By Shadows and Lights
by: jade_tiger
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh!
Warning: This is slash, which means m/m pairings. So for those who are squeamish about that sort of thing you have been warned! But if you do have a problem with this sort of thing how did you get to this chapter without noticing?? Also this is AU, and characters will be OOC.
A.N. Ryou Bakura - Ryou Hunter, Yami Bakura - Bakura Kageshi, Yami Yugi - Yami Taiyou. Seto Kaiba - may and will be referred to as Kai: Seto and Yugi are ADOPTIVE brothers and will refer to each other as brothers. *"Words"* - spoken telepathically, 'words' - thoughts, "words" - spoken out loud
Next day (Is it just me or is this thing getting shorter with every chapter?)
Chapter Ten: Powers of Light
The sun's gilded rays touched the figure on the bed, who grumbled in annoyance as the bright light of day invaded the darkness of sleep. Ryou rolled over and pulled the covers over his head trying to fall once more into the comforting warmth of sleep, which was a haven from the cold and harsh reality of life.
"Hhhmmmm, no talk now sleep more," he mumbled into his pillow curling up into a small ball under his covers. It was not a well-known fact but he loved sleeping in and if he could, he would not wake up until noon if possible, which in his case never was. Through the fog of sleep he heard a giggle and footsteps that led to his bed.
"Don't worry sleepyhead, we don't have to go to school today. Kai already called the school and told them we were sick and he was staying to take care of us." Yugi sat down at the edge of his friend's bed knowing Ryou was listening, well half listening, with him in bed it wouldn't have surprised Yugi at all if Ryou woke up and didn't remember any part of their conversation. "I know I'm ruining your precious sleep but, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you looked pretty bad last night. So how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, sleep now." With that the conversation ended and Yugi left the bedroom with a small laugh, and proceeded down to the kitchen where he found his brother making breakfast.
"How is Ryou feeling?" Seto looked at his brother as the shorter young man climbed on a chair swinging his legs back and forth like a five year old, making Seto want to laugh at the sight.
"He's asleep, Kai, what else can I say? You know how he gets when he's in bed," Yugi said smiling at the taller teen as a plate of scrambled egg was placed in front of him with a piece of toast. "Ryou could sleep through a hurricane, and knowing him he'll wake up at noon and wonder why we didn't wake him up to go to school." Seto laughed and sat down with his own breakfast across his brother.
"So what do you want to do today? We have nothing to work on, except that project and we can't do that without the others," Seto asked Yugi as he drank orange juice.
"I don't know Kai, we can just vege if you want, I mean we haven't had a day off in a while. We're always at school during the day and hunting at night," said Yugi leaning back in his chair with a sigh, as he finished his food. "That was great, you're a great cook Kia."
"No I'm not, you're just trying to suck up and get me to cook tonight instead of you," replied Seto with a grin knowing his brother would try everything to convince him to cook their dinner. "Sorry Yugi, not happening, I've cooked for your last three turns, your have to cook this time." Yugi gave an exaggerated sigh and put his dishes in the sink and began to slowly wash them, he hated cooking with a passion, it wasn't that he was bad at it, it was that he could barely reach the counter, let alone the stove and the ingredients he needed in the top cupboards. "I know you hate cooking, Yugi, but I will help you if you need help, okay?" Seto felt guilty for saying no to his brother, knowing how much Yugi hated cooking because it reminded him of his height, or lack thereof, and tried to make it up to him.
"It's alright, Kai," Yugi replied feeling his brother's guilt, it swamped at him and his own guilt built up, until he was nearly drowning in the sensation. Like Seto, Yugi had certain abilities that the others knew nothing of, he was able to feel what others felt, which contributed to his sensitive, emotional nature, and was able to send out his own emotions to others. Usually he could shield himself from the onslaught of emotions but Seto was close to him and he was never fully able to close off neither Seto nor Ryou when it came to his ability. The intensity of the emotion grew and darkness began to creep into his consciousness as his mind overloaded with the guilt. "Please, don't feel guilty, Kai.....it....it hurts," his voice was weak and his knees threatened to collapse, his breathing becoming irregular, sweat beading his face.
"Yugi? What's wrong? Are you alright?" Seto moved closer to his brother, putting an arm around the smaller young man, in support, as Yugi's legs gave away. His blue showing deep concern as he raised Yugi's face to his own and looked at the large violet eyes, which were clouded with pain. "Yugi, are you in pain? What is it?" Receiving no reply, Seto picked up the smaller and lighter young man and carried him to the living room, gently putting him on the couch.
"I'm fine Seto," said Yugi weakly, a headache pounding in his head, "Just please don't feel guilty about it anymore, and stop worrying too, it hurts." With that he closed his eyes and succumbed to the darkness of sleep, away from the splitting pain in his head. Seto shook his brother gently, worried, but seeing the look of peace on his brother's face he decided to leave him be and went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
'What happened to you Yugi?' Seto thought to himself as he washed the plates. 'Why were you so ill suddenly? And what do you mean my guilt hurts?' He finished his task and went back to the living room, and turning on the TV waited for one of his housemates to wake up. 'These last few months have been strange as hell,' he thought. 'First we get those new student who look like they could be clones of the others, then we get a bounty on our heads by the Shadows, yesterday that group work, the attack on Ryou last night, and now this. I just hope it's not an omen.' Seto turned off the TV and closed his eyes, deciding to take a nap since the others were also asleep.
Ryou sat up in bed and looked at his alarm clock on his bedside table, seeing the time he jumped out of his bed and ran down the stairs in search of the others. Finding both Seto and Yugi asleep in the living room he went to the kitchen and prepared lunch, still in his nightclothes, which consisted of pajama bottom and tank top. 'They could have woken me up and told me,' he thought to himself as he moved around the kitchen, trying to make as little noise as possible, and succeeding badly; as he accidentally dropped a pot, which unfortunately landed on his foot which made him yell out curses in all the languages he knew. Seto, being a light sleeper ran into the kitchen and stopped in a fighting stance looking around for an attacker, finding only Ryou holding his foot while cursing under his breath.
"Dammit Ryou, you and your dirty mouth," Seto sighed going to his friend and pushing the smaller young man to a chair and heading to the fridge and getting ice. "If Yugi heard you he'd have a fit, you know how he is about swearing." He set the bag of ice on Ryou's abused foot and proceeded to continue where the other had left off in making their lunch. "Have a nice sleep?"
"Shut up, Kai," Ryou snapped holding the ice to his foot which throbbed. "You guys could have woken me up you know, now we missed school and with our luck, we probably missed a lot of work and are behind." He sighed and leaned against the table, his chin on his free hand, and looked at Seto with a frown. "Why did we stay home anyway?" At the question Seto shook his head and did not answer until the other gave a loud sigh and began tapping on the table in annoyance.
"In case you've forgotten Ryou, you were attacked last night," Seto explained. "We don't even know how you got home, and I thought it best if we stayed home today and let you rest, then you can explain to Yugi and I what happened after we left you." Seto looked at his friend and sent a gentle probe into the other's mind, making sure to remain undetected, trying to find out what had occurred in the attack. Ryou feeling the push, snapped his head up and looked around, his eyes sharp; not suspecting at all that the one who had sent the mental probe was standing right in front of him. Seto seeing the other's reaction pulled back immediately, surprised that Ryou had been able to sense him when even vampires had had not sensed his probes in the past.
'What was that?' Ryou thought to himself, feeling the push easing and disappearing entirely, 'It was familiar, but was it the vampire from last night?' Ryou asked himself, still sitting tensely on his chair. Looking up he saw Seto looking at him with questioning cerulean blue eyes, and he quickly relaxed, not wanting to make the other suspicious.
'You're hiding something, Ryou, and I'll find out what,' Seto thought turning away from the other, 'I'm tired of you hiding things from us, and maybe I'll reveal some things about myself as well.' Seto's thoughts were interrupted when Yugi walked in rubbing sleep from his eyes and giving a yawn.
"Oh, Ryou you're awake," he said sleepily sitting across the white haired young man. "I came into your room this morning to tell you we were staying home, but I'm guessing you don't remember." Ryou shook his head, telling the spiked haired young man that he hadn't and causing Yugi to laugh. "How can you sleep so deeply and wake up at dawn if you need to without being grumpy?" Yugi asked jokingly.
"Must be his sunny disposition," put in Seto sarcastically, receiving a glare for his comment. "So Yugi, how are you feeling?" Ryou glanced at Yugi in surprise, not knowing what had occurred earlier between the two.
"Yeah, I'm feeling better now Seto, don't worry about it." Yugi assured his brother, wanting to change the subject, not wanting the others to know about his abilities just yet. "So, Ryou what happened last night?" At the question Ryou's face became shuttered and his eyes darkened.
"It was a vampire," he said quietly, noting that Seto immediately stopped what he was doing to sit with him and Yugi. "I was walking home when I felt something trying to get into my head. I turned around and I saw no one, but then he began to speak to me."
"What did he say to you? Do you think he was one of the Shadows?" Seto looked at Ryou his eyes sharp shards of ice, intent on everything that Ryou said.
"I really don't know Kai, all I know is that he said some things that made no sense to me."
"Did he try to hurt you Ryou? We found you on the porch unconscious, and no one was around." This came from Yugi who was looking at the white haired Hunter with eyes full of concern.
"No he really didn't try to hurt me, until he left. That was when he attacked me; I've never come across a vampire with a telepathic attack that strong." Ryou raised his head and looked at his two companions. "He said that he'd see me again, but before that he said something that I can not understand. He......he said that I had a pure aura, and that I was protected." His dark brown eyes darkened further and his face showed a look of concentration.
"Protected by what Ryou?" Yugi could not help but be curious about what his friend was speaking of, and seeing his friend's expression he gave a small push; trying to see what his friend was feeling. In doing so he felt a deep wanting, a need to find this mysterious vampire, and to find out what he had meant. Suddenly the connection was cut off and Yugi looked at his friend in surprise seeing alert, narrowed brown eyes. 'He sensed me, but how?' Yugi thought.
Ignoring the feeling Ryou continued. "He said I was protected by a dark power, something that warned off vampires. I don't really know what he meant, than he attacked and all went black." Finishing his explanation Ryou leaned back on his chair and watched the others for their reaction. Seto, as was usual showed little reaction, and Yugi's large violet eyes showed concern for his friend. "So how did I get home?"
"We're just as much in the dark on how you got home, as you are. We found you on the porch, and no one was around, at least we saw no one."
"Seto, that vampire said that Ryou was protected by a dark power," Yugi began. "Do you suppose that the dark power is another vampire?"
"Actually, that's something else that was strange," Ryou said. "He said something to me that hinted that it is a vampire's barrier, but why would any vampire want to protect me?"
"You said something about a pure aura, he's talking about yours right?" Seto turned to Ryou.
"Kai, you know as well as I do that there is no way that I can possibly posses a pure aura. I've done too much, seen too much, to have one."
"To us humans, and aura is nothing but colours surrounding all living things that have a spirit, vampires, humans, animals it does not matter what. However, the way we humans look at it we only skim the surface of the auras that we can sense, vampires have heightened sensitivity to the auras of all they see. To you your aura may be tainted and no longer pure, but to vampires your aura is pure and as innocent as that of a child's." Seto looked at Ryou and Yugi, both of whom were looking at him in attention. "You see yourself not as others see you Ryou, you see only your shortcomings, but you seem to always ignore all the things you've done, given up for the sake of others; the things that make you truly pure. It is not the innocence or lack of knowledge of reality that makes an innocent or pure aura, it is the actions taken by the spirit for the sake of others. That is what separates the pure auras from the tainted ones."
Ryou looked at the tall brunet, whose eyes had darkened through his speech. 'He truly believes that I am pure,' he thought. 'If what he says is true, then he and Yugi are just as pure, if not more so, as they claim me to be.' He smiled at the blue-eyed hunter, silently conveying his thanks.
'He can see auras,' Yugi thought looking at his brother. 'That's how he's able to know so much about it, but I thought I was the only one of the three of us. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not the only one.'
"Seto, your aura is just as pure as Ryou's." Yugi stared at his brother looking at the other's reaction. "I can sense it, just as you can sense other's." With that Seto looked at his brother, his expression changing for the first time to one of surprise.
"What do you mean just as you can, Yugi?" Ryou asked also turning to look at the small teen.
"I'm saying I can sense auras just as Seto can, Ryou, that I have powers just like you." Yugi focused his large violet eyes on his white haired companion and concentrated.
*"Powers like this."* He spoke mentally to the Hunter, a small playful smile lurking on his lips at the surprised look on his usually unshakable friend.
"It was you, you were the one I sensed trying to probe my mind," whispered Ryou, a small smile tugging on his lips as Yugi smiled brightly at him giving him a mental nod.
"Yeah, I was worried, when you were talking about auras you looked so worried, I couldn't help it."
"Was that why you passed out this morning?" Seto asked sharply.
"Yeah, I can sense emotions better than anything else," Yugi explained. "I can sense auras and communicate mentally, but I can't do those things as well as I can sense emotions."
"You're an empath, then?" Ryou inquired his voice softer than normal.
"I guess you could call it that, after all I do work better with emotions."
"I had my suspicions, I should have known," murmured Seto looking thoughtful. "What are you, Ryou? I know you have some sort of power too."
"I'm a telepath, you guys already know what telepaths can do," Ryou said. "How about you Kai, what are your gifts?"
"I have no gifts," Seto said his tone solemn. "If my abilities were truly gifts then why wasn't I able to use them to save my brother? My parents, both adoptive ones and biological ones. So many lives have been lost because my 'gifts' did not help at all."
"Kai, don't say that," Yugi said, walking to his brother. "You were just a child, you had no way of knowing, my powers didn't really mature until a few years ago, I'm sure yours were still dormant too."
"Either way, I can't bring myself to accept my abilities as gifts when I was so helpless to help those I loved most." Seto looked down on Yugi, who had buried his face against Seto's lap, his shoulders shaking with his tears.
"But Seto, you can't keep on blaming yourself. You're always telling Ryou to stop, but you wont stop yourself. What happened was not something you could have prevented even if your powers were already active, fate isn't something we can control, remember? We just go with the flow when it comes to fate's games."
"I know Yugi, I'm sorry to have upset you," Seto apologized pulling his brother up and looking into the large violet eyes that help such sorrow. 'Sorrow for me,' he thought. 'I should listen to his advice, it was not something I could prevent, but I swear this, I will find Mokuba.'
"I'm a psychic," he said, his voice steady as he gave Yugi a small smile. "I can see the past, sometimes just random things from the past, but sometimes the past of someone near me or someone whose mind isn't shielded. I can see auras and communicate as well. Sometimes I have visions of the future too, or at least small glimpses into the near future."
"That's how you knew Ryou was outside last night, right?"
"Yeah, I had a flash, Ryou was lying on the ground with someone looking down on him."
"Did you see who it was Seto?" Ryou asked his tone urgent with the need to find the answers to his questions.
"No, I didn't see the other person clearly, but he seemed familiar. Like he was someone I've met before." Seto's eyes narrowed in concentration, the ice blue orbs darkening into the stormy blue of an ocean before a storm.
"So we all had powers all along," said Yugi suddenly, before he began to laugh. "I thought all these years that I should hide it from you guys because I wasn't sure how you guys would feel, and all along you guys were hiding your powers too." Ryou looked at the smaller young man before giving a small laugh of his own.
"That is pretty ridiculous, we could have communicated mentally during hunts instead of talking out loud and risking being heard."
"Well at least we'll be prepared for next time." Seto said, gaining a groan from Yugi. "Well it would give us an edge you know."
"I know Kai, but do you always have to think about work? It's our day off remember?" Yugi looked at his brother his eyes pleading, he knew that if given a chance Seto would insist that they try using their powers during a hunt as soon as possible.
"Okay, just don't whine," replied Seto with a smile of his own at his brother's expression. "So if it's our day off, what do you guys propose we do for the rest of the day?"
"Well we could catch up with sleep," Ryou said smiling when the other occupants of the room groaned. "I'm joking, how about we watch some movies?"
"Yeah, we haven't done that in a while. I bought some a few weeks ago but I haven't had time to watch them yet, let's watch them now." Seto and Ryou nodded in agreement, and went to the living room to prepare while Yugi ran up to his room to get the movies.
The three spent the day watching movies, and were given a reprieve from the darkness that shrouded their lives like the cloak of death, waiting silently in the darkness to catch the careless.
A figure watched in the darkness, looking through a window to see the three laughing together, acting like the teenagers they were and not the adults life had forced them to become.
'He was right, these three are the ones,' the figure thought, giving a small smile as he saw his old friend laughing so easily. 'I wonder if he'll still remember me it's been a while, well we'll see. I just hope we don't have too much problems with the Shadows, but with what I've heard, well it'll be interesting in the least.'
With that the figure melted into the darkness in a movement that spoke of a practiced skill, similar to the once possessed by the Lights, the skills born from hunting killers of the night.
to be continued
tiger: sorry that took me longer than i thought to type, i was hoping to get it out by x-mas but as you can all see it didn't turn out that way
Bakura: well obviously they know tiger, when was the last time you put up a new chapter? tiger: hey give me a break i was busy!
Yami: doing what?
tiger: well....err.....ummm......playing tekken 4?
Bakura: oh? so your video games are more important that us?? i am so very hurt *sniffsniff* i thought you loved us! but you love those computer generated guys better don't you?? you don't love us anymore!!
Yugi: you don't wove me no more *puppy dog eyes* but i thought you woved me ;_; *sniffsniff* tiger: no i do love you guys *huggles Bakura and Yugi* but i was distracted.........there was fighting!! blood, killing!! destruction!! i loved it!!!
Yami: *moves away slowly* god i wish i had gone with the others to the mall
Bakura and Yugi: tiger....you're squeezing...can't breathe.....
!!please review!!
Warning: This is slash, which means m/m pairings. So for those who are squeamish about that sort of thing you have been warned! But if you do have a problem with this sort of thing how did you get to this chapter without noticing?? Also this is AU, and characters will be OOC.
A.N. Ryou Bakura - Ryou Hunter, Yami Bakura - Bakura Kageshi, Yami Yugi - Yami Taiyou. Seto Kaiba - may and will be referred to as Kai: Seto and Yugi are ADOPTIVE brothers and will refer to each other as brothers. *"Words"* - spoken telepathically, 'words' - thoughts, "words" - spoken out loud
Next day (Is it just me or is this thing getting shorter with every chapter?)
Chapter Ten: Powers of Light
The sun's gilded rays touched the figure on the bed, who grumbled in annoyance as the bright light of day invaded the darkness of sleep. Ryou rolled over and pulled the covers over his head trying to fall once more into the comforting warmth of sleep, which was a haven from the cold and harsh reality of life.
"Hhhmmmm, no talk now sleep more," he mumbled into his pillow curling up into a small ball under his covers. It was not a well-known fact but he loved sleeping in and if he could, he would not wake up until noon if possible, which in his case never was. Through the fog of sleep he heard a giggle and footsteps that led to his bed.
"Don't worry sleepyhead, we don't have to go to school today. Kai already called the school and told them we were sick and he was staying to take care of us." Yugi sat down at the edge of his friend's bed knowing Ryou was listening, well half listening, with him in bed it wouldn't have surprised Yugi at all if Ryou woke up and didn't remember any part of their conversation. "I know I'm ruining your precious sleep but, I just wanted to make sure you were okay, you looked pretty bad last night. So how are you feeling?"
"I'm fine, sleep now." With that the conversation ended and Yugi left the bedroom with a small laugh, and proceeded down to the kitchen where he found his brother making breakfast.
"How is Ryou feeling?" Seto looked at his brother as the shorter young man climbed on a chair swinging his legs back and forth like a five year old, making Seto want to laugh at the sight.
"He's asleep, Kai, what else can I say? You know how he gets when he's in bed," Yugi said smiling at the taller teen as a plate of scrambled egg was placed in front of him with a piece of toast. "Ryou could sleep through a hurricane, and knowing him he'll wake up at noon and wonder why we didn't wake him up to go to school." Seto laughed and sat down with his own breakfast across his brother.
"So what do you want to do today? We have nothing to work on, except that project and we can't do that without the others," Seto asked Yugi as he drank orange juice.
"I don't know Kai, we can just vege if you want, I mean we haven't had a day off in a while. We're always at school during the day and hunting at night," said Yugi leaning back in his chair with a sigh, as he finished his food. "That was great, you're a great cook Kia."
"No I'm not, you're just trying to suck up and get me to cook tonight instead of you," replied Seto with a grin knowing his brother would try everything to convince him to cook their dinner. "Sorry Yugi, not happening, I've cooked for your last three turns, your have to cook this time." Yugi gave an exaggerated sigh and put his dishes in the sink and began to slowly wash them, he hated cooking with a passion, it wasn't that he was bad at it, it was that he could barely reach the counter, let alone the stove and the ingredients he needed in the top cupboards. "I know you hate cooking, Yugi, but I will help you if you need help, okay?" Seto felt guilty for saying no to his brother, knowing how much Yugi hated cooking because it reminded him of his height, or lack thereof, and tried to make it up to him.
"It's alright, Kai," Yugi replied feeling his brother's guilt, it swamped at him and his own guilt built up, until he was nearly drowning in the sensation. Like Seto, Yugi had certain abilities that the others knew nothing of, he was able to feel what others felt, which contributed to his sensitive, emotional nature, and was able to send out his own emotions to others. Usually he could shield himself from the onslaught of emotions but Seto was close to him and he was never fully able to close off neither Seto nor Ryou when it came to his ability. The intensity of the emotion grew and darkness began to creep into his consciousness as his mind overloaded with the guilt. "Please, don't feel guilty, Kai.....it....it hurts," his voice was weak and his knees threatened to collapse, his breathing becoming irregular, sweat beading his face.
"Yugi? What's wrong? Are you alright?" Seto moved closer to his brother, putting an arm around the smaller young man, in support, as Yugi's legs gave away. His blue showing deep concern as he raised Yugi's face to his own and looked at the large violet eyes, which were clouded with pain. "Yugi, are you in pain? What is it?" Receiving no reply, Seto picked up the smaller and lighter young man and carried him to the living room, gently putting him on the couch.
"I'm fine Seto," said Yugi weakly, a headache pounding in his head, "Just please don't feel guilty about it anymore, and stop worrying too, it hurts." With that he closed his eyes and succumbed to the darkness of sleep, away from the splitting pain in his head. Seto shook his brother gently, worried, but seeing the look of peace on his brother's face he decided to leave him be and went back to the kitchen to wash the dishes.
'What happened to you Yugi?' Seto thought to himself as he washed the plates. 'Why were you so ill suddenly? And what do you mean my guilt hurts?' He finished his task and went back to the living room, and turning on the TV waited for one of his housemates to wake up. 'These last few months have been strange as hell,' he thought. 'First we get those new student who look like they could be clones of the others, then we get a bounty on our heads by the Shadows, yesterday that group work, the attack on Ryou last night, and now this. I just hope it's not an omen.' Seto turned off the TV and closed his eyes, deciding to take a nap since the others were also asleep.
Ryou sat up in bed and looked at his alarm clock on his bedside table, seeing the time he jumped out of his bed and ran down the stairs in search of the others. Finding both Seto and Yugi asleep in the living room he went to the kitchen and prepared lunch, still in his nightclothes, which consisted of pajama bottom and tank top. 'They could have woken me up and told me,' he thought to himself as he moved around the kitchen, trying to make as little noise as possible, and succeeding badly; as he accidentally dropped a pot, which unfortunately landed on his foot which made him yell out curses in all the languages he knew. Seto, being a light sleeper ran into the kitchen and stopped in a fighting stance looking around for an attacker, finding only Ryou holding his foot while cursing under his breath.
"Dammit Ryou, you and your dirty mouth," Seto sighed going to his friend and pushing the smaller young man to a chair and heading to the fridge and getting ice. "If Yugi heard you he'd have a fit, you know how he is about swearing." He set the bag of ice on Ryou's abused foot and proceeded to continue where the other had left off in making their lunch. "Have a nice sleep?"
"Shut up, Kai," Ryou snapped holding the ice to his foot which throbbed. "You guys could have woken me up you know, now we missed school and with our luck, we probably missed a lot of work and are behind." He sighed and leaned against the table, his chin on his free hand, and looked at Seto with a frown. "Why did we stay home anyway?" At the question Seto shook his head and did not answer until the other gave a loud sigh and began tapping on the table in annoyance.
"In case you've forgotten Ryou, you were attacked last night," Seto explained. "We don't even know how you got home, and I thought it best if we stayed home today and let you rest, then you can explain to Yugi and I what happened after we left you." Seto looked at his friend and sent a gentle probe into the other's mind, making sure to remain undetected, trying to find out what had occurred in the attack. Ryou feeling the push, snapped his head up and looked around, his eyes sharp; not suspecting at all that the one who had sent the mental probe was standing right in front of him. Seto seeing the other's reaction pulled back immediately, surprised that Ryou had been able to sense him when even vampires had had not sensed his probes in the past.
'What was that?' Ryou thought to himself, feeling the push easing and disappearing entirely, 'It was familiar, but was it the vampire from last night?' Ryou asked himself, still sitting tensely on his chair. Looking up he saw Seto looking at him with questioning cerulean blue eyes, and he quickly relaxed, not wanting to make the other suspicious.
'You're hiding something, Ryou, and I'll find out what,' Seto thought turning away from the other, 'I'm tired of you hiding things from us, and maybe I'll reveal some things about myself as well.' Seto's thoughts were interrupted when Yugi walked in rubbing sleep from his eyes and giving a yawn.
"Oh, Ryou you're awake," he said sleepily sitting across the white haired young man. "I came into your room this morning to tell you we were staying home, but I'm guessing you don't remember." Ryou shook his head, telling the spiked haired young man that he hadn't and causing Yugi to laugh. "How can you sleep so deeply and wake up at dawn if you need to without being grumpy?" Yugi asked jokingly.
"Must be his sunny disposition," put in Seto sarcastically, receiving a glare for his comment. "So Yugi, how are you feeling?" Ryou glanced at Yugi in surprise, not knowing what had occurred earlier between the two.
"Yeah, I'm feeling better now Seto, don't worry about it." Yugi assured his brother, wanting to change the subject, not wanting the others to know about his abilities just yet. "So, Ryou what happened last night?" At the question Ryou's face became shuttered and his eyes darkened.
"It was a vampire," he said quietly, noting that Seto immediately stopped what he was doing to sit with him and Yugi. "I was walking home when I felt something trying to get into my head. I turned around and I saw no one, but then he began to speak to me."
"What did he say to you? Do you think he was one of the Shadows?" Seto looked at Ryou his eyes sharp shards of ice, intent on everything that Ryou said.
"I really don't know Kai, all I know is that he said some things that made no sense to me."
"Did he try to hurt you Ryou? We found you on the porch unconscious, and no one was around." This came from Yugi who was looking at the white haired Hunter with eyes full of concern.
"No he really didn't try to hurt me, until he left. That was when he attacked me; I've never come across a vampire with a telepathic attack that strong." Ryou raised his head and looked at his two companions. "He said that he'd see me again, but before that he said something that I can not understand. He......he said that I had a pure aura, and that I was protected." His dark brown eyes darkened further and his face showed a look of concentration.
"Protected by what Ryou?" Yugi could not help but be curious about what his friend was speaking of, and seeing his friend's expression he gave a small push; trying to see what his friend was feeling. In doing so he felt a deep wanting, a need to find this mysterious vampire, and to find out what he had meant. Suddenly the connection was cut off and Yugi looked at his friend in surprise seeing alert, narrowed brown eyes. 'He sensed me, but how?' Yugi thought.
Ignoring the feeling Ryou continued. "He said I was protected by a dark power, something that warned off vampires. I don't really know what he meant, than he attacked and all went black." Finishing his explanation Ryou leaned back on his chair and watched the others for their reaction. Seto, as was usual showed little reaction, and Yugi's large violet eyes showed concern for his friend. "So how did I get home?"
"We're just as much in the dark on how you got home, as you are. We found you on the porch, and no one was around, at least we saw no one."
"Seto, that vampire said that Ryou was protected by a dark power," Yugi began. "Do you suppose that the dark power is another vampire?"
"Actually, that's something else that was strange," Ryou said. "He said something to me that hinted that it is a vampire's barrier, but why would any vampire want to protect me?"
"You said something about a pure aura, he's talking about yours right?" Seto turned to Ryou.
"Kai, you know as well as I do that there is no way that I can possibly posses a pure aura. I've done too much, seen too much, to have one."
"To us humans, and aura is nothing but colours surrounding all living things that have a spirit, vampires, humans, animals it does not matter what. However, the way we humans look at it we only skim the surface of the auras that we can sense, vampires have heightened sensitivity to the auras of all they see. To you your aura may be tainted and no longer pure, but to vampires your aura is pure and as innocent as that of a child's." Seto looked at Ryou and Yugi, both of whom were looking at him in attention. "You see yourself not as others see you Ryou, you see only your shortcomings, but you seem to always ignore all the things you've done, given up for the sake of others; the things that make you truly pure. It is not the innocence or lack of knowledge of reality that makes an innocent or pure aura, it is the actions taken by the spirit for the sake of others. That is what separates the pure auras from the tainted ones."
Ryou looked at the tall brunet, whose eyes had darkened through his speech. 'He truly believes that I am pure,' he thought. 'If what he says is true, then he and Yugi are just as pure, if not more so, as they claim me to be.' He smiled at the blue-eyed hunter, silently conveying his thanks.
'He can see auras,' Yugi thought looking at his brother. 'That's how he's able to know so much about it, but I thought I was the only one of the three of us. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm not the only one.'
"Seto, your aura is just as pure as Ryou's." Yugi stared at his brother looking at the other's reaction. "I can sense it, just as you can sense other's." With that Seto looked at his brother, his expression changing for the first time to one of surprise.
"What do you mean just as you can, Yugi?" Ryou asked also turning to look at the small teen.
"I'm saying I can sense auras just as Seto can, Ryou, that I have powers just like you." Yugi focused his large violet eyes on his white haired companion and concentrated.
*"Powers like this."* He spoke mentally to the Hunter, a small playful smile lurking on his lips at the surprised look on his usually unshakable friend.
"It was you, you were the one I sensed trying to probe my mind," whispered Ryou, a small smile tugging on his lips as Yugi smiled brightly at him giving him a mental nod.
"Yeah, I was worried, when you were talking about auras you looked so worried, I couldn't help it."
"Was that why you passed out this morning?" Seto asked sharply.
"Yeah, I can sense emotions better than anything else," Yugi explained. "I can sense auras and communicate mentally, but I can't do those things as well as I can sense emotions."
"You're an empath, then?" Ryou inquired his voice softer than normal.
"I guess you could call it that, after all I do work better with emotions."
"I had my suspicions, I should have known," murmured Seto looking thoughtful. "What are you, Ryou? I know you have some sort of power too."
"I'm a telepath, you guys already know what telepaths can do," Ryou said. "How about you Kai, what are your gifts?"
"I have no gifts," Seto said his tone solemn. "If my abilities were truly gifts then why wasn't I able to use them to save my brother? My parents, both adoptive ones and biological ones. So many lives have been lost because my 'gifts' did not help at all."
"Kai, don't say that," Yugi said, walking to his brother. "You were just a child, you had no way of knowing, my powers didn't really mature until a few years ago, I'm sure yours were still dormant too."
"Either way, I can't bring myself to accept my abilities as gifts when I was so helpless to help those I loved most." Seto looked down on Yugi, who had buried his face against Seto's lap, his shoulders shaking with his tears.
"But Seto, you can't keep on blaming yourself. You're always telling Ryou to stop, but you wont stop yourself. What happened was not something you could have prevented even if your powers were already active, fate isn't something we can control, remember? We just go with the flow when it comes to fate's games."
"I know Yugi, I'm sorry to have upset you," Seto apologized pulling his brother up and looking into the large violet eyes that help such sorrow. 'Sorrow for me,' he thought. 'I should listen to his advice, it was not something I could prevent, but I swear this, I will find Mokuba.'
"I'm a psychic," he said, his voice steady as he gave Yugi a small smile. "I can see the past, sometimes just random things from the past, but sometimes the past of someone near me or someone whose mind isn't shielded. I can see auras and communicate as well. Sometimes I have visions of the future too, or at least small glimpses into the near future."
"That's how you knew Ryou was outside last night, right?"
"Yeah, I had a flash, Ryou was lying on the ground with someone looking down on him."
"Did you see who it was Seto?" Ryou asked his tone urgent with the need to find the answers to his questions.
"No, I didn't see the other person clearly, but he seemed familiar. Like he was someone I've met before." Seto's eyes narrowed in concentration, the ice blue orbs darkening into the stormy blue of an ocean before a storm.
"So we all had powers all along," said Yugi suddenly, before he began to laugh. "I thought all these years that I should hide it from you guys because I wasn't sure how you guys would feel, and all along you guys were hiding your powers too." Ryou looked at the smaller young man before giving a small laugh of his own.
"That is pretty ridiculous, we could have communicated mentally during hunts instead of talking out loud and risking being heard."
"Well at least we'll be prepared for next time." Seto said, gaining a groan from Yugi. "Well it would give us an edge you know."
"I know Kai, but do you always have to think about work? It's our day off remember?" Yugi looked at his brother his eyes pleading, he knew that if given a chance Seto would insist that they try using their powers during a hunt as soon as possible.
"Okay, just don't whine," replied Seto with a smile of his own at his brother's expression. "So if it's our day off, what do you guys propose we do for the rest of the day?"
"Well we could catch up with sleep," Ryou said smiling when the other occupants of the room groaned. "I'm joking, how about we watch some movies?"
"Yeah, we haven't done that in a while. I bought some a few weeks ago but I haven't had time to watch them yet, let's watch them now." Seto and Ryou nodded in agreement, and went to the living room to prepare while Yugi ran up to his room to get the movies.
The three spent the day watching movies, and were given a reprieve from the darkness that shrouded their lives like the cloak of death, waiting silently in the darkness to catch the careless.
A figure watched in the darkness, looking through a window to see the three laughing together, acting like the teenagers they were and not the adults life had forced them to become.
'He was right, these three are the ones,' the figure thought, giving a small smile as he saw his old friend laughing so easily. 'I wonder if he'll still remember me it's been a while, well we'll see. I just hope we don't have too much problems with the Shadows, but with what I've heard, well it'll be interesting in the least.'
With that the figure melted into the darkness in a movement that spoke of a practiced skill, similar to the once possessed by the Lights, the skills born from hunting killers of the night.
to be continued
tiger: sorry that took me longer than i thought to type, i was hoping to get it out by x-mas but as you can all see it didn't turn out that way
Bakura: well obviously they know tiger, when was the last time you put up a new chapter? tiger: hey give me a break i was busy!
Yami: doing what?
tiger: well....err.....ummm......playing tekken 4?
Bakura: oh? so your video games are more important that us?? i am so very hurt *sniffsniff* i thought you loved us! but you love those computer generated guys better don't you?? you don't love us anymore!!
Yugi: you don't wove me no more *puppy dog eyes* but i thought you woved me ;_; *sniffsniff* tiger: no i do love you guys *huggles Bakura and Yugi* but i was distracted.........there was fighting!! blood, killing!! destruction!! i loved it!!!
Yami: *moves away slowly* god i wish i had gone with the others to the mall
Bakura and Yugi: tiger....you're squeezing...can't breathe.....
!!please review!!