A/N: Hello again, as you may have guessed by the title, this is the prologue from the Dark's and Seto's point of view. It took me forever to finally start this, but I thought it was only fair to show the whole situation from both groups' perspectives. It just made sense to give you the full spectrum of what is happening with each character before moving on with the story. Geez, I never thought writing a multiple chapter story would be this hard… No wonder I usually stuck to short stories.

I do not own any of the characters….Dammit.

Secondly, the plot is mine with acknowledged inspiration coming from Reizbar-Ookami.

Thirdly, NEED REVIEWS SO THIS STORY ISN'T A LOST CAUSE!


"We are such cowards." Seto said, closing his eyes as he sighed in frustration. The three young Egyptian men sitting around him in his living room all looked at him, their eyes boggled at what he just said.

"EH?" Such was the sophisticated response. Yami was the first to recover when he hung his head in shame and realization, just nodding in agreement with what the young CEO just stated. The other two men, Marik and Bakura, turned their attention to him.

"What? Why?" They both countered in indignation, being offended that big badasses such as themselves could be cowards of any kind. Yami just sighed before raising his crimson eyes and glaring at them.

"Because we are, you idiots! At least Seto's man enough to admit the truth! I've known for a while, but you two are in denial. We're cowards because we're terrified to telling our hikari's-", Yami was interrupted by Seto's forced cough, "- , and Joey, that we love them!"

"Oh, right, that…. Okay, we're cowards." Bakura agreed as both he and Marik slumped even further into the couch, now severely depressed by the situation.

As you may have already found out, dear reader, the Darks have been living with their respective Lights for the past six months. However, only mostly unbeknownst to their Lights and Joey, all the Darks and Seto have fallen in love with them but have yet to tell them. Thus, this created very depressed Lights, plus Joey, while making all the Darks, plus Seto, doubly depressed. Oh, what is a young teen in love to do?

"Alright, we may be cowards, but we have to tell them! It's only fair. They need to know." Yami stated, obviously being the voice of reason of the group, despite his own uncertainty of his words. The others just looked at him in horror.

"We can't do that! Who knows what will happen! They could hate us forever if we just told them!" Marik exclaimed, firmly in the grips of the group's fears and paranoia. Bakura was nodding so hard in agreement he looked like an Egyptian albino bobble-head doll. Seto's entire body had stiffened at the words "hate" and "forever" because he had had enough hate in both his lifetimes to never want to have anything to do with such horrible emotions again. After finally coming to grips with his returned memories, as well as finding real friends for the first time in his life, Seto never wanted to feel or be treated with such hatred again. He had learned the hard way, twice, that it only led to pain and regret.

Now here are the explanations of why the Darks and Seto refuse to tell their loves the truth of their feelings. Once again, it starts after the Ceremonial Duel…

Yami had fallen in love with his Aibou a long time ago, way before the Ceremonial Duel took place. At first, the strange new emotions he began to experience around his Light had confused him of course, what with being trapped in a puzzle for five thousand years with no human contact. But over time he was finally able to accept that he loved his younger look-alike after Duelist Kingdom, but because of him being an intangible spirit, nothing serious would come from it. However, this didn't stop his emotions from intensifying the longer he spent around the teenager. Yugi, in Yami's eyes, was the most beautiful, caring, and compassionate person he had ever met. It seemed like his heart knew no bounds when it came to his friends, and even strangers, when they were in need. Being around such a person showed Yami that he didn't need incredible strength or limitless power to be happy, only that he be himself. Yami could see that any person would be lucky to have Yugi's heart. In the end, it was that thought that made Yami's own heart twist painfully in his chest whenever he thought of his beloved Little One.

Yugi could choose anyone to love, and would no doubt be loved in return. Why would he want some ancient spirit that lived in his head and took over his body all the time? Better yet, and this thought hurt Yami so badly he imagined he would die from the shame and regret, why would Yugi want someone that didn't listen to him and caused that wonderful boy to be captured and imprisoned in the Shadow Realm? What he did that day, playing that horrid Seal of Orichalcos, was unforgiveable in his eyes. Knowing that Yugi had already forgiven him had made him feel slightly better, but he had yet to forgive himself. He had acted selfishly and cruelly, forcing Yugi to pay the price for his arrogance. In Yami's mind, Yugi would never want someone so horrible and inconsiderate as a life-mate or even a boyfriend.

Bakura and Marik suffered from the same feelings of shame and regret. They had both treated their Lights horribly, often hurting them physically and mentally in order to gain more accursed power for themselves. For them, even being possessed by sadistic evil spirits and dark Shadow magic were not adequate excuses for what they had done. Even now, the two spirits would suffer nightmares about what they made their Lights go through. Banishing them to the Shadow Realm over and over, ridiculing them and hurting their friends and family, they just couldn't get away from the evil acts of their pasts, thus causing them to give up on their futures and any hopes of being in loving relationships with them.

To say that they were shocked when they heard about the Gods' offer of gaining a body and living all over again in the modern time with their Lights, well that would be the understatement of the past five millennia. In those first few seconds, all of the spirits had felt truly blessed for being given the chance of spending their lives with the ones they loved, that is, until their high hopes were dashed by their pasts coming back to haunt them. So far, they have been able to change themselves for the better, often making their Lights happy, and subsequently, making themselves happy, but the hopes they once had were pushed far back into their minds, chained by their fears and uncertainties.

For Seto, it had to be extremely obvious why he was scared, now that he freely admits it, of telling his blond puppy how he feels. I mean, seriously, if the person that had made your life Hell ever since they met you just upped and told you that they loved you more than words could say, wouldn't you be a tad unbelieving and freaked out? Yes. Yes, you would. And considering how his energetic puppy often overreacts over things, being freaked out was the least of Seto's worries. Sometimes he could barely sleep at night worrying over how Joey would react to his confession. One possibility was a harsh punch to the face, but compared to Joey's unrelenting hatred, a black eye or broken jaw sounded like the more appealing option.

Suffice to say, each of them had their reasons for being cowards.

"Okay, cousin, what do you propose we do about it?" Seto asked, now thoroughly tired of the whole situation and only wanted answers.

"Yeah, Pharaoh, what the Hell do we do?" Bakura growled. Marik didn't even add to the conversation, but paid attention all the same.

"Well, we….No, we could….Maybe we can….ARRGH! I have absolutely no idea. If we just had an idea about their feelings for us, then maybe we could get somewhere. As much as I would love to tell Yugi everything, the prospect of failure is too great. Damn, why did our loves have to be so hard to read?" Yami groaned, hanging his head in his hands.

"Wait, you still have that mind-link, right?" Seto asked, hoping for something positive.

"No can do, Priest. We all tried it weeks ago. We can't get an idea about their emotions since the link has degraded a bit since we obtained our own bodies. It still works for communication, but as for emotions, no go." Bakura explained, causing Seto's good mood to deflate. Oh well, that idea went out the window fast.

"Okay, so there's no way we can secretly analyze their emotions. Fine. What about asking someone else?" Marik suggested. Seto and Yami looked at him, both raising their eyebrows.

"What do you mean, 'ask someone else'?" Yami asked.

"Well, why don't we ask Yugi's grandfather or Malik's brother and sister or Joey's sister? I mean, they have to know something, don't they?" Marik explained.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, Tomb Keeper, but that might not work. What if our crushes did confide their feelings about us, but they're not what we hope they are?" Seto countered, his mind whirling with logical arguments. "I mean, what if they told their relatives that they like someone else other than us, or that they're not gay to begin with. If we just started asking suspicious questions about their personal relationships, they'll most likely catch on to what we're doing and tell them. Either way, it could turn out horribly for all of us."

Marik just growled at Seto before crossing his arms and huffing, muttering something like 'buzz kill' under his breath.

"He has a point, Marik. Whatever plan we may try will always have to possibility of failure. There will always be the chance that they find out about what we're trying to do and call us on it." Yami defended.

"So, what you're saying, Pharoah, is that we can't do anything at all to solve our problem because what we're terrified of happening could happen sooner if we did do something? What the HELL!" Bakura yelled loudly, his face going red with anger. He couldn't believe that there was nothing he could do to be with his dear Ryou that couldn't backfire on him.

After Bakura had his little explosion, he finally just returned to slumping on the couch. Marik followed his example while Yami and Seto just shook their heads in frustration. Overall, they couldn't see any way out of their predicament without risk of exposure, which would be practically assured if they tried to find out their love's inner feelings through outside means. All this pointed to was the final option of a face-to-face meeting. The only way they could truly find out if their love was reciprocated would have to be confronting their crushes directly. Although this plan meant that the Darks and Seto had the most to lose: their pride, their happiness, and most importantly, the loves of their lives; ultimately, it was the only plan where results, regardless of good or bad, would be received the fastest way. That only left one question on each of the young men's minds:

"What ARE we going to do?"