Title: Of Blood & Spirit

Pairings: Peachshipping, Dragonshipping. Chaseshipping, Silentshipping

Rating: T

Words (Chapter 10): 1,500

Author's Notes: I am so incredibly sorry for the wait. Three months, oh gosh, please forgive me! This took me so long to be able to write. If you're reading my other chaptered stories, you'll know it's because I'd been very busy with school and life. If you aren't, well, now you know. I thank you all for being patient with me. I appreciate my readers and everything they do! Hopefully you didn't give up on this story just yet.

Yami:

Yugi stirred and let out a small grunt. I watched him from my usual spot on the windowsill as he laid in bed, waiting.

I'd gotten home only about ten minutes ago. Grandpa noticed right away it was me, but I made up some excuse about Yugi needing rest from a long first day in order to cover what was happening. I didn't want to tell him about what really happened; he'd worry more than before and I still wasn't sure if Yugi would even want to help the group. No use worrying Grandpa if he wasn't – or worse, if Grandpa thought we should help, Yugi'd be stuck helping. He wouldn't forgive me for either of those scenarios.

"What time is it?" I heard my brother's groggy voice. He still hadn't opened his eyes.

"Almost 6."

"Did Grandpa make dinner yet?"

"He's doing it now."

Yugi took a deep breath, slowly opening his eyes and sitting up. "How'd we get home?"

"Duke drove us about halfway between here and Joey's. I walked the rest of the way." He nodded but otherwise stayed quiet. "What happened?"

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

I shrugged. "You passed out. I'm sorry for jumping into you without permission. I just didn't know what to do. You were out cold and there was a cop, a very rude one, I may add… We just didn't want to gain any attention."

He shook his head. "Don't worry about that. I needed it, I wouldn't have gotten home without it anyway. Couldn't exactly have Joey Wheeler walk in carrying me, unconscious, and expect Grandpa to be just fine."

I looked away at the mention of Joey, glad I couldn't blush anymore. That was a terribly inconvenient side effect of being alive, I noticed.

"We should talk about the ambush.'

I sighed, squeezing my eyes shut. "Can you please not refer to it as that?"

"You knew."

"Not all the details. I just knew they needed your help and that Joey was the one who wrote the play. That's why I wanted to see it."

There was a moment of silence. "Yami. Look at me." I didn't obey. "Please." I slowly turned my head to look at him. "Do you… talk to him?"

"Define talk."

"Yami." I didn't like when he got serious with me. I always assumed I'd have been the older one, I'm taller anyway (okay, yes, I make myself taller because you can do that in the Shadow Realm, but that's not the point) but right now, I felt like a kid in trouble. "You know what I mean."

I looked back out the window. "Yes, I do."

"How long?" I shrugged. His tone was almost accusing; I didn't want to continue this conversation. I had to, though, he deserved to know at least about the kiss… oh, god, he'd be so mad at me for that one… "Since before the… incident?" he asked.

"No, only since that night."

He was quiet and I looked over at him, noticing he was avoiding looking at me. He sighed and shook his head, getting off the bed and walking towards the desk.

"Why are you angry?" I asked quietly.

"I'm not."

The bond was telling me different. "You could've fooled me."

He got one of his textbooks out, placing it onto the desk with a thud. Why were those things so heavy? It was ridiculous and made my (Yugi's) back hurt. Stupid textbook.

"I'm not angry," he said, quieter and gentler this time. "Just a little… I don't know. Hurt? Upset?"

"Why?"

"Because since when do you go around talking to other people?" he asked, turning around in his chair. He was back to looking angry.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Since I could? He's the one other person I know who can hear me, Yugi. Not even Grandpa can! It felt nice to be able to connect with someone, especially when you couldn't."

"He doesn't even like me, did you see the way he was looking at me?"

"It's not that he doesn't like you."

"He was glaring at me."

"He's just protective."

"Of what?"

I moved to lay on the bed (well, hover on the bed, so I wouldn't fall through) and stared up at the ceiling.

"Oh, my god. You're kidding. You're like, a thing?"

I glared at him, a little insulted at the face he was making. "You don't have to sound so shocked."

"How could you not tell me?"

I didn't need to breathe, but it was fun to pretend. Such as making the very exaggerated sighing sound. "I don't know. It just never seemed like the right time to focus on my love life that would never go anywhere anyway."

I heard him get up and moved so he wouldn't seem to be sitting on me when he laid down beside me. "You could have told me you were talking to him."

"You were in the hospital, and I understood why we couldn't talk. I just got lonely, though. He could always hear me, even when we were kids."

"Yeah, that's right. He did. So did Serenity, right?"

"Yeah. A few other old friends of yours did, too, even back home. But then people grow up and they stop believing in things like they used to, and I'd get blocked out."

"But not with Joey."

"His gift… I didn't even know he had it until he heard me that night. I followed you to the hospital and when you were asleep, I just needed someone to talk to. To vent to. So, I went back and we talked about you."

He was quiet for a minute before responding. "So what you've been saying about me made him hate me."

"It's not like that, Yugi. You make it sound so bad. It's just that I was extremely upset when you did that, I was distraught. You'd been shutting me out before that and then I couldn't even really talk to you after. Maybe I made it seem like my negative feelings were your fault and that's what he took, but I'll talk to him about it, make him realize that's not how it is…"

He started pulling at a loose stitch from the pillowcase behind our heads. "So you actually… like him, like him?"

I had to hold back a laugh at the childlike question. "Yeah, I do."

"I didn't even know you were gay."

"Neither did I."

"I didn't know dead people could have crushes."

I did laugh this time. "Hey, aren't you the one always saying I'm real and my emotions are valid?"

He chuckled, too. "Yeah, that's true. I guess it makes sense. You are, in some ways, more of a normal teenager than I am. How the hell does my dead brother get a relationship before I do?"

"Considering how rude you were to everyone today, is that really a question?"

He huffed. "So, I'm right? You're like… in a relationship with him?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "I didn't really get a chance to ask. I did, uh, do something else though…"

His eyebrows furrowed for a second before his eyes widened like saucers. "You didn't! Yami!" He sat up and made a disgusted face. "Ew! How far did you go?"

"It was just a kiss, or two, okay maybe three but the last two were really small. I promise. I'm sorry, I know it was wrong. I just knew I'd never feel it and I wanted to know what all the fuss was about."

He groaned and flopped back on the bed. "If you were alive, I'd kill you right now." He looked over at me and rolled his eyes. "Fine, I forgive you. But don't you ever."

"I won't. I swear." I waited until I felt him truly calm down before asking the question on my mind. "So, what do you say? Are you going to help them?"

He was quiet again for a minute, but I didn't rush him to answer. The fact that he wasn't immediately objecting was a good sign.

"Okay."

My face broke out into a smile. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" I wanted to hug him.

"Don't thank me yet. You're putting in your own work for this, too. You know I can't do it alone."

"I know. I didn't expect you to."

"And they better help as well. I'm not making us do all the work and endanger ourselves without them lending a hand."

"Completely understood."

"I can't believe we're doing this. We don't know anything about the spirit they pissed off. Hell, we barely know anything about them, either." He shook his head. "This isn't going to be easy, Yami. You know that, I know that, but I don't think they know that."

"They will. Their lives are in danger; they're not going to take it lightly."

"Good. I guess you should tell your boyfriend the good news."

I didn't have to be told twice.

Authpr's Notes: Okay, so this chapter was all about brother bonding because that is meant to be the core of this story. That, and the supernatural. 10 chapters in and we're ready to rock and roll because Yami's being honest with Yugi about his connection to the group which is making Yugi want to help and yay! I've been telling people, though, and putting in my notes that I have a vacation coming up and I'll be busy when I come back so I don't know when my next update will be. I'm trying, though, I promise.