Chapter Two
Yugi couldn't sleep a blink as the night began to settle over Domino City and he stared at his sky-light with starving eyes as a dry feeling settled in his throat, he moonlight blending with his paper white skin. He stroked Ann's head gently to keep his mind occupied from his thirst while her head lay over his stoll abdomen and her body laid up against his. Yugi's eyes closed momentarily and snapped open after his irises turned a bright crimson, then he gently removed Ann's limp head from his abdomen and quietly stood to not awaken her from her slumber as he made his way out of the room. He slowly walked down the steps and through the living room before stepping into the empty game shop, shelves, posters, and the countertop gone. Yugi then exited the shop in his pajamas and took a quiet sniff of the air longly while his eyes closed and his senses awakened.
"Another night...another time to feed..." Yugi said faintly to himself.
His eyes snapped open after he said this and he vanished from where he had been. A girl was walking alone along the sidewalk with red hair to her waist and feminine curves that showed delicately in her red dress that was sleeveless, had a low neck, and went barely past her thighs, and she was also wearing red pumps to match the outfit. The girl made a turn down an alley and flipped her hair over her shoulder with a faint seductive giggle. Her smile faded quickly and she slowed to a stop hearing slow footsteps behind her, then she quickly looked over her shoulder only to see no one behind her. The girl blinked slowly and silently continued walking while looking in front of her. She then screamed painfully as a pair of fangs bit into her shoulder from behind and she collaped to the ground from the weight of her attacker being brought upon her roughly from behind.
She struggled all she could under her attacker and her screams were muffled by a hand over her mouth. Minutes went by and soon she was silently still and Yugi pulled his fangs gently free of her neck, then Yugi checked her pulse to make sure she was lifeless and nodded satisfyingly feeling nothing under his fingers. He slowly stood and vanished from the alley. Yugi re-appeared in front of his home and he silently opened the glass door of the game shop. Minutes later, he's laying naked in his bathtub with the shower-head beating ice cold water onto his chest as he stared up at the shower ceiling silently with his arms folded over her stomach.
He slowly closed his eyes to sleep under the water and slowly began to doze off, but his eyes opened quickly to the sound of something or someone being thrown through the glass front door of the game shop and he looked over the side of the tub to look at the door while Ann growled at it from her laying position beside the tub. Yugi blinked not hearing anything afterwards and slowly sat up to turn off the water. He then slowly stood from the tub and stepped out while grabbing his robe before pulling it onto his body and he tied it closed while he made his way to the bathroom door with Ann following closely. Yugi slowly opened the door and looked both ways down the hall before slowly leaving the bathroom and he made his way to the staircase while Ann trailed behind closely. As he made his way down the stairs, he began noticing the heavy scent of blood and he quickened his walk through the living room and stopped in the doorway of the game shop seeing who was laying on the floor of the game shop.
Atem was laying on his back on the floor in his Battle City attire with blood slowly pooling under him and glass shards were scattered around him. Yugi quickly snapped out of his shock and he quickly lowered by Atem while Ann jumped through the broken door, barking threateningly as she searched the area. He carefully helped Atem off the floor while the ex-Pharaoh remained unconscious and slowly walked with him into the living room to carefully lay him on his chest on the couch. Yugi quickly stood after-wards and rushed into the kitchen, reappearing beside Atem with a bowl and a pair of tweezers. He then lowered beside Atem before he carefully began pulling pieces of glass from Atem's back.
By the time Yugi pulled out the last piece, Atem began shifting and groaning in pain while he blinked open his eyes slowly. Yugi was currently carefully pulling Atemu's jacket off before setting it adise and he then froze seeing Atem's eyes open and looking at him. The ex-Pharaoh blinked slowly and slowly pushed himself up slightly to get a better look at Yugi to make sure it was really him. Yugi blinked seeing the confusion and slowly held up his hand with the back of his right hand facing Atem while a slight grin appeared on his lips. Atem blinked, then smiled after a short moment of pondering and they shared a brotherly embrace, Atem fully sitting up on the couch as he shared the embrace with his former lighter-half while ignoring the pain in his back.
"Yugi...Oh, Ra, I'm so happy to see you." Atem said softly.
"I-I'm happy to see you too." Yugi replied as he tried to ignore the heavy smell of the blood creeping between his fingers.
Atem slowly released Yugi from his arms with a faint wince from Yugi's hands sliding over his wounds before he slowly relaxed again, "I'm sorry you have to see me like this..."
"It's alright. I'll be right back." Yugi replied while he slowly stood from his knees.
Atem nodded and watched Yugi rush to the kitchen before he looked at the bowl with the bloody glass shards inside. Little Ann slowly walked into the room with soft whines of disappointment of not finding the person who threw Atem into the door and she gently took the warm cloth Yugi had on his arm, and had dropped on the floor, into her mouth. She then hopped onto the couch beside Atem and moved behind him before sitting down behind him. Ann pressed the cloth to his wounds and spread it out by nudging it with her head while also applying pressure by pressing herself against him gently. Atem blinked rapidly as he allowed this and said nothing as he enjoyed the warmth of both the cloth and Ann on his wounds. He then reached back as Ann sat behind him and he gently patted the outside of her back leg thankfully.
"A dog nurse...now I've seen everything." Atem muttered as Ann wagged her tail in responde to the patting.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, Yugi was shakily washing his hands and his arms under cold water while refraining from attempting to drink from what was swirling down the drain and he was muttering to himself to keep calm. He roughly turned off the faucet and ran his dripping cold hands through his hair while closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. Once Yugi was calmed, he let out a slow sigh and released his bangs from the death grip he had put on them out of frustration. He then slowly turned and leaned against the sink rim while rubbing his forehead to try and soothe out his sudden headache even though he had just satisfied his thirst moments ago. He froze slightly as an arm slowly and gently wrapped around his shoulders in a brotherly manner and his eyes opened to see Atem standing next to him with a look of concern.
"Are you alright, Yugi?" Atem asked softly.
"I should be asking you the same thing. You're not supposed to be moving around..." Yugi replied while putting his hand over the cloth that was stuck to Atem's back, thanks to Ann.
Atem smiled slightly, "I'm alright, Yugi...thanks to...uh..."
Yugi raised an eyebrow and looked down to follow Atem's dropping eyes to Little Ann, who stood beside Atem, "Little Ann. She'll respond to "Ann" or "Annie"."
"Little Ann. Bit of an odd name for a dog, Yugi." Atem said.
"She was the runt of the litter, so when I got her, she was smaller than her siblings. Plus, she looks like an Ann, right?" Yugi asked.
"I suppose. I take it you bought her so you wouldn't get lonely while your grandfather is away?" Atem asked.
Yugi tensed slightly as if Atem just poked him in the chest with a knife, "...Uh...y-yeah..."
"...Yugi, are you alright? Did I say something?" Atem asked concernly.
"Uh...n-no. I'm just...worried about who threw you into the door like that..." Yugi replied, hiding a choke in his throat.
Atem blinked slowly, "...To be honest, I can't re-call. The last thing I remember was getting into a struggle with a girl in a black cloak, then she pushed me through a portal that led me here to the world of the living."
"She didn't give you a name?" Yugi asked as the choke in his throat slowly left.
Atem shook his head, "No...the last thing I heard her say was, "the child born of the shadows shall rise and the world will cry out as humans meet their demise.""
"..."The child born of the shadows"...weird." Yugi said softly.
"Yeah, tell me about it..." Atem replied with a soft sigh.
Yugi said nothing for a long awhile as he stared at Atem thoughtfully, then he silently put his arms around Atem's mid-section and his face into Atem's shoulder. The ex-Pharaoh blinked slowly at this and closed his eyes as he tightly wrapped his arms brotherly around Yugi to return the embrace. Yugi stared over Atem's shoulder at the window while the moon still shown brightly and Ann whimpered faintly as Yugi's eyes glowed a bright red.