The silence of the night before had given its place to the new silence of morning. The fresh snow on the ground was stopping any kind of sounds…however the presence of the various creatures that had passed by were engraved on its white surface… Footprints and small signs that proved the presence of some animal had passed from there… Nevertheless it was quiet… At the castle of darkness it was quiet too… As the Son of the Devil, Seto Kaiba was asleep for the day…usually it was calm there as well…

No one was there to disturb that silence…if it wasn't the wind to softly move the treetops slowly, then you could say that everything was frozen. The cold wind was howling between the towers…making a sound like some crying ghost that was tired of his eternal life on Earth and among the living and he was asking for redemption. For someone to set him free from his misery. Nevertheless it was quiet…but maybe not so much after all. Somewhere deep in the tower there was someone breathing rapidly…in a shallow way. Someone was gasping as if he was running from something that was after him… There, deep in the castle there was a room and in that room, someone was lieing on a beautiful canopy bed and was struggling under the thick covers…

Kisara's little hands were holding the blanket tightly, her back had arched and her eyes were closed shut… Sweat drops were on her forehead and some of them flowed like liquid diamonds down her temple, chin and pale neck… Her breathing was irregular… Her hands were clenching the covers…again and again as if she was drowning and those covers were the only thing that would keep her from sinking in the abyss… She was panting and gasping…

"AAAAHH!" she yelled as she jolted up in a sitting position on her bed, snapping out of her dream

She took a couple of rapid breaths to realize that she was out of her nightmare and then gasped at the shadowy figure that was standing to the corner…


Tea Gardner was out for a walk once again. Recently she needed it all the more in order to calm her nerves. The things that had happened recently, made her restless, not being able to find a moment of piece in her village… Her mind traveled to Kisara a lot

"Kisara…where are you…?" she was thinking, "What has that monster done to you…? Are you still alright? Are you even…alive…?"

She shook her head to lift those thoughts away from her head. No! She couldn't believe that Kisara was dead. She didn't want to believe it. Kisara was fine. She SHOULD be fine. She MUST! Tea walked a bit faster to make herself feel warmer. Her hands were covered with her good, black, leather gloves and she was wearing her warm clothes and her red cape. Her feet were making crunchy noises from the fresh snow under them while she was walking. Today was indeed freezing. The night before had snowed quite a lot but that morning it was so cold that even the snow had started to freeze. Her breath was coming out of her mouth in thick, white clouds from humidity and cold.

"Today is going to be too cold to snow…" she whispered to herself looking upwards at the gray sky.

Then her mind traveled elsewhere… It traveled back at Yami. Yami… That guy sometimes made her feel like flying to cloud nine and some others he was making her so angry that the only thing she wanted was to punch him across the face countless times!

"Oh, well…" she shrugged, "Not like he was going to feel anything!"

She felt her face warmer at that thought. She remembered all the time the two of them spent some time alone together… It usually ended up with both of them rolling on the same bed, naked and making love… It always felt great. Yami was such a passionate man during the act and he seemed experienced as well. He always knew how to make her feel good. However even during lovemaking that man was confusing her.

She had seen him fighting before. While he was a cold-blooded murderer for those evil monsters…during the act he was so…caring and gentle to his touch. His hands were always soft and warm when they touched her face… His lips were burning her skin from passion… She remembered running her hands on his hard chest, on his stone-like abs, on his muscular arms… He was though…so soft and warm at the same time… Everything on him was hard and soft at the same time. This man was an enigma to her. And his eyes…oh those eyes of his… The one moment they looked like two cold pools of fresh-drawn blood and the other…like two warm, living rubies that looked at her with care…and perhaps…love…?

"Ugh!" she shook her head, "Nonsense!"

That was right. Yami was an Executioner. A Hit-man. He wasn't supposed to feel love or any other kind of unnecessary emotion that could get in his way.

"He's probably met countless women before me" she thought shrugging it away, "Not that it matters."

She realized thought that she felt a pinch of jealousy inside her by the thought of Yami bedding other women. She mentally cursed herself for that thought. But then she recalled his own reaction when Bakura had approached her. She giggled softly at the thought. He truly was like a jealous husband back then!

"Ps!" she whispered, "Nonsense!"

She started walking a bit faster again. At least she could blame the cold and her fast steps for her slightly flushed face. She reached the small river. She was about to start heading back when she heard a pained moan. She stopped in her tracks. It was human the one who did the moaning. She turned her head to the right and…then she saw him… A human figure was crawling on the snow…moaning in pain…the snow around him was slightly red from blood. His blood? When she recognized the person she gasped and her eyes widened in terror.

"Oh, my God!" she exclaimed and ran at the fallen person

She knelt to the snow

"Oh, God… Are you alright?" she whispered to the poor human as she turned him around

The human being moaned in pain in the process… Once he was turned right-side-up he opened a pair of chocolate-colored eyes…and looked up at her…

"H-Help me…" he croaked out

He only stretched out a shaking hand…aiming to touch her cheek. Her eyes were filled with fear and terror…

His hand was stained with blood…


Yami opened his eyes and moaned slightly. His head was heavy again. He raised himself from bed and sat up. Bed sheet fell from his body revealing his naked torso. He looked around the small part of the room. The door at the wall that separated the room in two was open and there was no sign of Joey anywhere. Yami presumed that he would probably be with Mai again or studying the book. He looked out of the window. The weak rays of sun were quite bright.

"Damn!" he cursed under his breath, "I overslept!"

He got out of the bed and poured some cold water in the usual bowl. After washing his face with cold water, to wash the sleep away, he dressed himself and headed out of the inn… Once the cold air hit his face he drew a deep breath, allowing the cold air fill his lungs. Its frozen impact to his internal organs wasn't enough to get his mind out of all that. His mind felt heavy and it wasn't the alcohol the thing that caused that feeling. It was the whole thing…all that situation that made him simply want either kill something or kill himself! Well…not really but in a way he felt extremely angry inside… He started walking fast, hoping that the walk in frozen air would make him calm down a little…

The village had already started its daily life. People were heading out of their houses carrying things…women were sometimes holding baskets with freshly washed clothes or a variety of winter fruit. Kids were playing in the alleys…

"It is almost as no evil stays here…" Yami thought.

Seeing children all around him made him feel a strange…calmness inside him…also some loneliness and sadness… He never had children. He never had a normal life. He was not normal to begin with. Would he ever be able to have children? Have someone by his side? Was he ever…truly a child after all? Yami chuckled a chuckle with no humor.

"What in all hells am I thinking?" he thought, "I am indeed growing soft. This can be dangerous!"

A small ball rolled to his feet. He bent down to pick it up and then…he met the eyes of a child that was staring at him with his rather scared eyes. Yami extended the ball to the boy that was standing a few feet away from him so he would come and get it. But the kid, as if he has saw some five-headed monster ran away to get lost in an alley. Yami sighed deeply and let the ball to the ground. The ball was taken by the downhill path and rolled almost soundlessly inside the alley…

"Fear of the others… I know it already…" Yami thought feeling his heart turn back to its stone state again

He kept on walking. However he could hear people's whispering around him. The words "Monster" or "Murderer" were heard a couple of times. Mothers were pulling their children out of his way. It was as if Yami was Black Death himself…as if he was some deadly disease.

"Words" he was thinking as he was passing by

His face was hard and expressionless like granite.

"…They're just words… They are like snowflakes that fall on the body…. They melt away… They can't touch you…"

As he was walking he looked up and saw the castle at the top of that mountain-tall hill. It was there…almost like mocking him

"I will face him. When this happens, I'll be out of here!" he thought, "I'll get away from here or…"

He stopped to his tracks for a brief second leaving the cold breeze flickering the long coat around his ankles…

"…Or I will finally be free of all that…meet Him…and finally pay for everything I've done…weather I remember them…or not…"


He couldn't recall when his steps leaded him to the forest, however the last thing he knew was that the large trees were all around him… He walked a bit further and he stopped…to listen to the sounds of the forest. The wind was blowing around making the treetops swing like dancing the dance only Nature could perform… Yami felt a small crack in his stone heart

"You are judging me too…?" he whispered to the wind, "…For what I've done…? For my choices…?"

The wind kept its usual whisper. As if paid no attention. Why would Nature, a God's creation, talk to him? Why even bother…? For a monster…? Yami snorted with no humor again

"What's wrong with me? I never get that emotional. It must be the climate…" he thought

But still there was only one person that never criticized him…never called him names…never got scared of him that way… Kisara. He could see slight uncertainty in her eyes when she was looking at him, but that was the only natural. He was a complete stranger to her after all. However she never criticized him. His face grew more serious as brief memories of the last fight with Seto Kaiba came to his mind. He hadn't noticed that back then, but now he could remember…a brief image of her terrified face… Everyone feared him… Now her too…

He kept on walking till he heard the sound of the river. Then he stopped when he saw two human figures a few hundred meters away from him. The one was fallen on the ground. The other was kneeling over him. He recognized them. The one was Tea…and the other… His eyes grew hard and frowned immediately. He held on a knife on his belt and started running there.

"Bakura!" he bellowed

Tea, who was washing Bakura's wound, gasped listening to him. Bakura also jumped up.

"Yami?" she only anticipated whispering

Right away Yami attacked. Bakura leaped in the air, pushing his feet against a large tree he leaped forward and landed a few meters away. Yami turned around and ran at him again

"Stay away from her, Bakura!" he bellowed in the process.

He was feeling now a strange, primary instinct inside him. A will to destroy! A will to kill! Yami's eyes turned into demonic eyes for a brief second. Bakura's moves to avoid his attacks were slow. Barely in time to avoid them

"Yami, no! Stop!" Tea's yelling came weak to his ears

Bakura was already gasping as if he was already tired. One of Yami's daggers barely missed the target and Bakura fell on the ground on his back. Yami drew out of his belt a silver pistol. The merciless "click" was heard as he armed the gun. Bakura struggled to sit up on the snowy ground. He looked at Yami with eyes that almost showed panic. His voice though was aiming somewhere else.

"Tea!" he yelled in a way that was indeed sounding desperate, "Tea, please! Protect me! Please!" his arm was stretched out towards Yami, with his palm wide open

Yami's eyes narrowed with fury.

"Time to leave this world, Werewolf!"

He was ready to pull the trigger when…

"NO!" Tea screamed and stood between Yami and Bakura with her arms wide open

Yami gasped and stopped in the spot. He seemed to be out of his precious murderous state and he seemed now conscious of his outburst but then his eyes hardened again.

"Tea…get out of the way!" he whispered. His voice was low and dangerous

"No" Tea said in a way showing that there was no way for her to change her mind

"Tea…move!" Yami repeated

"No"

Yami growled and armed his gun again as though he wanted to show her that he wasn't afraid to use it.

"Tea I'll say it one more time, get out of the way"

"And I said; No!"

"Tea I'm serious! Get out of the way or-…"

"Or what?" she cut him, "Are you going to kill me? Kill me too along with him?"

Bakura behind her was witnessing the entire thing. A small smirk crept on his lips…

"Look at you!" Tea said, "You seem ready to use it! Go ahead! Kill me! You seem capable of killing an innocent person after all!"

Yami growled

"He is not human!"

"So what?"

"Tea, he will kill people!"

"You don't know it! He still hasn't transformed! He is in pain! He is desperate!"

Then she jumped up scared hearing Yami's loud laughter. A dry and dark laughter.

"He doesn't have much time!" Yami said, "Look at him! He is gasping…sweating…crawling in pain! He is in so much agony that he has started biting in his own arms to keep himself under control!"

He was meaning Bakura's wrists and middle arms. They were full with bite marks that wouldn't heal fast…bite marks made by his very teeth!

"I'll just make his…so called suffering end! Tea I'll say it again, move!"

"I'm not going anywhere! I will not allow you to kill this man!"

"He is a werewolf!" Yami bellowed

"And you are a demon!" she answered back

Yami immediately froze to his spot. It was as if now someone had stabbed him through the heart with a poisonous dagger. Tea immediately covered her mouth with both hands. She couldn't believe what she had just told to him! Yami's gun slowly lowered

"Yami…" she whispered

"Fine…" Yami said.

His voice was unable to be red. It was as if it wasn't he speaking

"Fine" he repeated, "Do as you please… Go ahead and save your werewolf friend. However…don't blame me if one day you will have one of my silver bullets through your heart because that beast will have bitten you!"

He then turned around in his tracks and started walking away

"Yami!" Tea desperately yelled, "Yami!"

However he was away now… Tea collapsed on her knees, buried her face in her hands…and cried…

Bakura was gone… The only thing left…was the sound of the wind…and the river…


Yami had stopped walking only when he was hundreds of meters away

"Damn!" he growled loudly, "Damn! Dammit all!"

He immediately buried his hand inside his coat, in the pocket and took his flask out. He drank almost half of it with a single, thirsty swing

"Damn!" he growled again as loudly as he could, "Damn!"

And then he punched a tree with all his strength. The large tree got a crack. Yami winced and pulled his hand back. The knuckles were bloody. He stared at his fist but then the wounds started to heal all by themselves till there was not even a mark left. So he WAS a monster after all…

"Dammit all to all hells that might exist! Dammit all!"

He drank the other half with one sip. He then looked at the flask…his hand was shaking in rage. With one angry move he threw it away… The flask went flying…and fell in the deepest part of the river…sank…and got lost…

"Dammit…" he repeated in a whisper

He couldn't even recall walking back into the village again. The only thing he knew was that he was back…walking in the alleys… People whispering around…avoiding him as if the smell of blood of the person he nearly killed were already on him. His steps were fast…as though he wanted to get away from everyone the soonest possible. He was feeling world spinning around him…not from alcohol but from all the voices…the whispers…the accusations…the bad memories…the uncertainty…the memories he had lost…his…his… His being itself…

He didn't stop walking for nothing and anyone. He was now almost desperate. He was seeing people walking around. He started to run! He never ran in his entire life for such reason…but here he was now…running as though he were a child that was being chased into some bad dream… He was pushing people…running among them… Running…Running… He was always running…

He stopped in an alley. He stopped…panting. No he wasn't panting because of the running. He was panting because all his soul was now scorching by an unknown feeling… He remembered all those things told about him…

"…Yami! You monster!"

"You murderer!"

"I don't want this monster near my daughter!"

"…And you are a demon…"

His shoulders were shaking and his eyes were burning…and then…before he knew…salty, liquid drops rolled down his cheeks. He cupped his face with his palm and slowly sank to his knees…and then…Yami…the Executioner of Vatican…the Murderer and Monster…the Demon…cried… Cried his eyes out for the first time in his long, restless life… And his tears were hot…and salty…staining the white snow below… And soon there was nothing there to be heard…

Just…the sound of the wind…


Oh goodness! It has been such a long time! Please forgive me everyone!

So...here it is my next chappie! Now I wanted to tell you that...this proves also the power words have on others. Yami has been hearing those words and acusations for really long time...so he has come to believe them... And now he broke for a brief second...I wonder what is going to happen! Stay tuned everyone! Please review!

Enjoy!