Small Note

Sakura: I wanted to get this out before Christmas, because I do not plan on doing any writing or updating on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I'm not sure what all my readers celebrate because some might not celebrate Christmas so…

Sakura and Yumi: Happy Holidays!

Chapter 21

HUMANS

Vampires vs. Humans

By the time the night had drifted in there was still no word about who had attacked the downtown area of Vampire City. All the humans had been safely returned to their homes, while the vampires continued to roam the streets helping their King. Most of the vampires from the vampire side of town however were not much help because they did not trust the humans. They believed the humans were the cause of the attack, while some vampires who trusted humans thought the non-trusting vampires were the cause.

There was tension in the air from the two sides of vampires and only Yami could keep the two sides from fighting. This in turn kept him away from the palace where Yuugi now safely resided and he hated it.

Taylor, Jason, and Ethan were in charge of overseeing the damage done to the downtown area after the explosions had stopped and the fires put out. The one thing they did know after looking over the damage was that it was no accident and someone had been trying to bomb the city. The only thing they did not know was why…

Yuugi looked out the window of Yami's office as the moon started to shine brighter in the setting sun. It was turning into a beautiful night after everything that had happened, but Yuugi would not be able to quit worrying until Yami was home.

After the scare from Jiro, Yami had bought him back to the palace for better protection so Yami could go back into the city. Yuugi not wanting to seem like a child had let Yami go, but somewhere deep down he wanted Yami to remain by his side. He felt safer with his fiancée around.

Chan and Kotaro stayed by his side as Yuugi locked himself in his and Yami's room for a few hours. They wanted to protect Yuugi if anything were to happen. When dinner rolled around Yuugi did leave the room to go eat, but after that he changed course from his room and locked himself in Yami's office with the two little ones.

Yuugi removed himself from the window to take a minute and light the candles in the room. The two little ones who had been in the floor playing a game stopped to watch him.

"Come play with us Yuugi?" Kotaro asked. He had asked earlier but Yuugi had just wanted to stare out the window.

Yuugi shook his head. "I'm alright you two continue your game." He sat himself in Yami's seat and started to look through the drawers. He knew Yami kept some sweets in the drawers and he could use a little sugar kick. Yami had to hide them a lot because Yami never liked the children to each a bunch sweets even if it would not hurt them.

While looking for the candy he stumbled upon a small box the size that would fit his rose necklace. Curious of why Yami never gave the box to him, Yuugi opened it to find a piece of worn out paper. It had some kind of ancient writing on it, but from the looks of it, it was Egyptian. Removing the paper, he found an indent in the cushion in the shape of the rose. So it was clear the box was meant for the necklace, but he wondered why there was a worn out piece of paper inside.

Just as he was about to read the paper and find out…

"Daddy is home!" Chan cried out in excitment and race to the door.

Yuugi quickly put the paper and box up before getting out from behind Yami's desk. He was sure Yami wouldn't mind him being behind it, but just to be careful and not get on Yami's bad side he moved to the front of it.

A few minutes later Chan appeared in the doorway with her father. Kotaro got up and ran over to hug his father, who happily hugged him back. The three look so cute together that Yuugi could not help but smile.

"Did you catch the criminals, daddy?" Kotaro asked.

Yami shook his head. "Your brothers are still looking. Why don't the two of you run off so Yuugi and I can talk?"

The two agreed and left while closing the door behind them. Yami locked it so no one would disturb them and took off his mask.

Yuugi walked over to Yami and wrapped his arms around him. "I'm glad you're back safely."

Yami returned the embrace. "I did not want to worry you and the little ones for too much longer. It's a real mess out there and it is going to take a while to figured things out."

"How are Ethan, Jason, and Taylor?" Yuugi did not want those three to over work themselves.

Yami chuckled. "They are fine Yuugi. I told them not to stay out too late, but they want to do a little more searching to make sure the city remains safe throughout the night."

"Oh…" Yuugi moved away from Yami and walked back over to the window. "So why do you think the attack happened?"

Yami followed behind him, dropping his mask on the desk before rewrapping his arms around Yuugi. "I wish I knew. The only thing I know is that this was an attack, but why I do not know that yet." He turned Yuugi around to face him. "I hate to ask this but did Jiro say anything to you?"

Yuugi looked down afraid to look up at Yami. "No, but I think he was just taunting me about how he tried to kill me."

The grip Yami had on Yuugi's waist tightened at those words. "Did he say why he wanted you dead?" He questioned.

The memories once again wanted to resurface, but Yuugi wanted to keep them away. "I don't want to remember."

"I know it is hard Yuugi, but I need to think of my people. I need to know what happened between you and Jiro to hopefully make sense of this mess." Yami pleaded with his lover. He did not want to hurt Yuugi he loved him too much to want to do that, but everything seemed to link back to Jiro. Yuugi was Jiro's first target, so he knew Yuugi had to have known something.

Even after all the tears Yuugi had cried it seemed he still had more as they started to roll down his face. "I honestly do not know what I did to make him hate me!" Yuugi cried as he hid his face in Yami's chest. "I never did anything to him but try and be nice to him!"

Yami gently picked Yuugi up and carried him over to the couch in the room. He sat down with Yuugi on his lap letting his smaller lover cry as much as he wanted until he felt better. The King was at a loss of words he could say to try and comfort Yuugi. The best he could do for the moment was hold Yuugi until the tears stopped so they could talk.

Half an hour later and things grew quiet in Yami's office. The two still sat in their same positions, but the crying had stopped but minutes ago. Yuugi rubbed his eyes which were red and puffy. The younger of the two looked at Yami's shirt and blushed when he realized he had gotten it all wet.

"Oh Yami I'm sorry."

Yami could not help but chuckle at how quickly Yuugi's mood had changed from upset to embarrass. "It's alright dear. It will dry after a while, but I hope you are feeling better."

Yuugi nodded his head. "I think I needed that."

"Can we talk now?" Yami softly asked so Yuugi would not think he was being pushy.

Yuugi made himself comfortable and laid his head on Yami's shoulder. "I guess you have the right to know what happened that day…"

"It's your choice whether you want to tell me or not. However it could help explain the attack we witnessed today." Yami told him while keeping his arms wrapped firmly around Yuugi.

They sat in silence for what seemed like a few minutes, before Yuugi started to explain to Yami everything that happened that day. He was not going to leave one bit of it out if he was going to tell Yami the truth.

"It started when he came to visit me in the shop…"

By the end of Yuugi's small tale, Yami was furious. He took deep breaths to keep himself calm, since he did not want to lash out as his lover. Yuugi lean up to kiss the side of Yami's mouth.

"I'm sorry I did not tell you. I was worried about what you would think." Yuugi looked away from Yami. "I just felt so weak and I did not want to seem like that to you."

Yami looked down at Yuugi with disbelief. "Yuugi, I will never see you as weak. You tried to protect yourself as best you could from a vampire and that is all any human can do unless they know the vampire's weakness. If you had known Jiro's weakness then maybe you would not have gotten hurt as badly."

"What is Jiro's weakness?" Yuugi asked out of curiosity. He did not think he would be able to bring himself to hurt another being even if it was a vampire, but if he had to live or die, he would rather live. It would be nice to be able to protect himself from Jiro if the vampire came back looking for him.

Yami sighed and Yuugi knew he would not like what Yami had to say. "We never found out his weakness…"

There was the bad news…

"All my children went under many tests to see what they were weak against, but I never made them do it. They only did it if they wanted to. Jiro did not want to, so I never forced him." Yami explained with guilt in his eyes. He wished now he had made all his children go under the tests.

"I guess I'll have to carry around a backpack full of weapons won't I?" Yuugi joked to try and lighten the mood.

Yami smiled and kissed him once on the lips. "I'm never leaving you out of my site until Jiro is bought in alive or dead. If I'm not around one of the children will be with you."

Yuugi almost cried at those words. Everyone was doing so much to protect him and ensure he was safe. He was so happy to have such a loving family. In all his years he would have never dream he would be in the arms of the most handsome vampire around and about to get married to him one day.

"Thank you." Yuugi whispered to Yami before giving him another kiss.

It had gotten late by the time the two had finally made it back to their room. Yami was the first to fall asleep after all the commotion that day. Yuugi however just lay beside Yami and watched him sleep. Sleep of course was evading Yuugi like it had been since the attack. He normally could only sleep during the day when he knew he had others watching over him.

Reaching down Yuugi looked over his necklace that he still had on. As he looked at it he remembered the piece of paper he found in the necklace box. He had been meaning to ask Yami about it, but it slipped his mind along with a few other choice questions. The small human wanted to know about the paper, these powers that Jiro was looking for, and why was all this happening to him…

Yuugi knew he was just a simple human who had entered the city for a new start like most others. As far as he knew none of his family had lived in the city before so there was no connection there. The only thing he could think of was that Jiro was bitter that Yami had finally in love. The children had had Yami all to themselves for hundreds of years while Yuugi was new to the family. He heard of step children disliking their step parents but never to the point of wanting to kill them.

"Yuugi go to sleep…" Yami yawned out as he opened his eyes. While he had been trying to sleep he could feel Yuugi moving and hear his breathing. Normally Yuugi's breathing even out when he fell asleep, but it seemed more rough and nervous sounding. It was sure able to keep a vampire awake.

Yuugi looked up to see Yami waking up. "You know I won't be able to sleep."

Yami rolled over so he lay on his side and looked at Yuugi. "Alright… Tell me what is on your mind so you can sleep…"

Yuugi looked down at his necklace again. "Well while you were gone, I went looking through your office desk for the candy I know you hide there, when I found a box that my necklace went in." He peaked up to make sure Yami was not mad at him, but he did not look it. "I thought it would be okay for me to have it to keep the necklace in, but I found this piece of paper inside with weird writing on it."

"You could not read it?"

"I think I could, but Chan said you were home so I put it away and forgot about it until now." Yuugi told him.

Yami paused for a moment to think of how he was going to say what he needed to say next. "Let me guess you also want to know about the powers Jiro was talking about?"

Yuugi's eyes widen at that. "How did you know?"

"You did not ask about them earlier so I figured you would later." Yami replied before gently taking the necklace from around Yuugi's neck. He held it between the two of them. "The piece of paper, this necklace, and the powers go all hand in hand. I have no idea how Jiro knows about the powers, but it could explain the attacks and why he went after you."

This came as a shock to Yuugi. It was possible that it was not Yuugi at all that Jiro was after, but the necklace. "Why?" Yuugi questioned.

Yami looked at Yuugi unsure if he should tell, but after all that Yuugi went through he knew he had the right. "I believe Jiro is after my Shadow Magic."

That is where Yami lost Yuugi. "Shadow what?"

"Shadow Magic…" Yami said again, before going on to explain. "It's the power that changed me back in Ancient Egypt to the monster I was. If you remember everything I told you, then you will remember that I was greedy and wanted power. These powers threaten to kill my land and its people, but I found a way to capture it through spells. There was a small amount of magic already in Egypt, but it was not as powerful. Surprising myself and all around me I was able to contain these powers into my body which in turn changed me into a vampire."

The necklace let off a light glow at Yami's touch and the shadow in the room seem to move on their own. Yuugi moved closer to Yami not sure how all of this was happening.

Yami closed his eyes for a moment and when he reopened them the shadows were still again. He looked down at Yuugi to make sure he had not scared him too much, but Yuugi only looked shocked. "When I almost died and came back to my senses, I locked away those powers into this necklace. I was powerful without it, so I just locked them away so no one else could get to them. No one knew what I locked the powers away in and you are the only person who knows now that I am telling you."

Yuugi looked at the necklace and shakily took it back into his hands. He looked around to make sure nothing was going to get him, but all was quiet and still. "I never knew you had trusted me with so much power."

Yami smiled and wrapped his arms around Yuugi. "I trusted you with the necklace because I love you." He gave Yuugi a gentle kiss on the forehead. "As long as you did not know the powers this necklace held I thought you would be safe. I had no idea anyone would be after them, but after Jiro attacked you I guess I figured wrong. He however did not seem to know that I locked the magic into this necklace and thought you may know the location of the item that holds the powers."

Yuugi shook his head. "I don't get why he would think that. I'm just a small human, why would he think you would trust me with the location of such strong magic?"

"He knows I love you so much. I've changed thanks to you and he can see that."

Everything slowly started to process through Yuugi's mind. If Yami had told Yuugi, Yuugi knew he would have never told Jiro the truth, but he wondered if he was back in that situation of life or death would he tell this time… "I think you should take this back… If Jiro comes after me again…"

Yami shook his head, but took the necklace so he could place it behind Yuugi on his nightstand. "No, you will continue to own it. Now that you know about it I will be able to use my powers in front of you to protect you better. If you ever feel threaten I can teach you to make the shadows send me a message that you are in danger."

"Why did you not do it before?"

"I was afraid I would scare you off with this magic. It's a scary thing to hold and I do not want to lose you." Yami said with honesty.

Yuugi's eyes soften at those words and he snuggled up closer to Yami. "Thank you for telling me that truth. I feel better knowing I was not the cause of Jiro attacking me."

Yami pulled Yuugi as close as he could and rested his head on top of Yuugi's. "Things will get better I promise Yuugi, so please try and get some sleep."

Amethyst eyes slowly closed as he did as Yami told him, trying to get some sleep from the long day. It only took the small adult five minutes before he was out like a light, safe and sound in his lover's arms.

Two days passed with no word on who had attacked the downtown area. The city seemed to have calmed down from the fright however there was still a slight tension in the air. The vampires and humans slowly but surely started to drift from each other. The only part of the city that had not changed was the vampire/human side. The humans who trusted vampires did not lose their trust, but they were more cautious.

Sadly after the attack a good amount of humans wanted to leave the city until they knew it was safe to return. The only problem was Yami could not allow that until the person who planted the explosives downtown was caught. Vampires knew they could not leave and did not even try, but there were a few groups of humans who were not happy about being trapped in the city.

Thankfully Yami was able to put extra protection around the human side of the city to make the humans feel safer until everything had been dealt with. It still did not stop the stress from taking its toll on the King and everyday Yuugi worried about his lover.

It was currently the third night after the attack and Yuugi and Yami were getting some well-deserved sleep that night. All was quiet, until there was a loud and demanding knocking on their bedroom door. Yuugi bolted up into a sitting position because the knocking had given him a fright. Yami was wide awake also and already out of bed heading to the door to find out who dared to disturb their sleep, but not before putting his mask on.

They were both surprised to find the sweet and quiet Ryou standing outside the door. He held out a piece of paper. "This report just came in about an attack on the human side of the city. It appears three rouge vampires have gone on a killing spree. Vampire and human police were already headed there when this report came into the palace."

In the city there were many stations around the city for both vampires and humans who were police officers. Human police took care of the human side, while vampire police took care of the vampires. Both kinds worked toward when it came to the human and vampire side of the city. The only time any vampire officers could step foot in the human side of town is when a vampire or vampires in up there to cause trouble. Bakura and Marik along with being friends of Yami's and part of the council also were in charge of the main station which was located in the palace. If anything was going on in the city all stations had to first report to the palace to ensure the best for everyone in the city.

Yami took the piece of paper from Ryou and scanned over it. He growled at whatever he had read and threw it down. He went over to his and Yuugi's shared closet and grabbed the first thing he could find to change into.

"Ryou, I want Taylor, Ethan, and Jason to come with me. Then I want you to find all the members of the council and tell them to prepare for an emergency meeting when I get back. There have been too many attacks on this city for my liking and the people are going to go into a panic." Yami barked orders to Ryou and after he was done the small vampire was gone to do what he was told to.

Yuugi hurried out of bed to get changed also when he was stopped by Yami. "What do you think you are doing?"

The human looked up at his lover. "I'm going with you."

Yami shook his head and made Yuugi sit back down. "No, I have no idea what is going on. You are safer here."

"But I have friends in that side of town!" Yuugi argued back thinking of Tea and Tristan and their little boy. "I have to make sure they are okay, plus I'm your human mate. If the humans see me maybe they will listen better. I've seen how leery people are over there of vampires."

Yami looked at Yuugi for the longest time before sighing. "Fine, but you are wearing this and you have to stay with me." He took the necklace off of the bedside table and put it around Yuugi's neck.

Yuugi agreed and went about getting ready.

It did not take long before Taylor was at their door and telling them Ethan and Jason was on their way. Yami told his son to go wake Chan and Kotaro up too and they were to all met in the main foyer. Taylor agreed and went to go do that. Once he was gone, Yami watched Yuugi finish getting ready, before picking him up bridal style and taking off out of the room.

When they made it to the foyer in a short minute they found Taylor already there, along with Ethan and Jason. It took another minute for Chan and Kotaro to arrive along with Bakura, Marik, and Seth. Yuugi was not sure why Chan and Kotaro had to come until Yami explained to him that it was double protection for him. Chan and Kotaro were small and my look weak, but they were over a hundred years old with plenty of fighting experience from their siblings and father. They were not easy to mess with and would protect what they cared for most.

Once everyone who was going was ready to go they all set out at a fast run, since running was faster than vehicles. The rest of the council along with Bakura's, Marik's and Seth's lovers would stay behind to man the palace and prepare for the meeting.

As they ran toward the desire location, Yami's arms tighten around Yuugi. If anything was clear to him it was that humans were the targets of these attacks and it was sad to say that it looked like it was his own kind that was the cause. However somewhere in Yami's mind the only human he was really focused on protecting was the one in his arms, but he would protect those who cause no threat or harm to his lover. His people depended on him to keep this city safe and he would so that vampires and humans could continue to coexist together. That is if this sudden attack on the humans had not changed all humans' minds about vampires…

Sakura: Haha! I was able to write eight and a half pages! Believe me when I started writing this chapter I figured only five pages. This chapter ended up longer than I thought it would be.

Yumi: You are so cruel to your readers! Why leave it there?

Sakura: Oh don't go all crazy on me. I'm on break so after Christmas I'll write the next chapter.

Yumi: (sigh) Please review to make this crazy authoress write faster.