Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh

"speech"

'thought'

Chapter 2: Innocent Wings


Soft. That was he felt. Everything around him was soft. It felt like he was lying on a cloud, cool and fluffy underneath him. His body was enveloped in the feeling, and it was comforting and peaceful. He let out a contented sigh, and buried his face in the pillow he was lying on. The king smiled slightly; he thought he was home. He thought he was lying in his bed, a familiar place. But for some reason his pillow had a soft, citrus scent to it like lemons. 'Lemons?' he thought. 'Why would my pillows smell like lemons?'

Suddenly everything came back to him, rushing at him like an avalanche. He opened his eyes and sat up. He took in the unfamiliar surroundings, trying to find anything that looked even slightly familiar. Finding nothing, he started to panic. Where was he? Why wasn't he in the palace? He suddenly remembered that he had flown to a human city and passed out in the middle of a park. Then he remembered he had been found by a human. The boy with the purple eyes. Could he have taken him somewhere? It certainly looked like a human home. And everything smelled of human.

The king growled angrily. He was repulsed by the mere fact that a human had touched him. He didn't want to think of what else the filthy creatures might have done to him. He blamed himself for letting himself be found. If only he had stayed in the forest, but no, he just had to fly out to a human city. Now he was in an even greater mess than before. The king tried to get up, but received a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He turned his crimson eyes down and gasped. His left wing was covered in bandages, the white material covering almost all of the black wing. He tried to move it, but hissed in pain. Well, it was official. His wing was broken, and would be useless for a few weeks. He needed to get back home so that he could be healed properly.

He then looked down and saw he was shirtless, his chest also wrapped in many bandages. There was another one on his upper right arm, and his left shoulder was covered as well. He could feel one wrapped around his forehead, and there was a band aid on his left cheek. His wrists were wrapped as well, and he could barely move them. The king could also feel bandages on his legs. He must have suffered more injuries than he thought.

All of a sudden he heard a door close somewhere below him, and the sound of footsteps coming upstairs. He tensed up, sensing a human was nearby. It was probably the human who found him. When was that? A few hours? A day? How long had he been unconscious? The king hoped it wasn't for too long, because he really needed to get back to his kingdom to see if his soldiers had won the battle. His thoughts were interrupted when the door to the room he was in opened, and in walked a human. The king was shocked to find that the boy looked almost identical to him, except for the height and the hair color. The human then turned, and the king looked into violet eyes. 'It's the boy from before!' he thought as an expression of shock came over his face momentarily.

"Oh, I see you've regained consciousness. I'm glad," the human said, smiling at him. The king growled and jumped out of the bed, summoning a dagger with magic and pointing it at the boy. "Who are you! Where am I!" he demanded.

"Calm down. You're going to hurt yourself even more," the boy said, stepping closer to the other despite the blade aimed at him. The king growled again, his crimson eyes ablaze. "Stay away, human! Where am I!"

"We are at my house," the smaller boy said, taking a few steps back. The king looked into his eyes, surprised at how calm they seemed, despite what was happening.

"Who are you!" Clearly the king was not going to calm down until he got some answers. He was also clearly not above threatening the boy.

"My name is Yugi Mouto." Yugi had remained very calm and even this whole time, obviously not worried that anything would happen to him.

"You are the boy from the park," the king said, receiving a nod from the other boy. "You brought me here?"

"Yes, but it wasn't easy carrying you all the way from the park to my house. I was afraid that you'd get hurt even more."

"Were you the one who bandaged my injuries?"

"Yes, but you are going to re-open them if you don't go lie down," Yugi said as he took another step towards the leader. The crimson eyed man growled in warning, holding the dagger up, and Yugi stopped in his place. "What's the matter?"

"I don't trust you, human! How do I know you didn't do anything to me? I wouldn't put it past your kind to do something like that. "

"I wouldn't do that. Please lie down," the boy said again. "No! I'm leaving now!" the king yelled back as he started walking towards the window. Suddenly he felt hands grab his arm, trying to stop him. With a cry of outrage, he pushed the human away. "Don't touch me, you worthless, filthy human!" The man saw hurt flash through the amethyst eyes quickly, but it was replaced with determination.

"You can't leave."

"I can do anything I want, and no human is going to stop me!" he said, as he opened the window.

"Yami, don't go!" The man stopped in surprise. The boy knew his name. He turned towards the boy, and walked away from the window. "How do you know who I am?"

"You told me at the park," came Yugi's response.

That's right, he had. Right before he had passed out, Yami remembered telling the boy his name. The others would kill him if they ever found out. Not only had Yami talked to a human, but he had told the human his name. That alone must have broken ten laws. Yami was suddenly aware of a hand holding his, and growled at the boy. Yugi, however, didn't listen and pulled him back towards the bed. The human pushed him back onto the bed, but Yami tried to get back up. Yugi pushed him back down again. "You have to stay still, or else your wounds won't heal."

"I'm perfectly fine!" Yami said, flexing his wings. He cried out in pain when he suddenly felt pain in his shoulder. "Damn wing!"

"Don't move it."

"Don't tell me what to do! What would you know about wings, human!" Yami spat at the boy.

"I don't know anything. But I do know it's hurt, and with any injury you have to take care of it. Now hold still, and I'm going to change the bandages," Yugi said as he walked out of the room. Yami scowled after him, but didn't say anything. He had no other choice. With this broken wing he couldn't get away. Even though he was strong enough to walk now, he didn't know where he was. And he certainly wouldn't go outside with his wings showing.

Yugi then came back holding a few rolls of new bandages, a cloth, and a bowl of water. He sat on the bed in front of Yami, causing the other to scoot back as he continued to glare at the human. "Yami, please let me change your bandages," Yugi pleaded. There was something in the way that Yugi asked him that calmed his anger a bit. He searched the boys eyes for any hint of malice, but found only care in the deep violet orbs. With a heavy sigh, Yami scooted closer to the boy but still kept his guard up.

Yugi smiled, and gently took one of Yami's hands. He slowly started to unwrap the bandage, being careful not to hurt the other any more. Yami watched the human boy the entire time, and noticed how soft the other's hands felt against his skin. He slowly started to relax since he didn't sense any immediate danger. They sat in silence for a bit, until Yami finally broke the silence. "Why are you doing this?" Yugi glanced up at the man quickly and replied, "Because you are hurt."

"But why?" Yami asked again. The human just shrugged as he continued what he was doing. "I don't know. You were hurt, and I couldn't just leave you there. Who knows what could have happened to you."

Yami sat there, going over the boy's answer. It didn't really make sense. There was no benefit to Yugi for helping, and yet he had gone out of his way to bring him to this house to treat Yami. Yami shook his head in confusion; he just didn't understand humans. These creatures were so strange. They had limited time, yet wasted it doing things like this. Speaking of time, Yami was curious as to how much time had passed since he passed out. "How long has it been since you found me?"

"Two weeks," was the simple answer.

That news hit Yami like a ton of bricks. "TWO WEEKS! I've been unconscious for two weeks!" He had thought he'd been unconscious for at least three, maybe four days at the most. But this news wasn't good at all.

Yugi just nodded, slightly surprised by the outburst. "What's wrong?"

"I have to get back!" Yami said as he started to get up, only to be held back by Yugi. "Let go! I need to go home!"

"You're still injured! You'd only get hurt worse if you tried to leave," Yugi said as he tried to calm the king. But Yami wouldn't calm down, and kept trying to fight the boy to get free. "The other's have to be worried. They probably think I'm dead!" Yami said as he continued to try to leave.

"Do you think they'd want you to get hurt even more just because you wanted to get back home?" At those words, Yami stopped struggling. The human was right; the others would want him to heal. They'd probably yell at him for getting hurt more. With another heavy sigh, he sat back down on the bed. Yugi let out a small sigh himself. Trying to hold the man back was difficult, even if Yami had all those injuries on him. He looked at the man, and noticed the worried expression in his eyes. "Is there something wrong at your home?"

"A human like you would never understand."

"Maybe I will. Try me."

Yami was silent as he watched as the boy began to treat his wounds again, starting on his right arm now. Yami wasn't sure if he should tell the boy. Contact with humans was against the law, and not even he, the king, was exempt from the rules. But then again, Yugi didn't seem to pose any threat to him or his race. "Well…forget it. You really wouldn't understand."

"Just try." Yugi sounded pretty confident that he'd understand the situation. Yami decided to humor him, since there was really nothing else he could do at the moment. Perhaps talking about it would keep Yami from stressing out so much. So Yami sighed and started talking. "Ok…well, you've probably guessed I'm not human."

"Really? Cause the giant black wings and the fact that you called me a 'worthless, filthy human' didn't tip me off in the slightest," Yugi replied sarcastically, bringing a smirk to Yami's face.

"I am a Shadow," Yami continued. "My race is as old as the humans."

"Shadow? I've never heard of you."

"Of course not. Humans are our sworn enemies."

"Why?"

"When the first human was created, so was the first Shadow. They were like two sides of a same coin. The human was the "light" half while we were the "dark" half. With each new human that was born, there was born a Shadow. They were exactly the same as the humans, except they had wings, fangs and claws, could see in the dark, and had extended hearing."

"Your wings make you look like a vampire, or a demon." Yugi was extremely curious about Yami now, since he had never before come across something as unique as this. He was having a hard time grasping the fact that supernatural creatures really did exist, but it was impossible to ignore the fact that one was sitting on his bed talking to him.

"Vampires and demons were only created by humans to scare the younger ones, and to make us into animals. They made us out to be evil beasts who were below them, while they passed themselves off as perfect creatures, " Yami said with anger in his eyes. "The humans didn't know anything about us, as they were all too busy trying to destroy us."

"Destroy you? Why would they do that?" Yugi asked as he started to unwrap the bandages from Yami's chest. Though Yugi knew very well from his history lessons that humans had a tendency to try and kill off anything different or strange.

"Because they were afraid, and they were jealous. They feared us because of what we were, and they hated us for our gifts. The humans wanted to be the masters of the earth, to populate every corner of this planet. But we were in their way." Yami was really starting to get angry now, and had to take a deep breath to calm himself. It was clear that he did not have a good opinion of humans, and wanted nothing to do with them. "Shadows are physically superior to humans, and the humans knew it. They knew that with us around, they wouldn't be the dominant group on the planet. They were afraid that we would rise up against them and take over, so they attacked us. They killed my people, saying they were ridding the world of us "monstrous beasts". When in reality the humans were the beasts."

Yami had to take another deep breath to calm himself. He really was trying hard not to get angry, but it was difficult. "Shadows then decided that they had had enough, and that it was time to fight back. One strong Shadow gathered troops together and attacked the humans in retaliation. Those weak humans didn't stand a chance against us. We quickly defeated them, but they kept coming back over and over in greater numbers. It soon turned into a war."

"But how come I have never heard of this war?" Yugi was pretty sure he would have remembered something about a war between humans and the human like "Shadows".

Yami shrugged in response. "It happened hundreds of thousands of years ago. The modern humans probably thought it was a myth." Yami wasn't really surprised that Yugi had never heard of the wars. Humans weren't really open minded to the thought of other creatures inhabiting the planet with them. "Well, despite the battles, my people still wanted to live in peace. We tried numerous peace talks, but the humans wouldn't listen to us. Finally we realized that our races would never be able to live together, so my people hid from the humans in remote places on the earth. The man who started the first army was selected as the ruler. That man was my five times great uncle."

Yugi stopped what he was doing, and looked up at Yami with his eyes widened in surprise. "Your uncle! So that means you are royalty?" He'd never met anyone from a royal family before. This night was getting much more interesting.

Yami chuckled at Yugi's surprise. "I am more than just royalty. I am the current king of the entire Shadow race."

Yugi just stared at Yami silently while his mind was racing to process the information he was just given. This man in front of him was a king! And not just any king, but THE king of an entire race of creatures. There was no way it could be true. "You look too young to be a king," was all Yugi managed to say through his shock.

"Looks can be deceiving, Yugi," Yami replied with a smirk. Yugi shook his head, still not one hundred percent convinced that Yami was really a king. But then again, he really had no reason to doubt the guy. "How old are you?" Maybe Yami was in his twenties but just looked young?

"Three thousand six hundred and seventy two," Yami replied coolly. Yugi was floored. He was how old? That definitely had to be a joke! "T-three…"

"Did I forget to mention Shadows live for thousands of years? Oops," Yami said, his smirk growing larger, amusement in his eyes. Yugi just stared at him some more. "Ok, let me get this straight. You are from a different species, you are a king, and you are over three thousand years old." Yami just nodded, still clearly amused by Yugi's reaction.

"…Ok then. Nothing simpler than that," Yugi said as he resumed changing the bandages on Yami's chest. Yami just shook his head. "You humans are such strange creatures. When you discover something that doesn't fit your sense of reality, you either deny it's existence, or assume you are crazy. I know that you think you have gone insane, so don't try to deny it."

"Well, it's not everyday that a king from a different species sits on my bed. Excuse me if I'm a little shocked," Yugi responded as he smirked. Yami couldn't help but smile in return. This human was different from others he had met. Yugi genuinely seemed like a good person. Yami couldn't sense anything strange going on, so he had no reason to fear the boy. The king relaxed as he felt the boy's soft hands gently move over his skin. "So how did you get all of these wounds?" asked Yugi as he began to unwrap the bandages around Yami's chest.

That question made Yami's mood darken quite a bit. He frowned and stared blankly at the ceiling. "The night you found me, there was a battle. Not between us and humans, but between my kingdom and a group of rebels who want to take over the throne. They caught us by surprise, and stormed into my throne room. I fought back with my soldiers, but we were outnumbered."

Yugi was pretty surprised to hear the news. "At least you survived."

Yami sighed and nodded, but he clearly wasn't happy. "Yes, but only because my friends told me to escape. I wanted to stay and fight." He would have stayed too, but the others clearly weren't going to let him.

"It's a good thing you left. I'm glad you did." Yugi thought Yami was a nice guy, and didn't know why anyone would want to attack him. Yami was pretty surprised at Yugi's response. He didn't expect to be told that. And by a human no less. His life was taking a strange turn. He looked down at Yugi, trying to figure out why he was being so nice. Yami had thought the boy would get mad after hearing him talk about humans so badly. But he was treating him like a friend.

That was a strange thought. A human and a Shadow could never be friends. They hated each other. Or they were supposed to. But Yami was finding it hard to hate the human boy in front of him. Sure, he was grateful that Yugi had healed him, true, but he would not go so far as to start referring to the boy as a friend. He then felt Yugi's hands start working on his shoulder, bringing him out of his thoughts. Yami took in the boy's features, making sure to memorize every detail. The boy's skin looked like porcelain, and it felt so soft when it touched his own skin. Yugi's large, amethyst eyes were narrowed in concentration as small hands skillfully wrapped the bandages. The scent of lemons faintly hung in the air, surrounding the small human. Yami's eyes then traveled down the boy's face till they reached his neck. The king noticed a large cut on the left side of boy's neck. He was suddenly curious. "How did you get that cut on your neck?"

Yugi's hands flew to his neck, and he smiled sheepishly. "When I was bandaging your chest, I had to move your wing so I could reach back, and…your wing jerked and scratched me. That thing hurts," Yugi said, looking at the top of Yami's right wing were a small, sharp claw pointed out.

"I'm sorry. Wings are very sensitive," said Yami. He felt pretty bad for hurting the boy, even if it wasn't intentional. Yugi just smiled and shook his head. "It's ok. It was an accident," he said as he finished wrapping up his shoulder. He then reached behind Yami's head and loosened the clip, and pulled the white cloth away. "You had a large lump on your head. Good thing it was hidden by your hair."

"I'm fine. My friend's always say I'm thick headed." Yugi laughed lightly, and Yami suddenly felt his heart flutter. 'What the hell?' he thought, 'What was that about?' Yami was extremely confused at his reaction. 'There must be something in the air,' he told himself, trying to convince himself that it wasn't because of Yugi. "By the way, Yugi. How did you get me here without your parents noticing?"

Yugi's happy demeanor suddenly disappeared, and he let remained quiet with a small frown on his face. Yami could feel the tension in the air, and wondered if maybe he shouldn't have asked that question. "Yugi?" he called quietly.

"My parents are…I don't have parents," Yugi said softly. Yami was pretty shocked to hear that information. Yugi didn't have parents? Yami now felt bad for bringing up that topic. "Who do you live with?"

"My grandpa. He's the only family I have left, Yugi answered. "I'm sorry," Yami said, placing a comforting hand on the boy's shoulder. He didn't know why he felt so bad for the boy, but seeing Yugi sad made him sad as well. He had the urge to make a fool of himself if it would make Yugi happy.

"It's ok. It was a long time ago," Yugi said as he smiled up at Yami, clearly trying to return to his happy state.

"I'm surprised your grandfather has let me stay here." Yami was trying to get off the topic of Yugi's parents. Any other topic would be much appreciated at this time. "Well…he doesn't know about you," Yugi said.

"Really? Well it's better that way. The fewer humans to know of me the better. But wouldn't he have seen you bring me up here?" Yugi shook his head and explained that his grandfather had been out of town for a little over a week, visiting a friend in another country. Yami was a bit curious as to how Yugi was able to take care of himself for so long without an adult in the house. Surely the boy was fourteen, fifteen at the very latest.

Yugi noticed the curious look Yami was giving him, and snickered softly. "I know that look. You think I am too young to be at home alone. This may come as a surprise, but I'm actually nineteen." Yami was definitely not expecting that answer, and his expression must have been quite funny looking because Yugi began laughing. "Yes, yes. I know. You probably thought I was ten," Yugi said as his laughter died down to chuckles.

Yami shook his head in disbelief. No way this kid was that old. "Actually, I thought you were about fourteen." Yugi continued chuckling at Yami's reactions. "Really? That's higher than what most people guess. But I am nineteen, going on twenty pretty soon. Despite the fact that I look like a baby."

'But he looks like a cute baby.' Yami thought. 'Whoa! I did NOT just call a human cute!' As Yami was stuck on that thought, Yugi reached up and gently touched Yami's hurt wing. The black wing moved, causing Yugi to pull his hand back quickly. Yami watched as he reached up and touched it again. The king did his best to keep the wing from jerking, since he didn't want to startle the boy. Yugi looked over at him, then looked back at the injured wing. "They are so soft," he said, as he lightly stroked it. Yami suppressed a pleased shiver that ran through him, as Yugi continued to pet the wing. "I'm sorry, I don't really know much about bandaging wings, so I went on the internet and looked up how to bandage a bird wing." Yugi said, blushing in embarrassment.

Yami felt a slight tug at his heart, but pushed the feeling away. "It's fine. You did a good job," Yami replied, smiling at the boy. Yugi smiled back, causing the feeling to reappear in Yami's heart. 'What is wrong with me tonight? He's just a human.' Maybe the hit to his head rattled his brains more than he thought. "You a pretty good at taking care of injuries."

"Yea? Well I have a lot of experience bandaging wounds," Yugi responded, slight bitterness in his voice. Yami frowned at the tone of his voice. What did he mean by that? "What are you saying?" Yugi tried to ignore the question, but Yami wasn't going to let it drop. He continued pushing for an answer until Yugi sighed in frustration and pulled up the right sleeve of the long sleeved shirt he wore, revealing an arm covered in bandages. The parts that weren't covered in bandages had faint scars and scratches all over. Yami gasped as he looked at the arm. "What happened to you?"

"It doesn't matter," Yugi said as he reached up to undo the clasp on the bandages covering the wing. Yami grabbed his wrist, causing him to look into the Shadow's crimson eyes. "Yes it does. How did this happen to you?" Yugi looked into Yami's eyes for a few seconds. Did the other actually care about what happened to him? Yugi then wrenched his hand away from Yami's grasp, and averted his gaze. "It was some kids at school. They always do it. It's no big deal."

Yami felt anger flow through him. He just couldn't believe that anyone would hurt the boy in front of him. He was so kind. That anyone could strike such an innocent creature was beyond him. The king felt like going after those punks and giving them the same treatment they gave Yugi ten times over. He couldn't for the world figure out why he was so mad, but right now he didn't care. "Why the hell would they do something like this?"

Yugi shrugged. He had asked himself that same question more times than he could remember, but he still had no answer. He just assumed that they hadn't been hugged enough as kids. Yugi explained to Yami that did everything to avoid the bullies, but it didn't always work. His friends did their best to keep him safe, but as they weren't always around Yugi was never a hundred percent safe. "But it's not something you should concern yourself about," Yugi said as he removed all of the bandages from the wing, softly stroking the feathers. Yami frowned and sighed. He knew that there was nothing he could do about Yugi getting bullied, but it still made him angry. After Yugi finished with the wing, he pulled away. Yami noticed a faint blush on the human's cheeks. "What is it?"

"Well...um…" Yugi stuttered, his blush deepening. "You were also…injured on your legs. So you…have to…" Yami understood, and took off his pants noticing with great amusement that Yugi's face was now redder than a cherry. "Why are you blushing? You have already taken my pants off enough times, I'm sure," Yami teased, smiling in victory when Yugi squeaked in embarrassment. Yami had the fleeting thought that Yugi looked so cute when he blushed. Yugi tried to say something in response, but nothing came out other than a few stutters. "I'm sure you didn't take advantage of my body when I was out."

"Would you look at that! I need more bandages!" Yugi said, quickly exiting the room. Yami just chuckled at the boy's reactions. It was fun making Yugi blush. Yami realized that he was flirting with the human, but he just liked the way Yugi looked when he blushed. Yami was actually enjoying talking to the human, which was something he never thought would be possible.

When Yugi walked back in, he kept his head down, refusing to look up at Yami. He sat down next to Yami and took a deep breath before reaching over to start working on the dressings on the legs. Sure, he had done it many times in the past two weeks, but never when Yami was awake. Now he was nervous with Yami watching him. He quickly finished redressing the legs, and sat back with a happy sigh. It had taken a while, but he didn't mind. It was barely after eight, which gave him enough time to do his homework and eat. Speaking of food, he realized Yami must have been hungry. He hadn't eaten in two weeks. "You must be starving! What do you want to eat?"

"It's ok. I'm fine." Yugi didn't believe Yami for one second. He had been unconscious for two weeks, a fact he quickly pointed out to the Shadow. There was no way he couldn't be dying of starvation. He needed to eat something, because Yugi hadn't gone through all that trouble of taking care of Yami's wounds just for the man to up and die of starvation.

Yami chuckled at Yugi's seriousness. "My people can go for about a month without food. We gain energy from the earth around us." He then asked Yugi to pull back the curtains. "Sure, but why?" Yugi said as he opened the curtains, letting the light from the moon shine in the room, landing on the bed where Yami sat. He saw Yami close his eyes, as a small content sigh escaped his lips. "The moon gives me energy. Enough so that my wounds will heal faster."

"Well, that's good. But while you are not hungry, I am starving. And I have to do my homework," Yugi said as he picked up all the supplies. "I'll leave the door open, so you call me if you want anything ok. Don't move, because I don't want to have to re-bandage you."

Yami smirked at Yugi, who smiled back. The human then left the room, and left Yami to his thoughts. The king lay down on the bed, wincing as his wing started to throb. He wrapped his right wing around his body and stretched his left out completely, most of the wing falling off of the bed onto the ground. That made the pain disappear slightly, but what really caused the pain to leave was the way Yugi had bandaged it. It wasn't too tight, but enough so that his bones would stay together. 'I wonder how the others are doing? I must get back to my kingdom soon. But do I even still have a kingdom? Could they have lost? No, they are too strong to loose to a weak group of rebels.' He tried to convince himself that everything would be the same when he got home. But he was still slightly worried. What if they really had lost? What would happen to his people? He couldn't let them be ruled by those radicals.

He had to heal as fast as he could, so he could leave this place soon. But then a thought occurred to him. Did he want to leave that fast? 'Of course I do. I shouldn't be here in the first place. The sooner I get away from these humans, the better.' But there was an annoying tug in the back of his mind that made him want to stay in this house for a few days longer, just to have Yugi take care of him. Yugi was not like the others. He was nice, and caring, unlike the selfish, greedy pigs that inhabited the rest of the planet. Yami was very grateful for what the young human had done for him. He had to find a way to repay the boy somehow. He felt as if he owed the boy that much. 'I really should stop thinking of him. After this I won't see him ever again.'

The Shadow felt a slight tug in his chest when he thought that. He couldn't figure out why he felt so differently about Yugi. He was only a human. His life was a mere second compared to Yami's. The boy hadn't seen what the king had seen. He hadn't had to rule an entire planet. He was innocent, and pure. Something Yami was surprised to see in a human. 'Do I really want to leave that badly?' he asked himself. 'I wouldn't be of any use to the others with my injuries, and it's not so horrible here. Besides, I can't leave Yugi alone. Who knows what could happen to him. He's so frail, and he's so easily hurt.'

Remembering the bruises covering Yugi's small body made fury rise up the king's throat. He still couldn't believe that anyone could harm the boy. It just proved that humans were despicable creatures who preyed on the weak. Yami swore he would find those boys. He could take care of those boys for Yugi, as a way of thanks. It was strange that he felt so protective of the young boy. He had only known him for a few hours, and yet Yami felt connected to the boy in some way. He shut his ruby eyes and sighed. 'Why do I feel this way? He's a human. Not even an important human. Just a regular, average teenager. I'm the king, for crying out loud! I shouldn't be getting so sentimental over a human. So he took care of me. That doesn't mean anything.' Yami opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling. This was too confusing for him. He needed to stop thinking of Yugi. Unfortunately for him, it was hard to do when he was in the boy's room. Everything had his scent, and that somehow made Yami feel at ease. He stretched his wing out, still feeling the boy's gentle touch. It amazed him that those small hands were so soft and delicate. A part of him wanted those hands back on his wing to pet it again. He hated to admit it, but he liked the feeling it gave him.

His wing started to flap lightly, the dark black feathers fluttering gently. He yearned to fly again; to be out in the sky where he could stretch his wings out completely. He wanted to feel the wind rushing past him. He wanted to feel weightless. He wanted to feel free. Yami hated being kept inside for a long time. He just had to be outside, flying under the moon. Speaking of the moon, it was very unfortunate that he had missed the full moon. If he had been under the full moon, he would have healed much faster. But the waning moon still gave him enough strength, at least for now. Though it would take a bit longer. Yami turned his gaze outside and looked up at the sky. He stared up at the moon, his eyes turning a deep crimson. He felt himself slowly regain some strength, and all his pain left him. His eyes closed, letting his body relax as he fell into a meditative trance. He lay completely still, not even batting an eyelash.

He remained like that for a few hours, till finally he reopened his eyes when he felt the moon had given him enough. He stretched and yawned, feeling reenergized. He tried to stretch his wings, but groaned in annoyance. The bed was too small and was against a wall, meaning his right wing was against it, unable to stretch out. His left wind had enough room on the floor, but his wounds, along with the angle at which it was leaning was becoming painful. Even if he stood up, there wouldn't be enough space in the bedroom for his wings to span out completely. Yami sighed, sometimes the wings were such a pain. He couldn't even retract them, because his left wing had to heal. Suddenly he heard a noise at the door and looked over. Standing in the door way was Yugi, smiling at him. He smiled back, unable to hold it back. "Hey," he called.

"Hi," Yugi replied. "I'm going to bed now. Is there anything you want?" Yami shook his head. But then thought better and asked for water. Yugi smiled and walked away. He came back a moment later holding a glass of water. He handed the Shadow the drink, and sat down next to him. His violet eyes wandered over the bandages, making sure that everything was ok. He noticed Yami's right wing was draped across his chest. 'That's pretty cool,' he thought, and he felt the urge to feel those wings again. Not that he hadn't done it many times before, but they still felt so soft. He hesitantly reached a hand out, and brushed his fingers against the wing. He felt the wing flutter and gasped. He reached down and touched it again, the soft feathers lightly rippling under his touch. He looked up at Yami, and noticed the king was watching him, an amused smile on his face. He smiled back at him, then gave the wing one last stroke before standing up. "It's pretty late now. I've got school tomorrow, so I need to sleep. If you need anything in the night, just call me, ok. Goodnight, Yami."

"Goodnight, Yugi," Yami replied, and watched the boy leave him once again. When he was sure the boy was out of hearing range, he let out a deep sigh. Those fingers just felt really good on his wings. He wanted Yugi to come back and pet his wings again. He sighed again, and draped his arm across his face. Today was just so strange. Yami turned off the lights, and looked outside again. He could hear Yugi's soft breathing from another room, the boy fast asleep. He felt sleep wash over him as well, and his eyes drooped shut. "Maybe I should stay here a few more days. Maybe I should stay with Yugi a few more days. It's not so bad here. Not with him around." That said, the Shadow closed his eyes, and let himself drift off.