Sadistic-neko: Hi everyone, I'm back. Sorry it took so damn long for me to update. I wish that I could say school got in the way of that something else made me too damn busy to work on this, but I can't. In all honesty, I'm losing my inspiration for this story. It will still be finished, but it won't be as long as I planned and it will probably only have two more chapters left. I love you guys and hope that you will be patient and stick with me until the end. Well, as usual, I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh and hope that you will enjoy this latest chapter.

"Have you lost your damn mind?" Bakura screamed, livid. Yami had to hold him back from attacking me as the tiger leapt up from his seat, claws bared. Marik look every bit as pissed but was containing himself if only barely. My ancient cousin's crimson eyes looked to me questioningly.

"Calm yourself Bakura," the former pharaoh said sharply. With one strong tug, the thief was in his chair again, glaring death at me. "I'm sure that Kaiba has a good reason for this idea."

I met eyes with our leader, him silently telling me to go ahead. It was a relief to know that he was at least willing to listen to me. if I could convince him, then the others would go along with it. With a deep breath, I steeled myself again and looked at the furious albino in the eye.

"As you know, Katsuya is pregnant. I can't risk him getting hurt again because of our powers. You know just as well as I do that they cater destruction no matter how nobly we try to use them. Danger is drawn to them like moths to a flame." My hands unconsciously curled into fists at the mere thought of my mate or children suffering because of the horrific powers I controlled. "I'm not going to lie, I'm terrified that another McNell may show up. Katsuya and the hikaris were dragged into that mess because of us, and I'll be damned if I let that happen again."

The others were silent, but I couldn't bear to look at them and see the looks that were sure to be in their eyes. They all loved their hikaris with their whole beings, but not a single one of them understood the crippling fear I was in thinking about my mate's future. It was no longer just the two of us. As of just yesterday, our lives were no longer our own and our decisions no longer just affected us. The two precious lives growing inside of my puppy needed us to be smart and to do what was best for them.

"Are you sure that sealing our powers away is the only option?" Yami asked, being the more levelheaded of the trio.

"Yes. Even if we tried to hide them as we have been, I don't think that it would work. Each one of us is guilty of using them unnecessarily and unconsciously. Right now for instance, the shadows are reacting to your anger and confusion and my uneasiness." They all looked around them to see that I was right. The shadows around us were writhing in contained anger and yearning comfort. "One slip up and we can find ourselves neck deep in a world of danger and trouble. I'm not willing to put my children through that."

"What about Mokuba and Noah?" Bakura asked scathingly. "They have been dragged into our world many times. What's the difference?"

"If I was given the choice, neither one of them would know the truth of the evil this world can hold. You of all people should understand what having that choice stripped from you is like. I'm not the only who has had the cruelty of man and the potent allure of the shadows' dark power thrust in their face when I was too young to ever deserve such tragedy."

That silenced him. There wasn't much that he and I had in common, but the pain we suffered as children was one thing that we both shared. Because of this, he was the one person I was sure would understand my desire to protect my family from the shadows. The way he averted his eyes told me I was right.

"Very well," Yami said, breaking the tense, melancholy air. All of our attention turned to him as he settled back into his chair. He crossed his legs and arms majestically giving me flashbacks to the brief time he ruled. It was like he was holding court. "I understand why you feel this way, cousin, but there are a few concerns I have before I'm willing to agree to this."

I nodded. It would be foolish to think that it wouldn't be the case. If there was one thing that my cousin was, it was cautious. He liked to make sure that whatever decision was made really was for the best of all involved before acting.

"Of course. What would these concerns be?" He took a moment to organize his thoughts before speaking again.

"What are we to do if a need for our powers arises? There is a chance that your children, or any that the rest of us may decide to have, will inherit our abilities. There will be no way to train them and help them if we ourselves do not have our powers. We also have to worry about another supernatural threat appearing. We would surely die, and the rest of the world too, if we cannot stop an influx of the shadow realm appearing."

He made very valid points, but it wasn't anything I hadn't already thought of. The safety of my friends and family was my foremost thought after all.

"The seal wouldn't be permanent," I said, assuring the yamis as much as I could. Their magic was a much larger part of themselves than it was me. Marik had been created from shadow magic after all. "I figured that we could seal our powers into our sennen items, or mind in Marik's case, and give them to someone we can trust for safekeeping. If our children show signs of having powers or if some kind of threat arises, we can simply retrieve our items and undo the seal."

Yami thought it over for a while, turning the idea over in his head. Finally he focused on me again.

"Who would be holding our sennen items for us?"

"Norita-san," I said and hurried to answer what I was sure would be his next question. "I figured that we could enchant a safe to suppressed their power to make sure that it wouldn't affect her and to make sure that no one who would abuse their power can sense them."

"When do you want to do this then?" I sighed lightly in relief. As much as Bakura and Marik may have not liked the idea, they had to at least understand where I was coming from and would follow Yami's decision regardless.

"As soon as possible. Now preferably." He nodded, his multicolored spikes slicing the air and we got down to business.

Jou POV

I awoke to the morning sun shining brightly on my face. My mate was beside me with his strong, loving arms wrapped around my waist and the memory of the two pups growing inside me gently whispered to me. All was great and the world was perfect as far as I was concerned. Perfectly content, I snuggled further into the warm comfort he offered.

Even when a knock came to the door, I was too content to bother moving. If it was the pups or my dad, they would peak their heads in to see if we were in our room. Our friends would probably just leave or be dragged away by their hikaris.

"Seto? Jou?" Mokuba called out sticking his head through the crack in the door with his eyes screwed shut in case his brother and I were in the middle of something that would surely scar him for life. "Are you decent?"

"Yes Mokuba." I couldn't help but laugh at the relived sigh the boy let out before opening his eyes. "Is something up?"

"It's almost noon and Noah and I are hungry. We tried letting you rest and asking Yugi or Ryou to make something, but they couldn't pry themselves from their yamis." I glanced at the clock, shocked to find that it really was almost noon. Sure, the pups were making me tired, but Seto was normally up by then even if he was still half asleep.

"Okay then, I'll be up in a sec. Why don't you go downstairs and get the stuff I need to make waffles out while I get your brother to let me go?" He nodded and I hoped that there would still be a kitchen when I finally got downstairs. It was a proven fact that Mokuba could not cook to save his life. The kid couldn't even boil water. Noah was better, but he still had a lot to learn before I felt safe letting him cook anything on his own. Now, on to the daunting task. "Seto, mate, I need to get up."

The brunette groaned and pulled me in closer. I sighed as I felt him bury his nose in my hair. This was going to take a while. With as much resolve as I could muster that early in the morning when I didn't really want to leave, I wiggled my hand free and started shaking his shoulder.

"Seto, I need to get up." Another groan was heard. It was time to bring out the big guns. "Seto, the pups are hungry. I need to feed them. You don't want our babies to starve do you?"

Luckily enough, my own stomach growled right at that moment. Hearing this and the fact that the pups needed to eat, he groaned again in defeat and loosened his arms enough to let me out. As soon as I was free, I petted his hair and moved my pillow so he could hug and still smell me. since he was still almost completely asleep, it was good enough.

With my mate taken care of, I made my way downstairs and to the kitchen. The pups were patiently sitting there waiting for me with all of the items I needed to make breakfast for lunch out and ready. The next half an hour was spent teaching Noah what to do to make waffles, keeping an eye on Mokie to make sure he didn't touch anything so we wouldn't have any random explosions, and basically having fun with my boys. Just as we were plating the last of the meal, the others came down to join us.

The yamis and my mate all looked like zombies being pulled around by their noses. I felt bad for the poor hikaris who were still trapped in their mates' grasps and being dragged along. It was strange to see the others like that. Normally all of the dominant mates other than mine woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed.

"You guys okay?" I asked the lights as they finally had to resort to stabbing their significant others' hand with forks to be freed. The larger counter parts hardly flinched as they finally let go.

"Yeah, we're fine," Yugi said moving his mate over a little so his drooping head would land in their food. Bakura and Marik were no better. Hell, Malik was only just able to get two waffles off his plate before Marik started using it as a pillow. "I just wonder what in the world these guys did last night to make them so tired."

"Me too," Malik said looking like he was devising the best way to more food out from under his mate's head. "I've never seen Marik this beat."

"Hold on," I said going to the freezer. "we aren't going to get any answers if they stay like this."

I threw all three of them an ice cube and grabbed one for myself. We all nodded to each other and pulled our mate's shirt collar, or in Malik's case, pants strap, back and let the ice do the work.

"Holy shit," they each exclaimed bolting up and jumping around to get rid of the ice. Marik even went as far as to pull his pants down. We were all thankful that he was wearing boxers and the ice had already went far enough down his leg that he didn't feel the need to pull them off too.

"Now that we have your attention," Yugi said with his arms crossed over his chest. Ryou was right next to him mirroring his stance and Malik was rolling on the floor laughing like a maniac. "What is going on?"

Needless to say, we were shocked by their explanation. Never had we thought that they would willing give up their shadow magic while they were living. Sure enough, though, we could feel the change in the air around them and their eyes no longer held the powerful glow that terrified many a dumbass that had pissed them off.