Disclaimer: I do not own anything relating to Yu-Gi-Oh

Warning: Cursing can go from mild to mass amounts at times

Note: There will be blood in later chapters, mentions of sex, and possible lemons...

Keep in mind that Yami is a GIRL. So she worries about GIRLY things and has these things. Called INSECURITIES. They happen. She has them. Because she's human.

As far as the group dynamics go, by the way, things are strained and iffy and will be explained throughout the story so keep that in mind.

Sorry for the late update but I have had writer's block for a LARGE amount of time concerning this story so yeah, here's chapter seven of Umbral Oath. On a side note, the window incident is mentioned but not fully explained and there's a reason for that. You'll find out later.

Chapter VII: Challenge

Yami was not looking forward to having her attention when the brunette looked away from where she was speaking to Joey. She had no doubt that it was about her and the incident from the night before, but she was hoping that maybe she was wrong. Of course she wasn't, something she realized the moment that their eyes locked, and that annoyed her more than anything else.

After having tried to convincingly set up her room's window to make it look as if she actually had accidentally knocked the lamp into the glass and broke it with the force of it, she was short-tempered and far from in the mood to be around anyone else. She turned sharply on her heel, ignoring it when Tea called her name, instead heading for her locker with the hope that her silence would deter the other girl.

Yami reached for the dial, narrowing her red eyes into slits of gleaming ruby, and ground her teeth together as Tea ignored the blatant message and followed her anyways.
"Are you okay? Joey told me what happened—"

"Did he tell Yugi too? Because I swear I'll flay him for it," she hissed, glancing at her from the corner of her eye and glaring furiously. Tea stopped mid-step to her side, concern giving way to hesitation and then nervousness that made her cheeks take on a slight pink. "He wasn't even supposed to tell you. So why did he?"

"Because Serenity mentioned it to me and I kind of cornered him into telling me when I saw him this morning," she admitted, frowning and staring at her with a slightly horrified expression. The brunette tried to push away a small bit of her blush but failed when Yami's sharp red eyes narrowed and irritation flashed through her irises like a flame. "B-but he didn't tell Yugi. Yugi has no idea."

"And how do you know that? I bet he's run off to tell him right now." She turned her back on her, facing the locker and twisting the combination before pulling the lock and throwing it open, the door vibrating violently as it collided with the one next to it. She jerked back, expecting it to be something more worthy of her fright than the stupid bouquet of flowers and the note that slipped out, but was relieved all the same to realize that it was nothing more than that. Tea stared silently at the piece of paper and the roses that littered the floor, the stems far too deep green and looking almost plastic while the petals were a disgustingly dark red that gave them the appearance of nylon. She blinked slowly, not the least bit amused with the sight in front of her, and then moved to press her foot against the card, sliding it towards her noisily on the ground. The brunette next to her cringed at the noise, frowning and swallowing hard with the half-formed thought of how it was possible Yami was making such a sound with just her uniform shoes and a slip of paper. She hoped that it was dirt scraping against the thick paper or something because the noise was unnatural and made her skin crawl in discomfort.

Yami took a moment of sardonic amusement from the way the other girl seemed to twitch, and then crouched down to sweep it up between her fingers, snatching the bouquet on the way and shoving it back into her locker. Her backpack rocked uncomfortably against her hip, a jarring pain flaring with the impact for a split moment before she focused in on the little note. The white paper was painted in dark gray this time, with a handwriting that looked elegant and rivaled Yugi's. A thought passed through her mind to ignore it altogether, to toss it aside in the trash, but she realized immediately that the last time she had messed up this game they were playing Yugi had nearly gotten hurt. She flipped the card over between her fingers, opening it and reading a simple note of "You should be wearing that necklace I gave you. It's a shame it's going to waste, don't you think?"

Tea stayed quiet for a long minute, waiting for some kind of response from the girl that would give an explanation, but Yami merely looked the card over, raising a brow before shoving it into her bag. The brunette watched, mystified, as the red-eyed girl started to pick her materials for class and moved to stuff the roses with their smaller predecessor.

"What the hell is going on?" she finally demanded, unable to keep the cold discomfort and frustration at Yami's lack of concern from her voice. The smaller girl shoved the canvas bag into the metal cubby and shut the door softly, pulling on the lock twice before letting it fall back into place.

"Don't worry about it," she stated calmly, turning away and starting for their homeroom.

"Yami, you can't just—"

"It doesn't concern you," Yami sang out without turning to her, ignoring her altogether and slipping past a few girls to make her way into her classroom.

-Twenty minutes passed while she sat in her seat, spinning her pencil between her fingers and humming softly as she tried to recall the names of the boys that she had known to have had a crush on her at one point or another. He claimed that she had missed his name altogether but could have been a ploy as well to scare her and it wasn't something she was going to take to kindly in any way.

Seven names was hardly a large number and didn't require much thought to put to paper once more. All seven names were clearly marked in a small box in the corner of her notebook sheet, glaringly obvious where she was meant to be taking notes.

Tristan, Duke, Critias, Timaeus, Hermos, Marik, Joey.

Her stalker had seen her at the school, the phone shop, the ice cream parlor, walking home, and the arcade. It wasn't too large a list of places but it was generally where she spent her time and the thought made her bristle with anxiety. Aside from her obvious haunt of the Kame Game Shop, the school, and the arcade, it was not something she thought most people knew. She almost always took two different paths home, occasionally with a back way from the Kame Game Shop or to the local library for studying or homework. Now she had to figure out what path he had seen her take as well as who had been where to see if maybe her little stalker had lied about his name being on her list.

Then again, why lie if it was meant to be something of a prize if she could figure it out? Unless he wanted to prolong meeting her, and that was something she could not understand for the life of her. Why delay the inevitable if there was meant to be something of a prize if she could figure out who he was?

She tapped her pencil absently against the desk, pursing her lips as the teacher droned on about the various definitions they had been given to research the day before.

"Yami."

For a moment she almost didn't hear her before blinking as the name registered in her head. Turning to the other girl, Tea gave her an awkward smile and lowered her voice further, whispering as if they were discussing some kind of conspiracy.

"What are you doing? Anything I can help with?"

She blinked slowly and glanced at the paper again, frowning in deliberation before giving her a small nod. "I'm trying to figure out if he's been lying or not. He told me before that I had missed his name when he saw the list before, but there are only seven people besides Yugi who have ever had a crush on me as far as I know. And I have a feeling that he's right under my nose and I'm looking too hard." She showed off the list, watching as the brunette pursed her lips, reading it over and seemingly coming to the same conclusion, that they were in fact the only seven that either of them knew of. "Whoever he is has seen me on my way home from school, Yugi's house, the arcade, the phone shop and the ice cream parlor when I went to with Yugi yesterday. So obviously I just need to figure out who would have seen me at all five places."

Tea bit her lip for a moment, nodding to tell her she understood but giving her a sideways glance that said she was unsure of what she might say to that. Yami shrugged, giving her room to think it over, and quickly glanced up to write down a term; since she had skipped that period yesterday, she was making sure to get the definitions as they went along.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure, but I think Timaeus works at the mall, so he would have seen you. Hmm—oh yeah, he does! I remember because I had some questions on getting a new laptop and he helped me pick one," she stated, nodding slowly and smiling a bit at the memory; he was just so awkward at times. He listened well but when the attention was on him he tried to deflect and rarely made eye contact which was a shame because his eyes were some of the most beautiful she had ever seen. Especially on a boy. They rivaled Yugi's blue-violet and Joey's cinnamon-specked honey brown. "And your mobile service is part of his so he could have been there whenever you were there but you might not have seen him. He's shy, after all, so he tends to try not to do much more than help someone pay their phone bill or help with stock. I don't think I've ever actually seen him greet someone at the door and ask them if they needed help."

Yami raised a brow, staring at her curiously for a moment. "Wow, someone seems to be paying a lot of attention to him," she snorted, snickering when Tea's cheeks dusted with red and she gave her an eye roll.

"Not really, I just paid attention last time I was there." She shook her head, frowning. "Anyone could have seen you at the arcade. Everyone is there after school, remember? Duke likes picking up girls at the ice cream parlor, actually. I think he just pretends to hang around there until someone notices and then he talks someone out of their pants. Critias and Hermos are always at the mall too, actually. They have jobs over at some of the clothing shops. Marik met you at the game shop, remember? Tristan and Joey have been in all of those places. So, I don't know if this list is going to actually help any…"

"Shit," Yami mumbled, rolling her eyes and tapping her pencil once more. "Well this sucks."

She honestly wasn't even sure what she was expecting now that she considered it. When she really thought about it, she should have known that nothing would come of it that easily. He was toying with her, so what chance did she truly have of actually figuring out so quickly? None.

She had absolutely none.

Because he was not about to just slip up for her to figure out when clearly he was leading the game. There was nothing he was going to give as a clue for her to figure him out, especially this early into it all. And she wasn't sure that biding her time would work to give her answers at this point. Ignoring him would probably make him mad and she had no desire to deal with him if he was angry, not after that bookshelf incident.

The reminder only served to make her feel smaller than she actually was, and that was not something she was going to allow. She had to keep her head up and have her wits about her or she was going to find herself screwed later. And getting so neurotic about all of it so early meant she was going to lose ground if she didn't try to catch up as quickly as possible.

How had he even been able to push the shelves like that? She knew they had never been bolted down but the thought that someone could send the heavy structures toppling like that made her feel ready to vomit in distress. No one she knew would even waste the time to do that. Maybe if they had hit it hard enough with their shoulder, bracing themselves to do it, or had used the spacious gap between them and the wall, they might have toppled over easily. But if they had leaped with it, then how had no one found them as well? Obviously, they would have gone toppling over with it and she doubted they would have regained their balance or gotten rid of the pain in the time it took for the books to settle.

She bit her lip until it bled, narrowing her red eyes into slits and shaking her head faintly. The only thing thinking about the moment the shelves had collapsed did for her was make her feel sick and small, twisting her stomach violently and leaving her worried about what would happen if she overstepped somehow.

Yami rolled her eyes as she looked the bouquet over where it sat on the doorstep, raising a brow in disapproval and shaking her head faintly. It was hardly worth much consideration aside from reading what the card had to say, though she was still somewhat convinced that the number of roses had something to do with it all. She shrugged the thought off after a moment, realizing she probably would not be able to find anything anytime soon with the seemingly random offers she had been given each day since her stalker had started sending them.

Eyes narrowed slightly in annoyance and boredom, she flipped the flowers around in her palms, looking them over. They were still such deep a red, as if her admirer had taken it upon himself to soak them in buckets of his own blood. The petals looked soft and for a split second he had the desire to touch them, but the very thought made her snort in disbelief and disgust. She was not about to touch the stupid plants.

You're a curious one, aren't you, little rose? You should set your sights closer rather than farther, dear little rose. But whether or not you listen, you still will not find me.

She scoffed at the laughter that started up in her head, dramatic noise that made her for a moment think it was truly her admirer before she realized immediately. What a stupid thought, she chastised herself, rolling her eyes and shaking her head faintly once more. She was truly growing too paranoid to function at this rate. Having this much power over her and her thoughts was honestly more pathetic than anything she could think of. How had he gotten so far under her skin like this in the first place? She had never been known as weak-minded or willed before in any way. The very fact that it was happening now made her feel sick to her stomach with distress and loathing.

How had she ever allowed him to throw her off so simply? She had not even seen his face or actually heard his voice and yet he had thrown her off balance without much effort on his behalf. The sight of red roses would probably be enough to make her sick later. Or maybe she was just giving him far too much credit after all of the stress of the situation had settled in.

She shook her head, rolling her eyes again, and cast a small glance around with a lazy flicker of her eyes before unlocking the door and heading inside. She wondered vaguely if all stalker situations went somewhere along the lines of this, if they were just as terribly strange. Did others get this high strung this quickly or were they able to handle the situation easier than she was?

The roses were tossed unceremoniously onto the table and she ignored the way that her head rang with the crinkle of the plastic that held them together. Nightshade cawed loudly from his cage but Yami thanked the gods that he kept his vocals silent beyond animalistic noise. It was so much simpler when he did not actively speak to tell her such stupid but admittedly haunting phrases.

She was still trying not to dwell on "Y is for Yami" or the way Nightshade had twisted his own vocals to take on something akin her stalker's. How long had he been back there with her bird? How long had it taken him to start mimicking him like that, no matter how small the similarities?

Yami bit her lip, sighing loudly and shaking her head as she wondered if perhaps it was true that to catch a psychopath you had to think like one. That might be a difficult task—or, actually, with how neurotic her mind was starting to grow, perhaps it would be entirely too easy.

She had always been rather good at getting into others' mindsets, but at the same time, she doubted that the psychopath mentality was as easy as one of her friend's. But then, had he not said that she should be looking closer rather than farther?

Immediately her mind sprang towards Yugi and she snickered, a tiny bit of delight creeping through her. She had to admit it would be hilarious if Yugi had somehow decided to make this elaborate prank. But that wasn't in his nature and Yugi was too sweet to ever even consider doing such a thing aside from small jokes. He could definitely plot up such an idea but they all knew that he would break before long. He wasn't one to be able to hurt someone, especially a friend, and he was often the one to cut off a joke when someone got offended in any way.

Yami herself liked to drag it out a little longer, especially if it offended someone, because when they sputtered and grew angry, it was oddly hilarious. But even she had limitations, no matter how much longer her thread of humor was than Yugi's as far as that was concerned. Yugi never wanted to hurt anyone's feelings while Yami always found it kind of funny when it happened and she wasn't actually trying to do so.

She swatted the bouquet aside to begin working on her homework, digging into her bag to pull out a couple of notebooks and worksheets. Boredom immediately flared up five minutes later when she was still looking at the stupid science papers. Her mind was immediately circling away from it and back towards her possible stalker, names in her head but nothing truly connecting. There wasn't much to say about the entire matter. There were no things that she could actively draw upon to really root him out.

And unless he was one of her friends—which made absolutely no sense seeing as none of them were psychotic in any way—then she had no idea what was going on.

She rolled her eyes up towards the ceiling, glancing at the roses from the corner of her gaze and running her tongue over her teeth in annoyance. How stupid. She hated roses and this stalker of hers was either ignorant to that fact or altogether daft.

Her phone vibrated where she had it resting nearby on the table and her boredom lifted immediately, eyes widening with surprise and momentary delight. She really hoped it was Yugi so she could text him for a little while. He had always been a great distraction for the times that she was stressed out and needed something to take her mind off of things. And if it wasn't him, then maybe she could convince him to ramble on about the shop or something as she normally would. He could usually tell how stressed out she was when she merely opened her mouth and it seemed easy enough for him to fall back into habit.

Now that I actually have your full attention, I want you to play a game.

Yami blinked stupidly and then sighed and rolled her eyes, throwing her head back with a loud groan. As high strung as she was and had been the last week, she was not looking forward to anymore from her stupid stalker at any rate.

But of course he would be the one to text when she was doing homework. Because Yugi was probably doing his own and the others didn't have her new number. Only Yugi actually had it because she had been too lazy to hand it over when they were all together at lunch and no one had mentioned it.

She pursed her lips for a moment and then shrugged it off easily, reading the rest.

You're good at those, aren't you? I know you are. That's one of the reasons why I picked you. If you can figure out who I am before your birthday, I will leave you alone. After that, if you have not broken up with Yugi, I will dispose of him.

She blinked, frowning, and tilted her head a fraction. She was good at games, yes, and usually excelled with mental challenges, but this seemed to be getting out of hand altogether. The very idea that they were speaking of that fact made her skin crawl; how long had they been trailing her? How had she not noticed before now that something strange was going on like this? How had she not realized that someone was watching her like this? She should have known just by the fact that they knew that she liked games like this.

She was the one in the group to play mind games with others, though they were not malicious and she always knew when to draw the line and step back. The fact that they even knew that she liked games was alarming. Unless Vivian or Rebecca were truly messing with her, then no one outside of their group really knew how much she liked them.

She didn't play with others and it was rare that she did anything at the arcade. Yugi usually played while she waited to kick his ass at video games at one of their houses. It was more a self-conscious thing, as being the center of attention with something like that always left her feeling nervous and unhappy. Everyone would have their eyes on her and they would ask her how she had gotten so good at games. They would challenge her to play some more and she was not one to do such a thing. It made her far more uncomfortable than it did competitive, although she could do it if she was egged on for a few minutes on end. It was harder to concentrate when everyone was watching and laughing and placing bets. And that was why she was so keen on only ever truly playing a video game with her boyfriend at one of their houses. It was easier, the others normally weren't around, and if they were they would simply play against Yugi.

Yami blinked at the screen for a moment, wondering at the idea of it all. Who knew that she liked games? Who knew her new number? Who was honestly willing to play this kind of game with her like this?

What was the date anyways? The twenty-second? She cringed. January twenty-second was only fifteen—sixteen, if you counted it too—days from her birthday. The sixth wasn't long enough for her to get any headway. Her stalker probably already realized that, especially with the fact that he was watching her constantly and apparently even knew of her list.

It…couldn't have been someone like Tea, right? She knew a lot of things about their relationship simply because she was such close friends with Yugi. Being his best friend after her had its perks, she knew. So…was it possible that it was a scam for her to get under her skin?

No. Tea wasn't like that.

She was selfish at times, she liked to pick fights with Yami over Yugi, but she wasn't vindictive. And definitely not a psychopath—or was it sociopath?—so she didn't fit the bill. Besides, why would Tea of all people wish to pretend to be something short of in love with her just so that she could psyche her out?

When she actually considered it, that kind of personality fit more with her cousin, Seto. Which was an ironic and almost sickening thought. She really hoped he never wound up doing something this stupid with a girl he liked—although, she could definitely see him doing something idiotic in an effort to get her to notice him. It was more likely going to be materialistic and utterly stupid in retrospect—all of them would agree on that—but nothing like this.

She looked her phone over again, pursing her lips. If she truly thought about it, maybe she could push and dig around until she figured it out. She doubted it at the same time as she was hopeful, but it was an idea. And maybe it was the only thing that would keep her head on straight long enough for it to make a difference.

What were the odds of him actually keeping his word, however? Was it even a possibility? Or would he simply twist it all around to save face and make it far from a win on her end if she managed it? Did psychopaths keep their word or did they just kill at their own whim? And what happened if she won and he tried to kidnap her or something along those lines?

She honestly had nothing to lose from playing, however. She doubted that even if she failed to agree, the game would be forced on her regardless. And she was rather sure that the threat to dispose of Yugi was going to be one that he would push on her endlessly, whether she tried to play or not.

Call this number in twenty minutes with your answer. I want to hear your voice, but you should know that the phone will be disposed of so it would be a damn waste if you went to your friend's cop of a father.

She stared at this new text for a long minute and a half, swallowing hard and blinking slowly before getting to her feet. Nightshade squawked loudly in his cage, flexing his wings as far as they would go and then moving along his perch with a sudden vigor. The sleek black bird turned its head and watched her with a beady eye, as if studying and judging, and she nearly hissed at it in annoyance.

Even the damn bird had an idea of just how upset she was and how pathetic this game truly was. She rolled her eyes at herself, glancing at the phone again, and crossed her arms, narrowing her gaze into slits. He wanted to hear her voice, huh? Did the cameras not give him enough of an idea of what she sounded like?

Or was it the thrill of actually having her speak to him as if they were actually having a conversation that made him demand such a thing?

She smirked dryly at the thought, drumming her fingers against her arm. Sixteen days to figure it all out? She would have to start thinking harder and working it out a lot more than she was already trying. But how was she supposed to balance that with her schoolwork and relationship with Yugi?

She chewed her lip doubtfully. Yugi deserved a lot better. She should have been trying to break up with him by now, attempting her hardest to push him away. She should have been putting in effort to throw their relationship aside for his safety. Of course she had always been a selfish person when it came down to it and never once would she have guessed or even hinted at a breakup between them willingly. She would—and could—string him along by his heart if they ever actually did fight and teetered towards that territory. She had imagined it far too many times lately due to this faceless bastard.

She would feel bad only after it had first happened. But she would eventually forget. And she would eventually push it away completely and ignore it altogether. When they were calm again and as in love as they always seemed to be, she would care nothing for her guilt again. It was cruel and maybe even sadistic, but that was how it went. She was selfish in that way.

She spent the next fifteen minutes thinking it over and wondering about it all. And then she snatched the phone and dialed. It rang all of twice and then a dead silence came on. She tilted her head, listening for even a breath of air being exhaled, and then finally mumbled a quiet, "Yes."

There was a low, sharp chuckle in her ear and then the phone disconnected. She merely looked at the screen for a moment and then slipped it into her pocket. There was no reason for her to hope for a distraction brought on by it. Yugi would call later, probably before she went to bed, or when he was tired and possibly decided to go to sleep early.

She would wait until then because she didn't want to have to worry about alarming him by calling him too early like she was so dying to do. She was terrified that he might be harmed despite this game now. Was it possible that he might go ahead and hurt him even if she won? The fact that he had just given her a deadline to potentially save Yugi was driving her insane now.

She would never let Yugi get hurt but she was no longer sure that she could even keep him safe.

What was it that was in common between all of the situations?

She shook her head and reached up to pull on a bang in frustration. This made no sense…

Why was anyone even so fascinated with her in the first place?

There was no reason for it.

She was picking at Nightshade's feathers, plucking one that was falling out already, and running her fingers over the glossy sheen of it, when she felt something dawn on her. It clicked into place without much thought on her behalf as her mind raced with possibilities. None of the names were her stalker's and so if that was truly the case, then she needed to think harder about the situation. But all of those places she had thought of, she had seen all of them in those places because of how public they were.

Every single place that her stalker seemed to have found her was a public facility where anyone could have seen her. He was covering his tracks easily, without effort, because all he had to do was be in those places without looking conspicuous. And she and Yugi had never even truly paid attention to the people that had been around them. They had assumed—or rather she had, considering Yugi had no reason to think of anything as suspicious—that they were just random, normal customers.

That had been one massive mistake on her behalf. She should have been looking around for them. She should have been watching for a face that would have frequented the areas she was in. Failing to do so had put her at a far worse disadvantage than she had considered. She was probably three steps behind him at this rate, especially with how quickly her mind seemed to be lost as far as figuring it all out.

She smirked wryly at herself, running her hand over the raven's head and narrowing her eyes into slits of annoyance. Yugi would have been a lot better at this than she. He probably would have figured it all out at this point with minimal stress or frustration.

Nightshade clicked his beak at her, stretching his neck out for her to run her hand over it once more. He had been unusually quiet the entire time, not even bothering for his usual greeting of "Evermore" or "Yami" like he sometimes did. He hadn't bothered with repeating her stalker's phrases either and the idea was somehow more alarming than anything else at the moment.

But Nightshade didn't look like he was stressed. He wasn't plucking feathers and he wasn't antsy. He wasn't huddled in one corner of his cage. There was no discharge anywhere.

She let him climb onto her shoulder but ignored the way that his talons sank in a little harder than usual. He seemed eager for attention, which wasn't very uncommon as far as she was concerned. He tended to do that often, and even liked to click his beak and snap at Yugi sometimes when he was there. The bird was jealous when it came to sharing her attention but he liked Yugi even if he kept fluffing his feathers out and glaring at him. Yugi found him entertaining at least, always playfully reaching over to touch Yami when the bird was watching. At one point she remembered the bird pooping on Yugi's arm when he wouldn't stop doing that and nearly snickered when she thought of his horrified face.

"Do you have anything to say to me today?" she finally murmured, looking at him curiously as the bird clicked his beak again. Beady black eyes were staring at her with something almost akin fixation and he kept tilting his head back and forth whichever way. "Anything at all?"

His talons sank in more forcefully and he barked out a hoarse, "Evermore" but fell silent again immediately after. Yami gave him a semi-disappointed look before shrugging. The black bird shot off her shoulder, flapping its wings before landing on the table and fluffing its feathers out again.

She got up when her phone rang, ignoring the way that Nightshade watched her intently, eyes seeming to look straight through her for a moment. The raven perched on the edge of the furniture, angling his head to watch her as she grabbed the small device and accepted the call.

"Hey."

She snorted. "You sound almost breathless."

"Yeah…some crazy lady just chased me around with a cane. You two wouldn't happen to be related, would you?"

"We could be. What'd she look like?"

"She was short, had a bandana on, spiky gray hair, and I'm not completely sure, but she might have had a mustache…possibly a beard. Very low to the ground, though, probably only an inch taller than me."

"That…sounds like your grandpa."

"Okay, so maybe the crazy old lady was my grandpa. And maybe the cane was a broom, but you know, whatever. Semantics and all that."

"Wait, what was he chasing you around with a broom for?"

"I…might have pretended to sweep earlier when I was actually playing a game on my phone," he admitted in a small, awkward voice. He cleared his throat immediately after, trying to make his voice level again. "He chased me for the last hour and a half between customers."

She twirled the feather around in her fingers, laughing. "You devious child you," she teased with a glance towards the bird again. "Well you don't sound too winded, so I guess you had to have been busy, huh?"

"Yeah, and that's exactly what made it all worse for Grandpa. He's still sweeping furiously down there." He paused for a moment and then snickered softly. "He's cursing me under his breath. Oh my gods."

"Oh, I bet he is," she laughed, shaking her head with a roll of her eyes. Yugi's grandpa always tended to curse him when he was lazy—thankfully that didn't happen often, because she thought for sure if it did he might start cursing their relationship at some point too. And she needed that blessing at this point with the fighting that they seemed to be going through and the lying she would have to do soon enough. Which, again, begged the question of why she didn't try to end their relationship in order to just figure it all out on her own. It might have made things a lot easier if she were to do that. "I'd be cursing you too."

Yugi made a small indignant noise, scoffing at her when he hissed, "You better stop that. You're not supposed to agree with him about this! You're my girlfriend, you're supposed to take my side."

"I…make no promises," she said after a moment, lips pulling immediately into a frown as her mind started racing again. Why didn't she break up with him? It was more than just loving him at this point, though that was the main reason. Beneath the surface, she realized in disgust, she just didn't want this kid to win. Her pride was too ruffled and it refused to take such a blow that she couldn't recover from. Breaking up with Yugi seemed like letting him win. She cringed at her own thoughts. He would be so much safer though. Or…maybe he wouldn't. If she broke up with him and there was a chance of them getting back together before she dealt with this stalker, what was to keep him from going after Yugi?

"Yami?"

She stayed quiet for a moment and then glanced at the feather again. It was glinting coldly in the light and she narrowed her eyes at the sight of it. "Sorry, I was thinking about something," she admitted, not bothering to give further details. "I just got a little caught up in my head."

"Oh." He hesitated. "If—"

"No, it's not that serious, Yugi. It was a math problem."
"Oh." There was a snicker and she felt her cheeks heat in mortification as he continued. "And we all know how badly you suck at math. You remember in fifth grade how you told the teacher to eat a dick when she tried to tutor you and you still didn't get it?"

"Oh my god, shut up!" she snapped, blushing harder. "I also remember getting two weeks' worth of after school detention and having to write an essay on how that wasn't the proper answer to the equation. God, who needs imaginary numbers anyways?"

"You're so lucky she wasn't like Chono. She would have had you expelled before you could even blink."

"What can I say? My teachers love me when I'm not sassy."

She thought he was about to say something—probably that everyone loved her when she wasn't sassy with them—but instead they both heard his grandpa yelling again. Yugi burst into snickers and then quickly said, "Oh shit, I think he found the pile of dirt I put under the register earlier! I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Love you."

"You better hope you can run faster than he can," she snorted. "Love you too."

"Yugi!"

"Oh gods."

She was still laughing when he hung up. Nightshade was still perched on the table, watching her with some kind of expression that she couldn't read. The next pet she had it would be a dog. At least they went and attacked people who broke into someone's house. Maybe she'd get a cat…but they didn't have as much weight as a dog did or the bite force from what she knew.

If she ever got stalked again, she was definitely getting a dog.

She rolled her eyes at herself. A guard dog, one that was already trained and would just attack someone who set foot in the house. If they weren't her or Yugi or her dad, she wanted them torn to pieces.

She watched the bird for a few more minutes and then went about putting him back inside his cage. There wasn't much else to do at the moment though she hesitated at the bottom step with a backwards glance. It was early but she had nothing better to do than sleep and she didn't want to have to think anymore about what was going on in the first place.

She woke up in the middle of the night, at first expecting it to be because of her dad coming home late or something of that manner. She sat up, blinking tiredly, and glanced towards the door only to find it still shut. Her dad wasn't poking his head through to see her, he wasn't telling her to go back to sleep and that he was just checking on her.

A small chill crept through the air and she paused, eyes widening. She couldn't hear the hum of the air conditioning as it rattled awake downstairs. She didn't hear the vents that it traveled through. Her head snapped towards the window, her mouth growing dry at the sight of it.

It was wide open, something that she never let happen at night. Unless Yugi decided to come over late at night and sneak in out of boredom while his grandpa was away—and he only ever did it while he was away—then it was never open. Her eyes narrowed into slits of frustration. Falling asleep early had obviously not been one of her better ideas when it came down to it. Her stalker must have snuck in at some point and undid the locks—because she knew that it was impossible to open from the outside when it was shut like that—so that he could get away through there when her dad got home. Which meant that her dad had to have just gotten home recently and they had been standing there in her room, watching her as she slept.

How creepy.

And unattractive as fuck.

She curled her lip back, shaking her head as disgust swept through her. Who the hell just stood around watching people when they slept? And while she was at it, who the hell thought that it was romantic and put it in romance novels? That was just plain gross.

She had, admittedly, looked at Yugi while he was sleeping and thought he was adorable. But she hadn't just been laying there watching him. It had always been a small glance and her messing with his bangs before settling for sleep again. Beyond that she didn't want to see him sleeping. Watching someone sleep had to be one of the most boring and creepy things someone could do.

And violating.

She shook her head, rolling her eyes, and headed for the window.

So remember that I don't have the internet and am leeching off other people's wi-fi right now so I have NO way of updating more frequently considering. Thank you for your patience.