AnimeGirlAnn: Da Na Na Na! New Story!

Yugi: And in this one we're male! (Sorry genderbend fans)

Jounouchi: Why did you make a new story!? You still haven't updated on Domino Hikaris!

AnimeGirlAnn: Well this story's been on my mind for a while now, I think it's going to be fun to write, and (most importantly of all) because I WANTED TOO!

Malik: Lazy writers aside-

AnimeGirlAnn: Hey!

Ryou: We hope you enjoy this new story!

Malik: Disclaimer: AnimeGirlAnn does not own Yu-Gi-Oh nor any of it's characters, though she does own this plot, so don't steal it! Also, if you do not like violence, gay shippings (specifically Puzzle, Bronze, Tender, or Puppyshipping), or stories that involve demons and angels, this is probably not your story. Hope ya at least try it though.

Jounouchi: And if you don't like and decide to flame at least TRY to make it sound like constructive criticism

Yugi: Anyways, we hope you enjoy ;)

Chapter 1: The Guest

Agony.

Pure, unadulterated agony.

There was no other way he could think to describe the feeling.

Once, when he was younger, the demon had once fallen into one of the endless fires in Hell. This wouldn't have hurt a full grown demon who had already developed their fire-proof thick skin. Unfortunately though, when he fell in he was only a child and had yet to develop a demon's fire proofness. So when he fell in, he suffered the full wrath of Hell's eternally burning flames. For weeks he was covered in aching burns, so bad just breathing was an insufferable challenge. Many nights he recalled waiting for the tiredness to outpower the pain so he could finally asleep. All the while waiting for his own death so that he could finally get rid of the seemingly eternal agony.

The demon had always believed that long ago injury to be the worst pain he would ever feel. But this pain he felt now, made that fire incident feel like a butterfly punch.

His demonic body was being burned alive by white, holy fire with his own demonic blood acting as the oil feeding the flames as he descended. It didn't help that he was covered in his own blood from all the wounds he suffered from. Meanwhile, the merciless air pressure was suffocating him like a deflating balloon as he continued falling into the unknown.

Within the last few moments before he became unconscious, the demon managed to get a glimpse of where he would fall too….

The world of the humans, Earth…..

-(Elsewhere At The Same Time)-

In the better lit city side of Domino, Malik tensed, stopping in the middle of a busy sidewalk in the city. Around him people kept walking, not feeling the dark presence Malik had. Except for Ryou, who despite not being as powerful as Malik, could too sense the powerful presence.

"Malik? Do you feel that?" Ryou asked, looking up at the night sky as if he expected it to explode right in his face.

Malik nodded, not taking his eyes off the sky with an unreadable expression. "There's no mistaking it, a demon has fallen into Domino….. and not just any demon either."

"I've never felt such a powerful force before!" Ryou said his tone not hiding any of his fear.

"I hate to say this… But I think it may be him." Malik stated.

"...H-Him?" Ryou asked.

"The Demon Pharaoh," Malik told him, his face shadowed.

Ryou's already pale skin became five times paler upon hearing Malik confirm his worst fears.

"What do we do now...?"

Turning away from the sky, Malik looked Ryou in the eyes before answering, "Try not to get killed."

-(A While Later Somewhere With Less Foreshadowing)-

Yugi had always made it a rule, no, a LAW for himself to not be out in his neighborhood once it got dark out. With the roaming gangs and escaped prisoners wandering around, being out during the dark was the equivalent to suicide in his neighborhood. It made you wonder exactly what the local police did all the time instead of doing their job.

That's why Yugi found himself questioning his sanity while standing outside a corner store staring down a shadowed sidewalk at the middle of the night.

"Have a good day!" the cashier called out to Yugi as he left the store.

"T-Thank you," Yugi stuttered, his attention focused directly at the street ahead of him. The street was dimly lit with the only light source being the blinking streetlights. Yugi could faintly hear the sound of footsteps from somewhere down the street. Though he wasn't sure whether it was from a psychotic criminal or a stray cat, but he really hoped it was the latter. It was times like these that made Yugi really wish he lived in a neighborhood with better lighting (or simply better prisons).

Maybe he could simply go the other way around? Turning around, Yugi looked down the street behind him. Unsurprisingly, it was even worse than the other side without even a hint of light. Almost like a path into an endless black abyss.

Well, maybe it wasn't that bad, at least if he took this route gangs or criminals wouldn't see hi-Wait what's that!?

Within the pitch black darkness Yugi could see the slight silhouette of what looked like a middle aged man walking towards him.

Well… um… maybe he was just some guy coming to buy something from the corner store? As the man came close to light Yugi noticed a glint of light coming from an object in the man's hands.

Oh dear Ra, was that a GUN!?

This situation reminded Yugi of something he heard in the news this morning. In which a young teen boy was found shot to death near a local corner store with signs he had been raped brutally only seconds before death. Which corner store was that dead boy found near again? Looking up to check what corner store he had gone too, Yugi remembered it was the same one he was at now….

Suddenly the other dimly lit street wasn't looking all that bad.

The middle aged man had gotten closer now and reached a gloved hand towards Yugi.

"Excuse me-"

Yugi decided not to stick around to hear the rest of whatever the possible murderer/rapist had to say. So Yugi sprinted in the other direction towards home with the speed thought only capable of a hyper squirrel high on steroids and coffee.

"H-Hey wait!" the man called out, watching Yugi's hastily retreating figure. "I was just hoping to ask for directions. My phone had directions to the place I need, but it just died." To prove his point the man held up a shiny black cellphone with a red dead battery sign on it.

After what seemed like an hour (but was really only a few minutes) of inhumanely fast sprinting, Yugi finally stopped and leaned against a streetlight while he tried to catch his breath back. Usually at times like this, Yugi would've just called his Grandpa to give him a ride home. Though that wasn't an option he could do this week. Grandpa Solomon had left town just this morning to visit an old friend, he wouldn't be back till next week.

Yugi wondered if Grandpa would be regretful of that decision if he arrived home next week and arrived at his grandson's funeral. His friends would probably be there too. He could almost hear Jounouchi sobbing 'I always told him not to go out late at night, WHY DIDN'T HE LISTEN!?' while Ryou comforted him if he himself wasn't too busy crying either. Meanwhile Malik would probably be screaming his head off threatening he would do unspeakable things to whoever did it.

Malik was never really one to show his sadness through mourning, he was more of a 'taking obsessive vengeance' kind of mourner.

Miho and Tristan though… actually Yugi wasn't really sure what'd those two would do, crying probably?

But Yugi wasn't planning on ever testing that theory. Sighing to himself, Yugi looked back up and started his way home filled with determination he would not die tonight.

Unfortunately for him that determination would not last.

After a few minutes of walking Yugi arrived at the familiar sight of the Muto family game shop and his home. Yugi felt himself smiling in relief he wasn't kidnapped/and or murdered yet. Until he noticed the door was wide open. Suddenly Yugi felt as if the air had just been forced out of him by an unforeseen force.

A burglar?! It had to be. Who else would've broken into to an innocent game shop like his? Or, maybe it was a murderer patiently waiting inside for his prey (AKA Yugi) to come inside and then rip his neck open! Either way, Yugi was not pleased.

'Should I even go inside!?' Yugi wondered to himself. Maybe he should call someone first, but his phone was in the house…. Going to one of his friend's house wasn't much of an option, their houses were all far away from his. A trip to them on foot at this time of night would mean certain death in this neighborhood.

Maybe whoever had broken in was gone already? Maybe not, but a part of Yugi was yearning to know. It was this curiosity that provoked him to take a quick peak into the wide opened game shop.

The first thing Yugi noticed, was the overwhelming scent of copper and rot that bombarded his nose. A boy that looked around his age was curled up in a fetal position on the floor. His clothes were torn into rags that looked like they had been burnt into the color of ash. Several extensive wounds were covering his body and leaking what looked to be black blood onto the floor. He could hear the boy emit deep, gaspy breaths like it was a challenge to take every breath.

The whole thing was hard to look at, so Yugi looked off to the side, preferring anything to the gruesome sight on the floor. It was then Yugi realized that beside the intruder, the rest of the store seemed untouched. Perhaps the intruder had come in in search of refuge after getting so injured? It'd make sense.

Now feeling a bit guilty for looking away, Yugi quietly walked up towards him.

"A-Are you awake…?" Yugi asked quietly. The stranger tensed upon hearing him and then slowly lifted his head away from his legs to reveal two crimson eyes looking up at him.

"...Y-Y… e...s…."

"Good," Yugi replied, "I'm going to go get my phone and call for an ambulance, I'll be right back."

"NO!" the man gasped, before immediately coughing afterwards at the overuse of his voice. "J-Ju...s...t… ge...t…. me…. ban...dages….I'm f-fine…." he continued more quietly after managing to stop coughing.

"O-Okay…" Yugi reluctantly agreed.

"Here, let me take you to the bathroom, it'll be easier to treat to you then," Yugi suggested, taking a hold of the stranger before half holding half dragging him through the hallway to the bathroom.

There Yugi turned on the sink before putting one of the stranger's wounds under the water. Black blood flowed down the drain.

The stranger remained mostly silent the entire time except for the occasional grunts and gasps from the shock of cold water running over tender wounds. Yugi continued to slowly clean and bandage each of the wounds. Eventually managing to work his way up to his blood stained face.

"Wow, you really got yourself knocked up," Yugi declared, wiping away both running and dried black blood on the stranger's face. A long though shallow cut was across his forehead and kept pouring more and more black blood onto his bruised face.

"How'd you even get this banged up?"

The stranger gave him a weak shrug, "D-Do...n't want to…. talk… about it."

Yugi nodded, he guessed it wasn't something that was fun to remember anyways. A while later Yugi managed to treat all the wounds he could find on the stranger's bruised body. The end result was what looked like a real life mummy with red eyes and spiky hair.

"All done! Here you can sleep in my room for now," Yugi told the stranger before helping him up and into his room.

The stranger didn't even bother to respond to Yugi and once they got into his room, he fell onto the bed face first. Yugi pulled the blankets up to cover him.

Even though Yugi had been with the stranger for the last hour or so, he never really did get a good look at him. Now that he was blood clean and resting on his bed though, Yugi did get a chance to do just that. The stranger had sharp crimson eyes that seemed to hold both a hundred years worth of wisdom and the weariness of a hundred year old man. Locks of spiky red and blond bangs covered his scalp in a hairstyle similar to Yugi's own. All in all, he was a pretty handsome guy...

"W-Wh...y?" the stranger muttered quietly.

"Hm?"

"Wh….y did….you….h-he..lp me?"

Yugi shrugged, "Why wouldn't I? I couldn't just leave you there."

"...M-most people….. woul….dn't ha…..ve done th…..at." the stranger pointed out.

"I'm not like most people," Yugi answered with a soft smile.

The stranger stared at Yugi with wide eyes before slowly, his mouth formed a soft, sincere smile.

"Oh hey! You have a really sweet smile!" Yugi thought out loud, before instantly regretting it when he felt a rush of embarrassment flood through him.

"I-I mean uh-"

"I-I'm smiling?" the stranger asked a hand reaching towards his face as if to see if it was true.

"Yeah." Yugi told him.

"... I haven't….. smiled in… a lo...ng time…" the stranger mumbled looking rather shocked.

"Well, I'm glad you are now in that case," Yugi responded, "Anyways, you can sleep on my bed tonight, you'll need your rest, I'll just sleep on the couch tonight."

Yugi turned to leave but was stopped by a firm grip on his arm.

"N-No." Yugi heard the stranger say before feeling himself being pulled under the covers of his bed.

"E-Eh!?" Yugi gasped, looking behind him, where he saw the stranger cuddling into his back.

"I-I'm not stealing my saviours bed…" the stranger explained. "Besides your warm…."

"T-This is emmbarassing!" Yugi complained, struggling out of his surprisingly iron strong grip.

"Don't care." the stranger responded.

"Well, at least you're talking in complete sentences now." Yugi sighed, deciding to give up. "Can you at least give me your name since we're apparently sleeping together?"

"Haha, you'll have to buy me a drink first," he joked.

"Pervert! I liked you better when you were quiet!" Yugi snapped back angrily with red cheeks.

"Heh, you can call me…. Yami."

"Yami? I've never heard of anyone with that name before," Yugi noted.

"Well now you do."

"I'm Yugi by the way," Yugi informed him.

"Nice to meet you Yugi…." Yami quietly greeted, before the sound of soft snores filled the room.

A small smile graced Yugi's lips, before he too fell asleep.