Sorry, sorry! Didn't have internet for a while, but don't worry! I worked off-line in my absence! Enjoy! Speed-updating here.
The man held up his hands, looking weary. "Please, Yugi... We need to discuss your past in full one day, with a nice, maybe detailed, list of who hates you and wants to kill you." Two children stood at his side, facing the second man with blond hair emerging from the alley. The dark-haired boy shrugged. "Not my fault. Honest." Beside him, the white-haired boy paled, looking fearful.
Jounouchi laughed. "Pair o' jesters," he said angrily, twirling his weapon in hand. His sneer transformed into a self-satisfied smirk. "Let's see who's laughing in a couple minutes," he continued, stalking towards the threesome. Yugi glanced over at Bakura. "Hey... Can you fight?" The pale boy gestured towards Jounouchi, clearly telling Yugi the assailant was all his. Smiling, the child took a few steps towards his former comrade. His head was bent down as Jounouchi said, "Stay where you are. Or Honda nicks the neck o' one o' your friends there.
Yugi giggled, looking up. Dark eyes were shadowed by silvery black bangs as he said laughingly, "Friends?" He took another step, swinging his sword happily. "Aw, but they'll be fine. I trust them. You, on the other hand... are no king." The child lunged forward, his sword clanging on Jounouchi's. The child chuckled, whipping his blade around. The man's eyes shined with hatred as he growled, "Freak." The two battled, their clashes causing a cacophony in the street.
A vicious grin had split the child's face as he battled, losing himself in the fight. So when he heard a noise that did not come from his foe, he was disoriented, jerking back to earn himself a cut on his arm. Ignoring the sting, he parried another blow, trying to shake off the disorientation. Then he heard it - "Yugi!" - and this time he leapt back, turning to see Yami reaching out towards him. He saw a bloody mess in the background before instinctively skipping to the left, feeling something shoot past him.
It passed through the shadow harmlessly, then slammed into the ground, revealing itself to be a kunai. Yugi sighed. "What a failure of a king," he tsked, walking forward. Ignoring the stunned Jounouchi behind him, he leaned down, grasping the kunai. In one swift movement, he pulled it out and threw it, a loud curse heard soon after. "There we go," the child said casually, leaping back into battle with the now-recovered blonde. Yami and Bakura stared as the fray gradually transformed into a flurry of blurs they could barely follow. "Yugi is strong," Bakura murmured, just loud enough for the shadow to hear. "That is the only thing I regret in leaving. I am... weaker now."
"But kinder," Yami added. A soft, tired chuckled came from the child. "Kinder," he muttered bitterly. "Until all I am known by is the cold gravestone." The boy sighed. It a melancholic sound that made the shadow's own heart resonate with sympathy. He hesitantly reached out, but then pulled back. This boy was not his to comfort. It was his shadow's, who seemed to have failed. He shook the thoughts from his head, returning his attention to the battle. The shadow's real charge was fighting hard beyond him.
"You've always been a freak," Jounouchi jeered, hoping to catch the agile child off-balance. "Acting all mature one minute, childish the next. No one does that - no wonder you've never had any friends!" Yugi ignored the man's taunts. Having lived with them, they fell flat - even if he hated the words. Suddenly one insult slipped past his defenses - "I bet even those guys behind you think you're a freak." He flinched, his opponent scoring a hit on his leg, parallel to his older wound. Jounouchi's eyes narrowed as he realized Yugi was hesitating. "Come on," he scoffed, stalking closer. "I bet they'll leave you, too - just like how Honda and I left you once we realized what you were!" He swung his blade down, surprised when he met resistance. Dark brown eyes glared up at him from beneath pale hair. A snarl twisted Yugi's lips as he lunged forward, going on the offensive.
Jounouchi fought hard, but his foe's blade flashed down and he lost grip on his sword, which was quickly kicked away by Yugi. The child kicked the fighter away, his chest heaving. "Shut up," he growled, his hands whitening as his grip tightened. He stepped back as a kunai thudded into the space he just occupied. "Recovered, Honda?" he asked snarkily. He laughed hatefully. "Your friend here is in no shape to fight. Better take him back to recover." Silence ensued. "I'll let you," Yugi said, in a tone that wasn't altogether reassuring. Slowly, a dark-haired figure walked out of the shadows, grasping Jounouchi and pulling him into the alley. The tension was broken by Bakura as he said, bewildered, "You left them alive."
Yugi nodded, sheathing his sword. Hesitantly Yami asked, "Is that… unusual?" Both children laughed, their voices laced with sadness. "Yes," Bakura answered him. "If we don't, usually they come back to stab us in the back later. Honestly… Yugi, I've never seen you leave someone alive before - unless it was a mock fight, but how many years has it been since your last one?... Yugi?" The child was silent. The man and boy fancied they could see Yugi calming down from the encounter. The child's eyes remained murky, and his hair tinged with silver, as he turned and replied, "They used to be my friends. My only ones…"
He didn't say anything else, and Yami tried, "Well, it's good you left them alive. It's not good for the soul to kill too often." He was startled by the child's outburst as Yugi snapped, "No, it's not fine. It's probably why they were sent in the first place. One of the few I have memories with. I hate them, I hate them, but I miss who they were!" His chest was heaving. His shadow, observing him, remarked softly, "It's okay to cry." Yugi looked away, so it was Bakura who replied, "It's not. Not really. Crying… is a tangible weakness. Even I, who left Strife so long ago, have this engraved in my heart. Right, Yugi?" The child nodded in agreement. The man stared at the two for a while, wondering, not for the first time, and definitely not for the last, what sort of world had children go through so much. But he didn't ask it out loud.
Instead he said, "How about we find that musician you talked about?" The words had the opposite effect he had intended. Yugi turned and glanced at him suspiciously. "Musician..? How did you know? I don't think we had time to tell you that." The shadow looked just as confused. He stammered, not knowing what to say. Then Yugi's eyes closed, as if in pain, groaning. "Are you okay, Yugi?" Yami asked worriedly. The child hissed. His eyes opened, shining violet as he stared at the ground.
Leaning down, he used the blade of a knife to sketch images into the ground. After a minute, he stood, and Bakura gasped. "That's the shadow artifact I had!" he exclaimed, pointing to one image. It was one of seven objects Yugi had drawn, the boy crouching and nodding. He pointed to a sketch of Yami's golden object, saving the shadow from searching for it on his own. "These," the boy said, scratching out three images, "are lost forever. I won't explain how, but they were destroyed. We have these," he circled Bakura's and Yami's. Before he could continue, the pale-haired boy interrupted, saying in confusion, "Yugi, you… uh… broke mine." Yugi laughed. "That's right," he agreed amiably. "Still, it's shadow remains intact, and that's all we care about." His eyes and hair changed briefly, before resuming their original form. Bakura nodded, understanding.
"He's in you," he said quietly, Yami realizing it at the same time. The shadow felt conflicted. After all, he was Yugi's shadow. The thought of another in the boy made him uncomfortable, but Yugi ignored them, plowing ahead. "So we need to look for these," he continued, pointing to the two remaining objects. One looked like an eye, and the other a key. Yugi smiled.
"The musician probably has this one," he announced, pointing to the eye.