To all those who are reading and/or following/favoriting this: thanks for your interest. And to my lovely reviewers: thank you so much for the positive feedback you've given this story! Your comments mean a lot.

Also, if you are a fan of Rise of the Guardians (or if you read and enjoyed the tone of "Cough Drops and Teddy Bears"), be on the lookout for my YGO and ROTG crossover "Fun and Games," which I will be posting the first chapter of tomorrow. (Alright, blatant self-promotion is now over)

Content warning(s): gang violence, blood, descriptions of injury, drug and alcohol use, discussions of premeditated homicide, and death of background characters (hold onto your butts, people, cuz this is gonna be one doozy of a chapter)

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Here's part two of Drafted, guys. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter start!

Submersion

By: The Half-Blood Guardian

Chapter 10: Drafted Part 2

The next morning, the sky was covered with the same dark, low-hanging rain clouds as the day before, but the temperature was even colder. When Yuugi set foot outside the shop, he saw his breath fog up in faintly visible puffs. There was only a light drizzle this morning, but his teeth were chattering by the time he entered the bus. The movement caused his bruised jaw to ache.

He met up with Honda in the hall outside their classroom. They sat down. The bell rang. Again, no one came running in at the last second. Yuugi and Honda met each other's gazes, but this morning there were no grins exchanged between them.

Jounouchi's seat remained empty the rest of the day.

"Honda-kun," Yuugi said as they stopped by their lockers. "We can't just give up on Jounouchi-kun. We have to at least try to get him back." Honda was quiet for a few seconds as he rummaged aimlessly through his belongings, expression unreadable. Then he sighed and shut the locker door.

"You're right." He finally responded. "He deserves another chance."

Yuugi smiled, then his brow furrowed thoughtfully. "That one guy said something about a place called J'z, right? Maybe he'll be there."

"I guess we won't know 'til we look," Honda said, a flicker of hope lighting his eyes.

The two stopped by a payphone – the one between the closest bus stop and that old fashioned fruit stand, Yuugi remembered – to look through its weathered phonebook for the location of J'z. Yuugi flipped through the pages and tapped on the spot when he located it, and Honda quickly pulled a pencil and a scrap of paper from his backpack, scribbling down the address. They jogged over to the bus stop's bench, grateful and relieved to find that the tiny roof covering the bench had prevented the box that held free city maps and bus schedules in it from being drenched with rain. Yuugi grabbed one of the papers and unfolded it, eyes searching.

By the time Honda finished slipping his pencil back into his bag and went to peer at the schedule, Yuugi had located J'z on the map and felt his stomach sink. J'z was halfway across the city. It would be dark by the time they got there.

A large vehicle pulled to the side of the road next to the bench, causing the two to look up. The vehicle – a bus, they saw – slowed to a stop, compressed air rushing out with a loud hiss. The doors squeaked open. Yuugi looked at the number on the bus, then back down at the schedule, and stared for a moment when he realized it was the one they needed to take. He shook himself and shared a grim but determined look with Honda before they both stepped in.

Chanting filled the dimly-lit bar, a bottle of beer spinning in the center of a large, round table. Empty shot glasses littered the edges of the table, but from the lucid eyes of the bar's occupants, it was clear that not much drinking had happened yet. Cigarette smoke clouded the air, and the smell of booze from a too-roughly handled bottle that had shattered on the floor was nearly overwhelming. The bottle on the table came to a stop, pointing at a man with questionable images tattooed over his bulging biceps. The chanting was replaced by raucous laughter, and the man growled but poured himself a shot.

Jounouchi, standing off to the side, wrinkled his nose and glared into a corner.

Tsuwari noticed and raised an eyebrow.

"Aw, what's with that look, huh? What'cha thinkin' about, Jounouchi?" The blond was quiet, but he clenched his jaw minutely. "What, wouldja rather be playing house with Star-head?" Jounouchi scowled.

"Hey, no need ta be lookin' so glum! I know ya turned down Hirutani at first when he asked ya to rejoin. And lemme tell ya, I was shocked! It takes guts ta say no to Hirutani. I hafta admit, I was kinda impressed. 'A course, that was before you heard whatever he said to ya. So, I'm curious," Tsuwari continued without noticing the blond's hands balling into fists. "What's he got on ya? It had to be somethin' good, 'cause you turned white as a sheet! It's funny, ya reacted about the same after we beat up that stupid kid, too…" Jounouchi tensed, and Tsuwari blinked.

"Wait. Is he actually a friend of yours?" He asked incredulously. Jounouchi remained silent. Tsuwari guffawed. "You gotta be kidding me! That little runt is-!"

The punch came out of nowhere. One moment the blond was standing in a corner supposedly sulking, the next, his fist was flying out and nailing the other teen right in the face. Blood spurted from Tsuwari's nose and he wailed. One of the men who had been standing quietly behind the counter until that point fled through the back door.

"SHUT. UP!" Jounouchi snarled. "Just shut up!"

Tsuwari cowered submissively, cupping his broken nose and whimpering. The room was silent otherwise. Then Hirutani laughed, and a couple others joined in nervously. "It's good to see that fire back in your eyes, Jounouchi! I was afraid you'd lost it." The mirth slid from his face. "Unfortunately, I can't tolerate this sort of insubordination in my ranks. Grab him, boys."

Jounouchi sprang into motion, his time away from the gang life not slowing his reflexes. A hand reached for him, and he grabbed it and twisted, spinning and kicking at a knee even as the first thug cried out in pain. Two men down, nine to go.

The one employee who had remained behind the counter until this point decided that staying through the fight wasn't worth pleasing Hirutani, and made to run for the back door. Before he could get more than a few feet, a stray bottle shattered against his temple, and he crumpled to the floor, out cold.

Three more thugs advanced on Jounouchi, and he systematically took them out with the same expertise as the first two.

"C'mon!" He shouted, veins singing with the thrill that came with fighting. "Is that all you g-"

His eyes suddenly widened and he jerked to look behind him, where someone had gotten wise and decided to sneak up on the blond instead of rushing him. He tried to raise his arms to defend himself, but wasn't fast enough to block the fists that came down on his head. Hard.

He slumped, dazed, and multiple sets of hands gripped his limp upper arms, pulling them roughly behind his back. Something about the feeling of being restrained jolted him out of his stupor, and he bucked and writhed and snarled, but there were just too many thugs to fight them all off.

"Control him!" Hirutani yelled. The breath was pushed from Jounouchi's lungs as more weight pressed down on him. He wheezed. "Take him to the warehouse," the gang leader commanded, smirking at the glowering blond. "I think he needs a little attitude adjustment."

Yuugi and Honda stepped off the bus. Yuugi pulled the map back out and located their position, and from there they headed for their destination.

Which happened to be a hole-in-the-wall bar. They paused to look at the faded sign that proudly stated "J'z!", all of its neon lights burnt out except for a single, flickering section of the exclamation point. Beneath the letters was an arrow that pointed to a dark stairway leading underground.

Yuugi swallowed nervously, but took a step towards the stairs. Honda frowned and held his arm out in front of the smaller boy.

"Stay here, Yuugi," he said. Yuugi blinked incredulously at the hand stopping him.

"What? But Honda-kun, I-"

"Yuugi," Honda cut him off, "I told you, those guys he was with are from Rintama; they're really bad news. You don't know how to fight, and even if you did, I…" Honda paused, shifting uncomfortably, before deciding whatever he was thinking was too important to keep to himself. "I… you're a good guy, Yuugi. Like, really good. I don't wanna see you sink to my level."

Yuugi was speechless. Still, he couldn't promise his friend he wouldn't go after him if he thought he might need help. He bit his lip and looked away, staying put but agreeing to nothing. Honda sighed at the reaction. It was probably as good as he would get from the other boy. He trudged downward. No footsteps followed after him.

As he descended the stairs, his rage returned to him. He stormed through the front door of J'z. Sharp hazel eyes scanned the interior of the bar, picking out details. A flipped table and several overturned chairs. Shot glasses and bottles of various types of alcohol strewn about, a few of them shattered on the ground. A small puddle of blood. All signs of a fight.

His gaze shifted. The very top of a head was visible behind the bar counter; apparently someone was trying to hide. Honda leapt over the counter and immediately grabbed the front of the person's shirt, not wasting a moment before shouting, "Where is he? Talk!"

Then his mind caught up to his body, and he noticed that the man's eyes were closed and his head flopped limply as he was shaken. A trickle of half congealed blood ran down his temple, and although the bleeding had stopped, the brunet still felt his heart skip a beat at the sight. He let go of the shirt and pressed two fingers to the side of the man's neck. A steady pulse throbbed beneath the skin. Honda released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

"Out cold…" he mumbled, relieved that the guy was alive but agitated because he would be of no use. He looked back towards the entrance and saw Yuugi, who had – unsurprisingly – left the spot where Honda had told him to wait and was now watching nervously from the other side of the room. "C'mon, there's nothing here."

As they were walking back out through the front door, Honda stopped, prompting Yuugi to do the same. He looked up at Honda curiously.

"We… we should split up; we'll cover more ground that way."

Yuugi could both hear the uncertainty in his voice and see it in his eyes; after all, just yesterday he had been the one so adamant that they stick together. But Yuugi didn't hesitate to agree.

"Alright. Should we meet up back here?"

"Yeah." Honda said. "About every half hour. If you find him and he's not alone, don't let them see you. Come back to the meeting point and wait for me, and we'll go get him together, okay?"

Yuugi noticed that Honda didn't say he would do the same if he found Jounouchi, but decided not to question it; they both knew that if things went south, Honda was the one who'd stand a better chance of making it out more or less unscathed. He nodded.

"Okay."

It was getting late. He didn't have his watch with him, and the overcast day made it difficult to tell time by the ambient lighting alone, but Yuugi was sure that the shadows would have been long if it weren't for the thick cloud cover. He was also lost in a part of town he'd rarely been in before. Currently, he was in the middle of a maze of damp, dingy alleyways that all looked the same. That was the extent of his knowledge on his whereabouts.

It was late, and Yuugi was lost, but those were things he could worry about later, because right now, he was looking for his friend.

Muffled voices drifted to him, and he froze. It could be nothing. In fact, it probably was nothing, but he had to check. It took him a while, but he eventually managed to follow the voices out of the twisting alley and to an old warehouse. It was obviously abandoned, judging from the rusted, pockmarked roof and the warped and slightly sagging south facing wall. Warning bells went off in his head. He ignored them.

Creeping forward, he walked along the edge of the building until he got to a partially opened metal door and peered around the edge of it. A few lights hanging from the walls illuminated the corner of the building closest to the door, and Yuugi held his breath when he recognized some of the figures inside. One of the nearest of them was that thug, Tsuwari, and further back was the leader, who Honda had called Hirutani. And in the middle, being held on his knees by two beefy thugs, was-

Jounouchi-kun!

A burst of something – some frazzled conglomeration of relief, betrayal, rage, concern, and confusion – flared in his chest at the sight of his friend, accompanied by a brief fit of disorienting gray static fuzzing over his vision.

Hirutani circled Jounouchi slowly, taking his time. Finally the man came to a stop in front of him, towering over the kneeling teen in a maneuver of blatant but effective intimidation.

"So, Jounouchi. You ready to cooperate? No more rebellion?"

The blond spat blood from his mouth. "Fine." He said through gritted teeth. "But you better not do anything like what you did yesterday again, or I'll-"

"Or you'll… what?" Hirutani asked, raising a brow. "What will you do? You forget, I'm the one holding all the cards here, Jounouchi. You have absolutely no leverage, but I have plenty. I can do whatever I want with those two."

Jounouchi snarled. "We had a deal, Hirutani! You said if I went with you, you'd leave my friends alone! You said that!"

Yuugi gasped. The next moment, he realized his mistake when every eye in the room turned to him.

"Well wouldja look who it is!" Tsuwari called, a glint in his eye. His nose was slightly bent, but his voice sounded normal, and he seemed to be ignoring it. "Star-head himself! Ya know, ya got a lotta nerve showin' up on our turf, kid."

Yuugi swallowed, but took a step past the threshold and into the building. "I-I don't want any trouble. Please, just let Jounouchi-kun go."

Tsuwari blinked. Then he and several others guffawed.

"Listen ta that, boys! He says he don't want any trouble, and then he makes demands! The little mousey's got more guts than I thought!" He stepped closer to Yuugi. "Hey, kid. Remember what I told ya last time? What would happen next time I saw ya?" Yuugi's eyes widened fearfully as he recalled Tsuwari's words. He quickly tried backing away, but Tsuwari caught hold of the Puzzle and yanked him forward by its cord. Someone slammed the door shut behind him. Yuugi stumbled and choked, and Jounouchi spat threats at Tsuwari and tried bucking his captors off of him, but Tsuwari just pulled harder until the cord snapped.

"Ya do, don'tcha?" He said as Yuugi gasped for breath, then carelessly tossed the Puzzle toward the group of goons watching from the side. One of them caught it, studying it confusedly. "Happy birthday, whatever your name is. Go sell it somewhere later." Tsuwari said. The goon grinned and Yuugi stared, horrified, but before he could say anything, Tsuwari turned his attention back to the boy. "Anyway, yeah, I said if I ever saw ya again, I'd chop your hair off and stick it down ya throat!" He roughly grabbed a fistful of Yuugi's hair and tugged.

"Get your hands offa him!" Jounouchi snarled, struggling against the two goons restraining him. When one of them reached in front of him to get a better grip, Jounouchi lurched forward and bit down on his arm. The man howled and tried pulling away, bashing the blond over the head.

"Take care of him!" Hirutani yelled.

Jounouchi stiffened, then choked on a scream, convulsing as two stun gun shocked him simultaneously. When the goons stopped, Jounouchi slumped, his eyes glassy and breathing labored.

"Jounouchi-kun!" Yuugi screamed, and Tsuwari gave his hair another sharp, punishing tug.

Tsuwari cursed, then huffed. "Well, looks like you got lucky, kid. I left my knife somewhere. Or one of these clowns took it and thought I was too stupid ta realize it," Tsuwari glared, and a few of the thugs flinched. "But I mean, same difference, am I right?" He looked back down at the boy, gaze contemplative, and Yuugi tried not to squirm in discomfort.

"Hmm… maybe not so lucky…" Tsuwari smirked. "Hey, boys! I'll figure out who took my knife later. For now, you all get ta help me make this little mouse squeak!"

Yuugi sucked in a sharp, ragged breath, lungs constricted from both the pain in his ribs and the way he was strung up by his wrists. His wrists chafed and his arms ached from bearing the brunt of his weight for… however long the gang had been beating him. The thug who'd just kicked him in the knee snickered at his reaction.

"What'sa matter, widdle mousey? Ya lost your squeaker?" The thug asked.

Another one grinned and said, "Don't worry, we'll help ya get it back!" Without warning, he stepped forward, grabbed two of Yuugi's fingers, and twisted. They strained for a moment before dislocating, and Yuugi screamed.

"Hey, lookit that! I found it!" The second thug crowed. The first one smirked.

"Bet I could do better," He drawled, and grabbed the boy's right arm. Yuugi's eyes widened, but before he could beg for mercy the goon was wrenching his shoulder backwards. There was a loud pop, and Yuugi's vision flashed white and then black as his consciousness left him.

"What're we gonna do with the kid, boss? A standard catch and release, or what?"

Yuugi heard the words as though through water. He didn't know how long he'd been here, just that he'd faded in and out of awareness several times. Jounouchi had managed to get up and cause a bit of a ruckus at some point, but it hadn't lasted long, and Yuugi could only assume he'd been shocked into unconsciousness again.

Somewhere in the background, most of the thugs had gathered around an old card table to play what his fuzzy thoughts decided was probably poker. Every once in a while, someone would come over and break through the fog by giving him a halfhearted kick or a tug on his hair, but for the most part they seemed to have gotten bored of him and he was left alone in a haze.

"No." Hirutani said, and Yuugi remembered Tsuwari had asked something. "Normally a good beating would scare a little boy into silence, but this one has shown he's not gonna back off. He's too stubborn for anybody's good, and it's gonna cost him. The kid's a liability. He has to disappear."

Disappear? Yuugi's muggy brain questioned. How would I do that?

Tsuwari and Hirutani briefly discussed the "best location" (location for what?) before settling on one.

"You boys done with him?" Tsuwari asked.

"Yeah, he's not really moving anymore, so he ain't much fun."

"A'ight, let's cut him down."

The shing of something small and metal reached Yuugi's ears. Tsuwari cursed angrily. There was a dull thud and someone yelped.

"I knew one of you morons took it!"

Feet shuffled and a blur moved in front of him, grabbing the rope that was tying his wrists. He was suddenly being jostled, and he felt a few distant pricks of pain from the rope scraping against his already chafed skin.

Then he was falling, and his whole body cried out in pain as he crumpled to the floor. People were closing in on him, but the only one of them that fully registered was the man holding his Puzzle. The sight of the artifact so close woke something inside of him, and the fog over his mind briefly cleared enough for him to focus on it. Yuugi's vision tunneled, and he was overtaken by the need to feel the comfort of smooth gold under his fingertips. He reached out, and his hand just barely brushed the Puzzle.

(At the same time, a door formed on the surface of a stone wall in a labyrinth dimension, and was immediately hurled open by a furious spirit.)

The teen's body suddenly tensed, and with a strength that was unnatural for someone so small, he grabbed the wide wrist and twisted, forcing the gangster to drop the golden pendant. The boy quickly caught the artifact on its way down.

Gray uniformed thugs gaped at the unexpected display while invisible Shadows swirled from the Puzzle and sank beneath his skin, binding broken bones and numbing the pain. He gritted his teeth and growled quietly as his two dislocated fingers and his right shoulder popped back into place.

"How dare you," he hissed furiously, gaze smoldering. A few of the gang members backed up a little, suddenly and inexplicably nervous. Their captive, who had moments before been all but comatose on the ground, was standing, and might as well have just woken up from a good night's rest for how little effect the beating seemed to have had on his posture.

He stood, fuming, and they watched with horrified fascination as a loud pop! and two quieter ones sounded and his dislocated fingers and shoulder seemed to push themselves back into place.

While the group was preoccupied, he darted forward and snatched a stun gun from one of the thugs, holding it in front of him.

"Get back!" He snarled, Shadows subtly amplifying his voice, and nearly every person surrounding him obeyed, shocked at the sudden change in demeanor and many still gaping from the way his dislocated joints had inexplicably reset themselves. Even Hirutani was keeping his distance.

Something about the kid had changed drastically. Or maybe it hadn't, and they had somehow just missed what had already been there. He had, after all, refused to back down when threatened, and had even tracked them down to the warehouse just to retrieve Jounouchi. Those actions screamed confidence, even if his physical form and overall attitude didn't suggest he would be capable of it. Had the submissive attitude all been an act?

(And had his eyes always been that shade of burning red?)

A few seconds passed, and no one moved. Once he was confident that none of them would be causing any trouble in the immediate future, the spirit allowed himself to focus on his surroundings. Two in particular stood out to him.

He glimpsed the card table, then looked at the huge puddle spanning most of the warehouse floor, and a spark of an idea formed in his head.

He looked at the gang leader.

"You seem fond of games." He said, staring into Hirutani's eyes. "Well then. We'll play a game."

The spirit stepped closer. "If you manage to pin me down in the next, let's say, five minutes, I'll stay here, and you can keep the Puzzle and do anything you like to me, including carry out the plan you already have to murder me. Your group of thugs can even help you catch me. If I win, though… well, I think I will come to a decision when it happens. So, what do you say?"

Hirutani scoffed, obviously believing he'd practically already won the game. The odds were stacked in his favor. And even with the boy wielding a stun gun, it wouldn't be too difficult to just grab him now and be done with it, but something, some unfamiliar part of his mind, begged him to play.

"I accept." He said, smirking. The boy smirked back, and two words left his lips, feeling as natural to the spirit as breathing was to a human.

"Game start."

The spirit stood atop a catwalk, the gang thundering up a set of stairs only a few seconds behind him.

Narrowed eyes scanned the surroundings, and he took stock of potential assets and setbacks. He had already snatched up a roll of duct tape that had been sitting on top of a wooden crate as his plan took more form, but he was sure there were plenty of other resources to be utilized here.

Ah, he smirked. There.

An especially rusted section of grating. A huge metal shipping crate. Two chains hanging from the ceiling, one of them off to the side and out of reach and the other closer, with a link near the end caught in a loose hold between two bars on the railing.

The gap between the shipping crate and the end of the catwalk was about fifteen feet across and eight feet down.

Dashing forward and avoiding the rusted grating, he unhooked the closer chain from the railing. He quickly determined his trajectory before making a running leap, angling himself so that the chain would swing to the side when he let go and tangle with the second chain, keeping his pursuers from using either of them to reach him. Releasing his hold on the metal links, he alighted on the shipping crate, rolling with the momentum to prevent furthering his injuries.

He looked back up just in time to see his predictions come true. The chains tangled with each other. Several gang members stampeded along the unstable catwalk. One of them broke through part of the grating and became stuck. The others behind him tripped and landed harshly, adding to the strain already being put on the fatigued structure.

An ominous groan echoed around the walls of the warehouse before the catwalk finally gave way with a defeated shriek of abused metal. Curses and shouts of panic joined the cacophony as the grating and gang members all fell to the rain-soaked floor.

The noise continued even after they hit the ground, several of the men screaming in pain at various injuries. The spirit cocked his head slightly as he observed them, and his lips quirked up at the corners when he spotted the thug who had gotten stuck in the rusted grating, appreciating the unique and interesting new angles the man's leg had been bent into.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the duct tape and stun gun he'd snatched earlier. Almost absently, he glanced between the latter and the shallow pool of water that stretched across more than half the floor, then went back to studying the pitiful humans splashing around in the filthy puddle. Water and electricity. So simple. He hadn't even needed to use his Shadows this time.

He flicked the stun gun on and tore a strip of tape from the roll before pressing the activation switch and taping it down. Using the sleeve of his jacket, he carefully wiped his host's fingerprints from both.

"Well, well…" he murmured, holding his arm out past the side of the shipping crate so that the device hovered over the edge of the large puddle. "A group of stupid, thuggish mortals have somehow managed to lose a game against an ancient spirit."

His mouth curled into a smirk. "How… shocking."

The stun gun fell.

Yuugi blinked, eyes coming into focus. Worn bricks. Cracked pavement. Muddy water. Crumpled takeout wrappers. Smashed bottles.

A typical back alley in Domino City.

He took a breath. There was a faint scent of petrichor from recent precipitation meeting the few plants growing in the area, with a hint of the familiar and ever-present smell of city air pollution that managed to linger despite the cleansing rainfall.

A heavy weight hung around his shoulders, his right arm was wrapped part way around a torso broader than his own, and his left hand was clasping another, larger one. He turned his neck to look to the side. Inches from his face was a head of blond hair framing a groggy expression: clammy skin, half-lidded, unfocused eyes, a grimacing mouth, and a forehead pinched in what looked like severe discomfort. Jounouchi-kun.

"Jounouchi-kun?" Yuugi said worriedly, and the blond let out a tiny moan in response, probably only half aware that Yuugi had spoken. The smaller teen wished he could stop and sit Jounouchi down to have a proper look at him, but the ground was pretty much one big, cold puddle, and both of them were already chilled and shivering.

A dip in the ground made Jounouchi stumble, the movement jarring, and he released another miserable moan. Yuugi stopped walking for a moment to allow him some time to recover, and was struck by an overwhelming need to make him feel at least a little bit better.

There wasn't much he could do about Jounouchi's condition here in an alley, but he made do with what he had and just hugged his friend, trying to pour all of his concern and affection into the embrace. To his surprise, a few seconds after initiating the hug, Jounouchi seemed to relax, and when Yuugi looked up at the other boy's face, many of the pained creases had been smoothed out. He even looked more alert. Yuugi smiled with relief when Jounouchi hugged back.

The spirit could feel the glow cast by Yuugi's soul shift before a small wisp of light was siphoned off and channeled, unknowingly, through the boy's arms and into his Friend's body. The change was subtle at first; Jounouchi showed no sign of improvement for a few seconds. Then, slowly, he started to relax.

The spirit was shocked. This was… unexpected.

He had noticed Jounouchi's heightened awareness of soul energy soon after first meeting him. Whenever the blond was around and the spirit surfaced enough to look at the world through Yuugi's eyes, Jounouchi's expression always became slightly confused, his subconscious noticing the shift in energies through the use of his untapped sixth sense but the rest of his mind not knowing what had changed.

The spirit had never expected such a reaction, but somehow, Jounouchi's spiritual sensitivity combined with Yuugi's good intentions and naturally bright soul had managed to physically affect the taller human boy.

He sat in the main chamber of his prison, mulling over the intriguing development.

"-should've never split up!" A frustrated and near-panicked voice reached their ears. Yuugi and Jounouchi broke from their hug as they recognized the voice. It was Honda!

"Yuugi! Yuugi!"

"Over here, Honda-kun!" Yuugi called. Footsteps echoed off brick walls for several seconds, and then Honda appeared at the mouth of the alley, quickly spotting them.

"Yuugi! Jounouchi! What happened to you guys?" He asked, running towards them. Though his eyes were still wide with worry, a relieved grin split his face at finding them.

Jounouchi slowly stepped back from Yuugi a bit, no longer needing the help to stand up. "Those cowards jumped me and brought me back to our old stomping grounds. Took out some stun guns and, uh, I'm not sure what happened after that. Besides the obvious, of course." He answered.

Honda looked at Yuugi questioningly, but the shorter boy shook his head with a slight frown.

"I don't know, either. I mean, I remember hearing voices and using that to find Jounouchi-kun, and I remember they were hurting us, but after that, nothing."

Honda opened his mouth to inquire further, then paused. He smiled. "You know what? It doesn't matter. Let's just go home."

The others were only too happy to oblige.

Yuugi walked up the stairs into the living room, and Sugoroku immediately stood from the couch to wrap his cold, drenched grandson in a hug. Amidst his shivering, Yuugi explained that they'd gotten Jounouchi back, and that he was sorry for not saying anything and for being gone for so long and that he'd make up for it by helping out extra in the shop, but Sugoroku hushed him.

"Shh, none of that now. I'm just glad you're safe," he whispered, and hugged the boy tighter. Yuugi shut his eyes, and the two stood there and simply breathed together for a few moments before Sugoroku sat him down on the sofa with a soft quilt and fetched them both some hot tea.

Unfortunately, the feeling of warmth and security couldn't last forever. That night, Yuugi dreamed of ropes, and pain, and damp, cold warehouses. He dreamed of a monster with many human faces that sneered at him and his friend as it beat Yuugi with its many fists and attacked Jounouchi with lightning. Yuugi dreamed of hopelessness.

Then an inky black cloud with piercing, ruby red eyes appeared before them and stole the lightning, using it against the monster, and he and Jounouchi were free.

Yuugi awoke and the dream was swiftly forgotten. He went about as normal, getting ready for the day. Later, he overheard a conversation in the hall about an entire gang that had been found electrocuted to death. A shudder went down his spine and his lungs suddenly felt too constricted. He told himself that they were normal reactions to hearing such disturbing news, despite something inside him whispering that there was more to it than that. He ignored it.

When school let out later on in the day, Chono-sensei ducked into the library just to avoid him, and a niggle of awful satisfaction squirmed in his chest. He did his best to ignore that too.