Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh Arc-V
Title: Angel's Rest
Characters: Shun, Yuuri
Word Count: 3,798||Status: One-shot
Genre: General||Rated: G
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section G4, a one-shot; Advent 2015, Day #22, write an AU; New Year's Mini-Advent, write a fic between 2,000-4,000 words; Easter Egg Basket Advent 2016, day #19, begin & end with the letter 'e'; Word Count Set Boot Camp, #2, 3,798 words; Character Diversity Boot Camp, #32, trouble (Shun)
Summary: One angel, taking an unexpected nap in demon territory. One demon, on the hunt for his next plaything of torment. The stage is set.

Evening offered fine hunting, in Yuuri's opinion. He flitted from branch to branch, making his way through the forest in search of anything at all he could play with. He didn't concern himself with lesser creatures such as squirrels or rabbits. Those didn't offer enough scope for his talents.

Yuuri preferred anything that could think as well as he could, and especially anything that could be tough enough to handle the pain that he dished out. Hurting things that weren't intelligent wasn't satisfying because they didn't understand what he did to them. Hurting things that couldn't survive more than a week or didn't offer the satisfaction he thirsted for.

Too bad there aren't any humans around. Humans weren't his favored prey by any means, but they could amuse him for a short while. They made fun practice toys. Some of them screamed very well.

He came to rest on one spreading branch, scanning the area, the tips of his wings and his tail twitching as he sought out prey. He'd searched for days for a new toy and so far he'd come up with nothing.

If this keeps up, I might have to play with Dennis for a while. Which wasn't a bad option; he'd enjoyed himself with Dennis more than once. But it wasn't what he wanted, since Dennis seldom protested anything Yuuri did and those few times that he did, Yuuri had to listen. Dennis was too useful to him not to.

But he wasn't at that point yet. Now he listened and searched, his eyes far more adapted to seeing through the shadows than those of a human or an angel might've been. After all, he was a demon, and this was his home. He knew every inch of this place. Should anything be out of order, he would know it.

His tail twitched again. What was that?

There. To the north, just where the trees began to thin out.

Yuuri could've made his way to the clear sky above and flown there, but he didn't want to alert whatever his new prey was to his presence. So he kept on the way he'd been, leaping from branch to branch, as silent as the darkness that fell as the sun slid behind the mountains.

He caught sight of his new target in mere moments and stood there admiring, a smile hovering on his lips. How perfect. Could this be any better? He couldn't imagine how so.

An angel lay stretched out on a rock, dark-feathered wings half-covering him in a protective embrace, his hands resting by his sides, his eyes closed, breathing silent and soft. Clearly a warrior angel; he wore dark leather armor instead of robes.

It had been a long, long time since Yuuri had tangled against an angel. His eyes slitted at the thought and he peered more closely at this one.

He looks familiar. Not so much to the point he thought he could recall the angel's name, if he even knew it, but he suspected that he'd seen this one somewhere before.

When he'd last fought an angel, over a hundred years earlier, that angel had battled him with comrades. One of those in particular had fought very well, injuring Dennis to the point it took the other demon almost fifty years to recover. If anyone knew his name, it would be Dennis, but Yuuri didn't want to ask, not now.

He could do it later, after dragging the angel back to the lair to begin his fun.

Yuuri knew something of how warrior angels fought and the best way to deal with them was to not even give them a chance to fight back. A quick strike, overpowering the angel before he woke and could get his thoughts together, would be ideal.

He flexed his fingers, tail twitching with eagerness and eyes glinting with anticipation. Perhaps he'd send something to the angels to let them know that he had this one, later.

Yuuri allowed no more time to think it over, but shot himself toward the sleeping angel, fingernails sharpening into claws, sharp-edged teeth bared, reaching for the angel's throat.

Shun knew it wasn't safe to come here, but safe wasn't on his particular agenda at the moment, at least not his safety. Ruri refused to listen to him, insisting that she could manage perfectly well without him hovering over her – at least that was what she called it. He called it making certain his little sister didn't get into too much trouble that she couldn't get herself out of.

At any rate, she stalked off to spend time with her friends, and Shun decided that as long as she was with them, she was safe, and he could take steps of his own to make certain she stayed that way.

Which was why he'd found his way here, to the edge of the demon-haunted forest, and spent half the day circling around it to make certain none of them looked as if they were even thinking about looking in the direction of the angels' mountain city.

For all that he'd seen, though, he might as well not even have bothered. Not only did he not find a single trace of demonic activity – which given that this was their territory it somewhat worried him more than he cared to admit – but Haya hadn't even so much as twitched a whisker, and Haya always had a sharp nose for demons.

Wearier than he wished to admit, he settled himself down on a rock and considered his options. He could return home and probably have to deal with Ruri giving him side-eyed looks for days on end. He'd do that sooner or later anyway. He could spend time with Yuuto, which appealed far more than just about anything else at the moment.

He pressed the back of his hand against his mouth, trying to stifle the yawn that teased at him. It also confused him; he wasn't all that tired, or shouldn't be. He'd done nothing so he should be. And yet the longer he sat on that nice restful rock, the more he wanted to just stay where he was.

Only belatedly did he notice something dotted about the rock he'd chosen to perch on: tiny flowers, dark blue blossoms just opening up as the shadows grew with the closing of the day. Silver-blue light dusted across their petals, reminiscent of the star-filled skies.

Angel's Rest!

They weren't poison; angels resisted poisons and venom as a matter of course. But what poppies were to humans, these flowers were to angels, and the more of them there were, the greater their power grew. Closed up, they blended into the shadows they grew in. Open, their fragrance wafted outward, enticing any nearby angels to rest and sleep.

He needed to get out of there. Shun knew that. Yet he found himself getting comfortable on the rock anyway. He murmured Haya's name in the hopes of getting a little help, but the only answer that came was a soft whisper of paws through grass. Clearly Haya had other issues than checking on him.

Well, a nap couldn't hurt that much. There weren't any demons in the area, after all. He'd seen that for himself. So he'd rest and go home in the morning. Or when Haya woke him up demanding food, of which there was precious little in the area by his standards.

So he closed his eyes and breathed in sweet-scented air and slept.

No sooner did Yuuri's claws touch the angel's neck than the angel's eyes flew open and he jerked away, slamming one wing upward into Yuuri before he rolled off the stone and landed on all fours, wings spread wide, glaring at Yuuri.

"Who are you?"

Yuuri didn't answer right away, but stepped back and gave his target a thoughtful look. He hadn't yet left a mark on the other, but he made up his mind in that moment that he would before this ended. He didn't like being knocked around, even if it was in self-defense. This angel stood on his ground and was now subject to his laws.

Such laws as demons had and Yuuri wished to obey, which were few and far between. But he would use them to his advantage now if it would get him what he wanted.

"I could ask you the same question, angel," Yuuri replied, spreading his arms and his wings, his favorite smile on his lips. "You're the one trespassing where you don't belong."

The angel's gaze flicked back and forth, perhaps searching for other demons, perhaps for a way out. Yuuri knew he wouldn't find either one.

"I wouldn't have stayed if it weren't for those," the angel replied, the tip of his wing flicking toward something. Yuuri let his gaze follow and recognized Angel's Rest.

Well. I wish I'd seen that before. One summons to Dennis and the angel would've been neatly trussed up and in Yuuri's quarters before he could so much as twitch. Instead, Yuuri had to deal with a fight.

That was all right, though. Yuuri was very good at fighting.

"Be that as it may, you're where you don't belong, angel, and I am not of a mind to let you just flit away." Yuuri took a step forward, wings and tail still as he stared at his prey.

The angel stared back at him, not cowed at all, and that just made everything so much better in Yuuri's mind.

Again the angel's gaze moved away, the tiniest hints of worry visible in his eyes as he searched around the area again. Yuuri wondered just what he was looking for; most likely for whatever other demons would back Yuuri up. He couldn't have any companions, because they would have taken him out of here before the flowers got their way.

Yuuri pounced forward, claws out once more, scraping for the warrior's wings. Disable those and this fight would be over in no time. The other darted to the side, sword appearing in his hand as he did, pointing at Yuuri.

"You won't take me, demon," the angel declared, the tip of his blade not waving away from Yuuri's chest. "If you value your own hide, step away."

Yuuri's hand dropped to his belt, but he didn't stand down at all. In all truth, he had every right to do whatever he wished to this invader, who'd stepped where he had no right to.

"And if you value yours, then why would you even come here?" he asked, voice pitched to a low purr. The longer he stared at the angel, searching his memory, the more he convinced himself that they had crossed paths once before, and it could only have been during that fight a century or so before.

He shifted again, the last rays of the sun falling near enough to light his features as he did. The angel's eyes widened as he caught a full look at Yuuri, the tip of his sword lowering for a brief moment before he raised it again.

"You're Yuuri," he snarled, golden raptor's eyes glowing with anger. "The one who has Yuuto's face."

Ah, yes. Now Yuuri remembered far more clearly. He is the one I saw that day. He nearly killed Dennis. Dennis hadn't been able to fly for a quarter of a century and it took twice that for him to fully recover from his wounds. That also finally clicked the angel's name into place for Yuuri.

"Kurosaki Shun," he said, rewarded by the angel's shoulders tightening and rising in anger. "Dennis would like to meet you again. Under better circumstances."

"I'm not interested in what you call better circumstances." Kurosaki spat the words out, and didn't wait for an answer, charging forward.

Yuuri dodged effortlessly, hardly needing to move his wings at all. Kurosaki could wear himself out and then Yuuri would take him down. A quick message to Dennis would see to it that they returned to Yuuri's lair in short order and the fun could begin.

"Who would come searching for you when you're kept here as lawful prey?" Yuuri taunted, spreading his wings enough to catch a breeze and leaping to a low-set tree branch. "Invading our land is punishable by death, or worse. You know this, angel." His hand still rested near his belt, on his own weapon. He wanted to make certain he could cause the most intense pain with this. "So why not just give yourself over to me and have done with it?"

"I've done nothing to harm any of you since I've been in here," Kurosaki snapped, his own wings spreading out, lifting up with a few strong beats. "And I'll never just 'give myself over to you'!"

Yuuri's smile sliced across his lips, hard and cold and gleeful. "Oh, I am so very glad to hear you say that."

He pulled his whip from his belt and struck, the tip of it ripping through the air, fast and hard and wrapping around Kurosaki's sword-hilt. The angel reacted well and fast, Yuuri gave him that much, reaching to pull it away.

He didn't quite get the chance, since in the half-breath before Kurosaki's hand made contact with the whip, Yuuri sent a pulse of power that resulted in sharp-edged thorns sprouting from the whip, each one dripping with poison.

Angels could shake off most poisons without a problem, but not this one. It wasn't fatal. Yuuri didn't like fatal.

He liked pain so much better.

"I thought angels weren't supposed to know language like that," Yuuri teased, taking a mental note or two about some of the words that fell from Kurosaki's lips. He couldn't tell for certain if the thorns had pierced the angel's skin; Kurosaki had moved with blinding speed the moment they appeared. But the fight wasn't done yet. It wasn't even close.

Yuuri pulled his arm back with all of his strength and twisted half of his body at the same time, bringing his tail around to slice at Kurosaki's wrist with the edge. The combination of the movements succeeded in his goal: the sword clattered out of Kurosaki's grip and fell to the ground. Another jerk brought him close enough to the fallen blade to kick it out of Kurosaki's easy reach and now a lovely aroma caught at his nose.

"First blood is mine." Yuuri licked his lips at the sight of the mark on Kurosaki's wrist. A twitch of his tail showed a few drops there as well. Demons didn't feed off of blood as vampires did, but it remained a lovely sight and proof of his success in this battle.

Kurosaki's teeth ground together. Again his attention flickered about and Yuuri wondered if he truly were that paranoid about being ambushed.

Now he let the tip of his whip trail on the ground, switching it back and forth. Anything that would distract Kurosaki would be useful right now.

"If you surrender, I might go a little easier on you," he lied. "I might even release you."

That got a snort and a toss of Kurosaki's head. "I know well when a demon lies, demon."

"Really?" Yuuri couldn't help the tiny bit of interest there. "And how would you know?"

"You're speaking," Kurosaki snapped. "I would never believe a word from a demon's mouth, no matter what it is."

Yuuri shrugged and began to pull his whip upward. "If that's what you think." Time to finish this, he decided.

He pulled the whip back and brought his arm down at blinding speed, already anticipating the cry of pain and scent of blood that would come from contact.

Something small and quick darted in between him and Kurosaki, his whip knocked off course and pinned down to the ground. Yuuri hissed, yanking hard, but to no avail. What was this?

Crouched down in between himself and Kurosaki, tail lashing back and forth, clawed paws digging into the earth, ears tipped forward.

Yuuri hadn't seen too many of these before; contrary to what humans thought, they didn't associate with demons all that much. But he still knew a cat when he saw one.

"You have a cat." It could only be Kurosaki's; it was a mortal creature, but to a demon's eyes it showed long association with an angel, and that angel could only be Kurosaki, with how the warrior angel reached one hand for the creature.

"Haya, don't even think about it." He sounded more or less resigned to the fact his little mortal pet wasn't going to obey, though.

Yuuri began to pull the whip back again and the cat – Haya – pinned the tip to the ground again with both paws. Yuuri suspected he could get rid of it with enough strength. It was, after all, not a very large cat.

Not to mention it was Kurosaki's cat. What could he get the other to do if he could hold this little morsel of meat hostage? Angels could be so soft-hearted and despite his ability in battle, Kurosaki would be no different. The fact he had a pet in the first place stood testament to that.

Yuuri tugged his whip again, wiggling the tip out from under the cat's paws and not surprised to see the creature follow.

Kurosaki made a move toward the cat and Yuuri interrupted him with a quick slash of his tail. Haya's eyes tracked the movement for a few seconds before Yuuri twitched the whip and got his attention back on it.

"This is quite interesting, angel," Yuuri said, thoroughly amused. "What would you do so I don't make your little toy bleed?"

"Leave Haya alone." Cold rage coated every word. Yuuri approved; he preferred anger to most other reactions. Fear would've been even more interesting but anger pleased him regardless.

"And if I don't?" He twitched the whip one more time and the cat followed, reaching to pin it down again. There weren't any thorns at the end of it and he wasn't surprised to see one paw reach farther up the whip to where the first one sprouted, tapping with curiosity.

"Haya!" Kurosaki reached again and Yuuri slashed his tail at him in warning.

"My poison is for angels to enjoy, not cats." Yuuri tapped one finger of his free hand against his lips. "Though in all truth, I don't know what it would do to a cat. I've never tested it on one." He smiled, looking back down at the creature. "I wonder if I should."

Taking his eyes off of Kurosaki, even for that small moment, proved an unwise move. The angel darted forward faster than Yuuri could track, scooping the cat up into his arms, then snapped his wings wide and leaped into the air.

Yuuri shot after him a second later, whip in his hand and curses on his lips. Kurosaki cut through the air, trying to outpace him, but Yuuri was one of the fastest fliers among the demons and while he wasn't close enough to touch, Kurosaki hadn't yet escaped him.

Yuuri wasn't limited just to the reach of his hands, however. He hauled his whip back and slashed it forward, wrapping it around Kurosaki's leg, thorns biting into the leather. Were they sharp enough to tear into the angel himself? Oh, how Yuuri hoped!

Kurosaki wriggled and yanked at his leg, but Yuuri had a very good grip and began to haul him back. The cat, held firmly in his arms, yowled and scrabbled paws against the sleeves of Kurosaki's armor, but Kurosaki just held on tighter.

"What makes you think you can get away from me?" Yuuri wanted to know, yanking on his whip again to dig the thorns in tighter. Was that more blood? He thought it was. He so wanted it to be.

"Because I'm going to," Kurosaki snapped back. "No matter what it takes. No matter how long it takes."

Yuuri liked a challenge. Yuuri loved a challenge. Yuuri could hardly wait to see how much of a challenge Kurosaki would be. Dennis didn't always join him in his entertainments but this would be an exception, without a doubt. With two of them working on him, who knew what sorts of enjoyment they could wrench from the angel?

And from his cat. Definitely.

He braced himself in the air, took a better grip on the whip, and began to pull again. He knew he could scent blood now, which meant the thorns had pierced through. Sooner or later the poison would affect the angel and all of his useless struggling would cease.

Something flew in between the two of them and the strain of holding his whip snapped without warning. Yuuri tumbled back, recovering in a breath or two, and whirled.

Another angel hung in the air not that far away, twin light swords in her hands. She bore a strong resemblance to Kurosaki himself, enough that Yuuri presumed they were kin of some kind, and cold rage was writ large upon her features.

"Leave my brother alone," she growled.

"How cute," Yuuri said, smiling. Family could be so very useful in his line of amusement. If the cat didn't do enough to bring Kurosaki in line, then this girl just might. "And who might you be?"

Before she answered, a trickle of warning ran down Yuuri's spine and he darted out of the way a moment before a blade cut through the air where he'd been. Given who he faced, he wasn't in the least surprised to see a very familiar face behind him.

"Yuuto." Oh, he knew this one, the one who bore his own features, yet with different hair, eyes, and manner. He hadn't seen him in many long years, nor was this the reunion that he'd ever imagined.

That had involved much more blood and screaming on Yuuto's part.

But now, much as he disliked the concept, they outnumbered him. He looked from one to the other, gaze lingering for a few seconds on Kurosaki Shun and that annoying cat, both of whom glared back at him.

"You still deserve punishment for intruding on our lands, Kurosaki Shun, and do not doubt I'll deliver it to you one day."

"Not today," Yuuto said, voice calm and unruffled. "Nor any other."

"Not today," Yuuri agreed to that. He gestured in dismissal, watching as the three angels flitted away. He noticed Kurosaki Shun flinching in pain as they did. My poison.

He dropped back down to the ground, where Kurosaki's sword rested still on the ground, and began to make his plans. He'd chosen Kurosaki Shun for his next prisoner of pain, and whatever the cost, however long it took to capture him, he would have his prize.

The End

Note 1: Thank you for reading and I hope that you enjoyed the story. Please let me know what you thought of it if at all possible.

Note 2: This is dedicated to my dearly beloved cat Diana. Rest easy between Bastet's paws.

Note 3: Yuuri's whip is based off what his manga counterpart uses.