfortable and steady, even one to notify each other if the bath was needed or if they were hungry, much as his servants would have done while he was still the reigning Pharaoh. Yami found this amusing.


A different level of service for a different culture.


Pity the magic didn't seem to want to make itself known to the people currently occupying the place...but from what Yami had observed, this was probably for the best. Nothing like a mortal with too much power to make a mess of things. They just weren't suited to it. Their nature was too contradictory, too close-minded, and far too easily lead astray by their own passions and needs, to the exclusion of all common sense.


Except for those select few who obviously broke the mold. But they were too rare, and not often in the right place at the right time. They tended to be the ones at the center of catastrophes and the main causes of changes. Yet they remained untouched by those around them. Oblivious in their innocence and their power.


Like Yugi. Like Ryou. Like Mokuba.


Then there were the ones touched by the darker magics, those who were almost balanced and could see the power for what it truly was, those who could wield both and not feel the strain of temptation.


Like Seto. Like Malik. Like Marik. Like Bakura.


Like himself.


Then there were those who should never have been gifted in the first place.


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Seto dropped his coat over the back of the chair in the hall, heading in a beeline for the coffee-maker. He had enjoyed his visit to Ryou, their talking allowing him to realise just how few people there were that he could converse with as an equal...but he wasn't Yugi.


He needed the constant challenge, the fight of wit and words. The passion and the pure freedom he felt when giving his all against a worthy opponent. Without Yami things just weren't the same.


The teen frowned as he took the milk out of the fridge, the bottle dropping to shatter on the floor as his eyes read the note stuck there by an innocuous kuriboh magnet.


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~*~*~

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Dear Nii-sama,


Have gone to England. Borrowed your private jet. Am finding Yugi.


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~*~*~

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Underneath that, the message continued, written a bit fuller.


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~*~*~

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Sorry about that top bit big brother, but I figured you'd want to know the particulars before your brain fried with anger.


I don't feel too good. You know that funny feeling you had? Well, you were right. I felt it too. I wasn't going to do anything but then earlier I could have sworn Yugi was hurting.


Yugi has always been there for me, even after all the things I did and said. He helped without question and always made me feel safe and happy.


I can't let him down now nii-san. You understand, right? Just like I always know you're there to protect me.


It can't be that hard to find Yugi and Yami, after all, they're famous!


You can ring me when I find somewhere to stay. I borrowed your extra laptop, the one from your bottom drawer. I'm going to see if there have been any odd power fluctuations in the national grid. That should help me pinpoint Yugi's whereabouts.


I have my cell phone, so you can yell at me when I land. And please don't have a go at the pilot. I forged a note from you to make him fly me.


Love ya big brother.


Mokuba


P.s. I promise not to drink too much beer!


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~*~*~

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Seto could feel his eyebrow twitch.


Then, shattering the quiet of the massive mansion, was one, very, pissed off voice.


"MOKUBA!!"


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--->>>*<<<---

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Tbc...

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--->>>*<<<---

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Read and Review? Please? *sniffle*

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Hope you all liked this chapter. The next one will probably take a week or two to do, since I want to update some of my other fics. Love you all. Hugs and have a nice day.

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~Shi-koi~

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