A/N: Hey y'all! It's Aurora here with a new story. Why? Because I felt like it. This is also something I've really wanted to start up for quite a while by now. So, I thought to start it up. Trust me, there's a lot more other stories that I haven't begun that I want to work on as well. Well, it just takes time to get them all written down. Hehes

I hope you all enjoy what happens in this first chappie along with further ones for this. Please favorite, follow, etc. along with leaving some nice reviews. Enjoy loves!

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of its characters.

Pairings: Puzzle, Tender, Caste, Destruction, Bronze, and Puppy. Any others will be implied and/or added like usual.

Shadowed Hearts

Chapter 1: Captive

Yugi

My friends and I live in different villages across this world we live in. For me, it's the one where mostly people either have wind and earth magic or water and ice. Somehow I'm a rare case with having fire and metal. Nope, I have no idea how this happened. I guess I'm just lucky, but it sure doesn't feel like it. We've become known to how this so called 'order' works. To be honest I think it's total bullshit. I mean seriously? Alphas looking for their omega? Don't make me gag on how lovey dovey that must sound to most people. To me it sounds like becoming a prisoner. Maybe that's not the case for everyone, but that's how I think about it. Lost in thought, I had been picking fruit and vegetables to stow away. The harvest had come with fall, seeing a variety of colored leaves falling down onto the ground. It can get annoying because of my short height. Sometimes the piles can be kind of large. Still, it's fun to jump into them.

Humming softly to myself, I continued at my work. Putting the picked items into my basket, I did this until it's full to the brim of ripe ingredients to use for meals. This also included some herbs such as garlic, basil, and oregano. Grandpa used to help me with this, but he's grown so old to the point he can't do it anymore. It doesn't bother me in the slightest of taking over as the caretaker role. He's family after all that's practically raised me since my parents died when I was between the ages of five and eight. There are some vague memories of them. Sighing, I shook my head, not wanting to think of that sort of thing. It's not going to help me thinking about the past, the what if's, and what could've gone differently. It only brought back the ache in my heart and the sorrow welling up inside. Tears pricked at the corners of my eyes, blinking them away, not wanting any to fall.

The buildings here are crafted out of slate stone. Inside is designed in how grandpa and I wanted for our own home. The same can be said for the other families that live here. There's the forge where I work that's located nearby. I made sure to apply to one that's only a few minutes walk away from home in case grandpa needed me for anything. It also worried me of leaving him alone for many hours at a time. There are other things that worry me though aside from the home stuff. Heading inside after carrying the basket all the way back, I set it on the kitchen counter, getting to work on washing everything to be put away. Before I could even get to work on preparing a meal, I heard the sound of battle coming from outside, frowning at it. There had been rumors of raiders or something of that sort invading villages to capture various people. The temptation to charge in to defend the others did come to mind. I have my grandpa to worry about. He needs to be kept safe. Helping him go into our panic room, I had been about to close the door when I heard someone kick the door in. Last thing I remember is losing unconsciousness after being hit in the back of the head pretty hard.

Later, I woke up, seeing there are steel bars around me. Where the hell am I? Looking around after blinking a bit to refocus my vision I can see there are others trapped in cages as well. Somehow they fit our sizes though there's some room in them too. Probably whoever made them had been unsure of what would be going inside of them. Sitting there, I thought over why people are being taken, frowning at recalling what I had been told by some others in the village. From what I remember people are caught to be bought and sold on the market here to the highest bidder. Usually, it's the rich and royal folk that attend these things. Grimacing, I sure as hell hope that I'm not with some cruel bastard that just wants to use me for sex and as a blood donor. That would be a pathetic life to live. Seeing the others being wheeled out one by one, I figure it'll soon be my turn too. I recognized some of the others, seeing my friends had been put in the same predicament as me. Nope, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest bit. It's not an ideal situation either. How can it be? We're trapped in a wicked twist of fate. It seemed as if the gods didn't want to look upon us favorably when we have done nothing wrong. When it's my turn, I glared out at whoever came near. I'm only human so there's not much I can do. Our magic is restricted unfortunately due to the shackles they placed on me and the others. Some of the caged people aren't human. Surveying the crowd, I remained unimpressed. When the buyer purchased me, I glanced up to see a near mirror image of myself. Quirking a brow, I don't know what to make of him aside from coming to the conclusion that he's really hot.

Long tricolored hair is pulled into a low ponytail, noticing his is mostly black with crimson at the tips of each strand along with lightning bolt bangs, casting his ruby colored eyes at me in a mix of amusement and intrigue. His body looks as if it's almost chiseled from a deity's thought of how he should look like. Pale and well built in his form, wondering what he could be. From the aura I sense rolling off him in waves shows he's not like me. Dressed in all black with also a pair of combat boots on his feet, he took me out of the cage, grabbing the leash to lead me back to probably wherever he had come from. There's a tense silence between us. Well, it's tense on my end, but this might be normal for him. It's not until we're a decent amount away from the auction house that I pipe up to him.

"Who the hell are you?" I blurted out curiously, looking up at him again.

"Yami," is all he would tell me for now, continuing to walk with leisurely strides while I barely manage to keep up with him.

Well, at least I have a name to put to his face now. It's better than nothing. After what seems like hours of traveling, we finally arrive to a dark spired castle. Staring up at it in awe, I wonder if this is his home. If so, I also wonder as to who lives with him. Being guided inside, I soon enough felt a plush carpet underneath my feet. While the stone is onyx the decor is in cloth of velvet and leather. The shades range from black to purple to ruby to sapphire and mixed with some gold. The colors clashed well with one another. It seemed to be lavishly furnished as well. Taking me around his home, Yami showed me everything inside. There are various servants milling about, carrying out their duties as per usual. Though he appeared to have some other occupants here aside from himself. There's someone that looks kind of like him, but with tanned skin and gold tricolored hair instead of what we have. He has violet eyes too. Still, I have no idea what these guys are. Maybe I'll be introduced to that aspect shortly enough. It's not like I'm going anywhere anytime soon.

"I see you returned, brother," noted the older male, eyeing him suspiciously before looking down at me. "And you brought home a new one. Don't break him like you did with your last pet. I don't want to have to clean up your messes anymore…"

"I know," replied Yami curtly, glaring lightly at his older sibling. "Don't remind me, ok? It was a mistake…. You know this, but still you continue to hang it over my head as if one tiny mistake is going to put our entire lineage at risk."

"it will," hissed the other male, narrowing his eyes ever so slightly, making me nervous of how imposing he seems given the chance; especially when he's angry. "You know as well as I do if we make any mistakes that the elders will look poorly on us. We don't want them intervening with our matters. They'll only screw it up."

"Yeah, I'm aware," grumbled Yami, shrugging it off, not really wanting to deal with him nagging on him about having to be careful when all he's doing is trying to live out his life the way he wants to instead of following in his brother's footsteps. "You're the crown prince anyways. I don't see why what I do will affect you so severely…."

"Don't fret over him, little one. Yami can be a bit….on edge sometimes," he told me, looking up at him curiously. "Oh, you don't know me. I'm Atem and his older brother if you didn't figure that out already. Hopefully he'll treat you right…"

"Of course I will," sniffed Yami indignantly. "You have a gift left in your chambers. I found someone that would suit your tastes… Consider it as a way of asking for your oh so sought after forgiveness."

"I see," nodded Atem, giving this tidbit a pinch of skepticism, though brushed it aside as if deciding Yami wouldn't steer him wrong. "Thank you then. I accept your apology. Don't screw it up this time with him."

"Ugh, I get it already," said Yami through gritted teeth, glaring at him again before Atem left, chuckling lightly at how Yami can be at times.

Tilting my head to the side, I can definitely tell their dynamic is different compared to any I've seen before. It's entertaining to say the least for being a witness of it. What does intrigue me as well is how Atem seems nicer compared to Yami. I could be wrong though considering I just met them both. Being directed again, I notice he's taking me to the kitchen. Eyeing him suspiciously, he lets go of the leash, taking it off to give me some free-range of movement. Quirking my lips in a small smile, I gave a nod of appreciation for it.

"So, what's in here?" I asked, guessing he took me here instead of his bedroom for a good reason.

"You need to be fed and so do I," answered Yami simply, getting out ingredients along with a thermos from the fridge.

"What's that?" I asked, unsure of what could be in the metal container.

"What my brother and I feed upon. We're not human like you, Yugi. We're not alive beings if you haven't noticed already. You probably think this isn't real, but we're vampires. We thrive off the life essence of other beings whether it be human or animal."

A/N: Oks, that's the end of chappie one. I know it's a bit short, but next time it'll be longer. This is definitely going to be fun to work on. Hopefully y'all enjoyed how this unfolded despite the length of it. Hehes

The next chappie will be out shortly whenever I have it finished being written up. Hopefully that won't be too long of a wait for it. Until then, please remember to review, darlings!