Moons: Another chapter…another chapter!! *sings*

Aurora: *singing in an angry voice* It's all about the he said, she said bullshit. I think you better quit, letting shit slip, or you'll be leaving with a fat lip!!

Moons: *sigh* She's in bad in a bad mood because I took her cigarettes.

Aurora: NO! I'm not mad. I just think this song goes perfect with this story. You know, gang fights. Besides, I have a back up supply!!

Moons: x.x damn you. No smoking when I'm the room though!

Aurora: Yeah, yeah *lights up*

Moons: *growls* Please read and review this chapter while I break my muse of her bad habit.

Aurora: NEVER!!! *runs away* HAHAHA!!!

Pharaoh's Spirit

CHAPTER THREE: RIVALRIES ANEW

            The night was calming. The way the moon hung so brightly. The way the stars danced around it, sparkling no matter what. Darkness cloaked him and hid him from everyone. The only thing that was noticeable about him was the red hot tip of his cigarette.

            Yami sighed as he took a drag from that cigarette. Life was unfair, the way that it gave you so many ups and downs. On the up he had great, loyal friends that would see nothing bad ever happened to him again. Nothing like that night anyway. Yami shivered despite the warm breeze that blew faintly over him. Fate had a sick sense of humor. It had made up all those years of pain and loneliness by giving him true friends, friends that understood his pain. And just when he thought that his pain was over, fate had slammed him with that night and changed everything. It changed the person he was and the person he had become. Granted it had made him tougher, but he would rather have a happy life then be the toughest man around.

            Yes, life really did suck.

            "Yami?"

            Yami jumped at the sound of Jou's voice. So maybe the dark didn't hide him as well as he thought. He turned his head and watched as Jou slowly walked over to his hiding place. His fellow gang member also had a lit cigarette hanging from his mouth. Yami sat up and allowed Jou to sit down beside him. He sighed and took another deep drag of his cigarette. Jou gave him a slight smile.

            "What are you doing out here all by yourself?" He asked, snubbing out his cigarette. His sister was always getting on his case about him quitting, but he just couldn't. He needed it.

            Yami shrugged and flicked some ashes off to the side. He allowed his eyes to drift back to the moon. Slowly he lost himself in the nights comfort. Jou peered at him before lighting another cigarette. He tapped on Yami's shoulder, startling him out of his thoughts.

            "You have to stop living in the past." He whispered to him. "What's done is done. That will never happen again. We won't let it."

            Yami gave Jou a lop sided grin and sighed. He knew that he was living in the past and that it was a bad thing, but on clear nights like this he couldn't help it. Those horrible memories always crept up on him when he nothing better to do with his time then think. The way it had seemed so cold in that alleyway…

            …a shiver ran down his spine. The air in the alley seemed ten degrees lower then out on the street…

            His eyes grew distant and his breath came in quick pants. When ever he relieved this horrid memory his body gave out on him. And he was beginning to feel the effects again. He placed his head in his hands and forced himself to calm down. Taking a deep breath he turned to look at Jou.

            "I know that I have to live in the now rather than the then," Yami ran a hand through his spiked hair. "But can you really blame me for not being able to forget it completely?"

            Jou gave his friend a sad grin and laid down, so that he was looking at the night sky. Yami was always partial to the moon, but Jou always liked the stars. Yami seemed almost born of the darkness that created the night.

            "I guess not." He glanced over at Yami who seemed almost lost in his own world. "But you can't let it control your life like this. Certain things just set you off into these bouts of paranoia and depression. That's what's not right Yami."

            Yami laid down beside Jou and looked up at the night sky. It was a beautiful night, perfectly clear. If he wanted to he could count all the stars that sparkled above him.

            "Did you know that it was cloudy that night?" He spoke dully, ignoring Jou's last comment. "There wasn't a star over head. I knew that meant it was going to be a bad night but I didn't head nature's warning. Now I wish I had."

            Yami had to fight back the tears as his mind dragged him back to that point in time. He hated reliving that night, but he did it almost every night while he slept alone in the warehouse…

            …the night sky had been covered by a thick black blanket of clouds. His soothing moon was no where in sight. A shudder ran down his spine, but he still walked down those dark streets. Alone, that's what he was, alone. He had his band of delinquent friends, and they gave him another reason to live. But he couldn't help but wonder what life had in store for him. After all the harshness that life had dealt him, he was expected to not think that life owed him something? It was while being lost in his own pity that the strong pair of arms wrapped around him and dragged him into the darkness of the alley. At first he thought it was one of his friends playing some kind of sick prank. It wasn't until that cold voice breathed into his ear that he knew he was in trouble…

            "Why hello there hot stuff."

            Yami's whole body turned to ice. That voice. It was so real, as though it were coming from right behind him. But it couldn't. There was no way that his memory was turning itself into a reality. But the growl that rose in Jou's throat confirmed it for him. Slowly sitting up, Yami turned to face his worst nightmare.

            He stood there in all his horror. Clad in all black, from the shoes to the jeans to the trench coat, a sliver ankh hanging from his neck, was his rival himself. His shaggy brown hair fell into his face, hanging in his eyes. His ice blue eyes…

            …The sliver ankh that hung from his neck dug into Yami's chest. He let out another pained cry as he stared up into the ice blue eyes that were narrowed in ecstasy…

            Kaiba gave Yami a tiny sneer and stepped out of the shadows. He gave Jou a similar scowl before closing the space between the three gang members. Looking down his nose he glared at Yami.

            "Still living in the past I see." He chuckled. "You know, I've never forgotten that night either. But for different reasons. I wish to relive it."

            Yami's eyes went blank as drew into himself. Jou recognized this as a step back in Yami's progression of forgetting that night and its events. With an angry snarl he leapt to his feet.

            "You asshole!" He hissed. "How dare you show up here, on enemy's grounds and taunt one of us!"

            Jou turned to offer Yami some comforting words but was stunned to see their gang leader had disappeared. He searched around him, excepting to find him curled up in a corner, but he was gone.

            "Coward." Kaiba scoffed. "Can't even come to grips with what happened."

            Jou whirled around on the rival gang leader with all the fury he had pent up in him.

            "Leave now Kaiba and I'll let you live." He snarled. "You will pay for what you did to Yami. You just wait!"

            Kaiba laughed as he turned his back on the younger man. He stalked off into the darkness. The only thing that was left of him was the moon light shimmering on his sliver ankh and his cold voice calling out into the darkness.

            "We shall see."

            Jou turned to where Yami had just been sitting, allowing sorrow to cross his features. He had never seen Yami run from a confrontation with one of the High Priests. Then again he had never been placed against Kaiba until this night. He looked up at the moon and knew that wherever Yami was, he was doing the same thing.

            "Be safe Yami." He whispered into the night. "Wherever you are, be safe."

Moons: Another chapter in the bag! I hope you like this story cause I'm enjoying it. I love AU's because I can make our most beloved characters any person I want. In fact, I'm planning another AU for after this story (or Unbroken) is finished.

Aurora: I'll only be happy if Marik's in it!

Moons: *sigh* He will be. You must have faith in me my muse.

Aurora: Faith? Ha!

Moons: -_-;; please read and review while I go beat my muse into a more loving manner.

Aurora: o.O …eep…