Please note: This story is about a piñata.
I hope you realize what you're about to read.
Yami stared at the gaggle of kids before him. Kaiba told him he'd be facing a rather odd opponent, but this wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting.
"Which of you wanted to duel me?" Yami asked the children. They ignored him. In fact, it was as if they hadn't heard him at all. Odd.
One of the children stepped forward, his eyes covered by a folded bandana. Another one produced a baseball bat and gave it to the blindfolded one. Yami took a step backward, posing himself to run if he found himself under attack. Whatever kind of duel these kids were planning, he wanted no part in it.
The kid with the baseball bat had taken a single step forward when the other kids began to shout angrily. Yami couldn't quite make out what they were saying. It sounded distant and lonely for some reason. Too distant to hear properly.
The kid with the bat turned back around and allowed the others to... spin him in circles? What on earth was going on? Was this some sort of ritual among children that Yami had never been made aware of? Spinning With Baseball Bats While Blindfolded. It sounded like a strange tradition to him, but most traditions were rather odd when you took the time to think about them.
After spinning him for a bit, the others turned the kid with the bat forward again. Relatively speaking, at least. He seemed slightly disoriented. Perhaps that was the point of the spinning. But why?
Suddenly, without warning, the kid charged forward, brandishing his baseball bat like a sword. Yami was too surprised to react, and the bat missed him by only a fraction of an inch. He stumbled backward, praying to all the gods he knew that he hadn't just figured out the objective of this "game".
The kid made some disappointed remark before turning around and giving the bat another forceful swing, this time smashing into Yami's arm. Yami cried out in pain before he could stop himself, but the children didn't seem to notice. Yami clutched his throbbing arm and watched as the children gave a delighted, sickening cheer. A surge of anger welled up inside him. This wasn't a game. This was an attempt at premeditated murder.
"Fuck you, Kaiba," Yami growled under his breath. The bastard had set him up. Of course. Leave it to Kaiba to hire a bunch of kids as hit men. But then again, Kaiba was the type who liked to solve things himself. Maybe he was planning to have the kids beat him up as he watched so he could give some lecture about the past being useless before pulling out one of his patented Kaiba Corp.® Duel Razors™ and stabbing Yami in the heart. It sounded ridiculous, but Yami wasn't about to forget Death-T.
Yami decided he'd had enough. He turned around to leave and found himself blocked off in all directions by a web of trees and rope. Yami's heart gave an unpleasant lurch. He was completely enclosed, shut off from the rest of the world. If he wanted to escape, he'd have to fight his way through the group of kids, who were passing the blindfold and bat to the next one in line.
The next kid, a small but tough-looking girl, allowed herself to be spun and then spun some more after being released, screaming with delight. Yami pressed his hands to his ears, ignoring the pain in his arm. This girl's voice was unbearable. It was no wonder the other kids were glaring at her like that.
After spinning wildly for a bit longer, the girl took the bat and advanced forward. Or tried to. She ended up several feet away from him, and then screamed some more after she swung the bat and missed. After a few moments, she walked in a random direction and ended up on the other side of him, swinging wildly and missing again. Then she turned again... this time facing Yami directly. She grinned and began to run forward.
The girl's joyful shriek pierced Yami's eardrums as he watched her come closer. He wanted to run, but where to? There was nowhere. Not when he was trapped in this closed-off area with these deranged children. He wanted to shout at them, to punish them, to do something that didn't involved being bludgeoned to death, but his body seemed to have stopped responding.
The girl appeared at Yami's side and swung the bat in a circle, hitting him squarely on the back. His knees buckled under him, and he collapsed onto the ground, aware of nothing but the pain surging through his body and the taste of blood in his mouth.
Yami wasn't sure how long he stayed there, lying on the ground and making no effort to stop the tears from flowing from his eyes, his pride abandoned for the time being. Everything was on fire; everything hurt. He was vaguely aware of a splatter of blood on the ground that the kids were licking up eagerly. Was that why they were doing this? Were they vampires who hunted in packs? Yami wanted to ask them, but attempting to talk only made him cough up more blood.
Then one more kid approached with the baseball bat in hand.
Yami gazed up at him helplessly, struggling to move, to run, but his body was too weak. The boy, who hadn't bothered with the blindfold, put on a terrifying smirk and raised the bat above his head for the most powerful blow he could manage.
CRACK.
Yami's mouth filled with blood.
Tastes like candy, thought Yami as his consciousness drifted away.