Shadows of Demons
Pan: I've officially gone insane. Just letting you know.
~
Yugi rested uneasy until morning. His supposedly peaceful sleep was interrupted by visions of demons and other foul creatures of the night. By
the time dawn came around, he had given up on sleep, and instead was
reading. The book was a favourite story of his, 'Dawn of Fate'. It's characters all had magical powers, and fought off evil lords and the like.
Yugi smiled, reading over the hero's final triumph over evil; it always made him think of Yami. This magical spirit who had overcome opposition and
death so many times... but the Pharaoh's spirit was sinking. Yugi could feel it through their ever-present mind connection. Yami's emotions were hidden, but obvious to his aibou of nearly three years. There was guilt and fear rising in him. Yugi laid back to ponder the matter, shutting his book.
~
Yami watched with impatient eyes as the sun rose. Finally, a pinkish circle blossomed over the horizon, heralding dawn, and safety. Yami quickly gave
his thanks to Ra that Anzu was near unhurt by the demon within him. He
walked out of his room, and down the stairs.
"Good morning, koi!" Yami said, finding his aibou in the lounge. "Did you
sleep well?" Yugi looked up at him, but gently shook his head. "No, not after Anzu woke me up. You?" he sighed. Yami smiled. "Me neither." He sat down next to Yugi and kissed him lightly. Yugi mumbled something like 'I
love you' incoherently, snuggling up against Yami.
Yami noticed the closed, red-covered book nearby. He picked it up, taking a moment to decipher the text on the front. "'Dawn of Fate'? I've seen you
reading this book before." he said curiously. Yugi grinned. "It's my favourite. More so than Jonouchi's comic books." he said. Yami looked down
at Yugi disapprovingly. "I've seen the kind of magazines and books that Jonouchi has. I've also seen that none of them are manga. I would have said something, but it's not my place to, seeing as how we Egyptians had dancing
girls who wore about as much as the girls in Jonouchi's books." he commented lightly. Yugi blushed. "I don't look at them! And Jonouchi DOES have comic books! He reads them in class!" he protested. "Why would I want to look at girls anyway?!" Yami laughed. "Shh, I was only joking. You'll
wake Anzu!" he said.
Soft footsteps were heard above them. "Too late, koibito!" Yugi said. "She
is already awake!" Yami sighed. "You'd better start breakfast then." he said. Yugi smiled. "Yes. No touching the toaster, Yami! I do the cooking
here, since you blew up the last three toasters I owned." he stated, getting to his feet. It was normal for Yugi to remind Yami of his 'kitchen
rules' in the mornings, and it was normal for Yami to reply, "Stupid
things. In Egypt, we made do with fire."
Anzu padded down the stairs in her night-dress. "Ohayo Yugi-kun, Yami-kun!"
she said sleepily. "Ohayo, Anzu-san." Yami replied. "How are you this
morning?" Anzu smiled weakly. "Better, after that scare last night. I'm
sorry I was so silly." she apologised.
"It's alright!" Yugi said brightly. "I'm just about to do breakfast, ok?" Anzu nodded. Yugi happily trotted into the kitchen. Anzu sat down next to Yami. Yami opened up Yugi's book and started reading. About halfway down
the page he paused, frowning as he attempted to figure out one of the
words. Giving up after a few minutes, he held the page open for Anzu to
see. "Anzu, what does this say?" he asked, pointing to the character in
question. Anzu shifted closer to Yami to look. "That's the kanji for
'youkai'." she said. "Demon." Yami nodded uneasily. "Thanks..."
There was an awkward silence. After a minutes or so, Anzu spoke up. "So you're still learning to read?" she asked. Yami looked up at her. "Learning to read Japanese. I can read Egyptian fine, so I'm not actually learning to
read. But I can guess at anything it says on a card because of the
pictures; they're the same as the original ones." he commented. Anzu
nodded, moving slightly closer on the pretence of seeing what Yami was
actually reading. "'Dawn of Fate'? That's one of Yugi's books, ne?" she said. Yami nodded, flicking one of his golden bangs out of his eyes. Anzu's sapphire-blue eyes were fixated on Yami's face, daydreaming. "Yami..." she murmured quietly. "Nan desu ka?" Yami asked, ruby eyes still scanning the
page methodically. ("What is it?") Anzu went straight forward with her
question.
"Did you ever love anyone?" she said dreamily. Yami opened his mouth to answer, then paused. He lowered the book, and looked at Anzu, catching the
emotion in her eyes before she erased it, sitting up straight, and blushing. "If it's not being too nosy..." Yami sighed. "It's not. Yes, I did, and still DO love someone, ok?" he said, somewhat uneasily, having an idea where Anzu was going with this. An idea formulated in his mind, and he
started reading again to hide the smirk on his face.
"Oh?" Anzu said curiously. "What's her name?" Yami coughed to keep himself from laughing. "Ano..." he murmured. 'Come on, any time now...' he thought
rapidly. As if on cue, there was the sound of smashing glass, and Yugi entered the room. "Yami-kun..." he said carefully. "Can you help me? There was a slight accident with the milk bottle." Yami nodded, getting to his feet. "Sure..." When he got to Yugi, he kissed the boy lightly on the fore head. "... koi." Smirking as if he had just won some game, he went to do Yugi's task. Yugi looked bewildered, then shrugged, and returned to making
breakfast.
"Nani?!" Anzu exclaimed, eyes widening. "Not a her? A HIM?!"
There was the sound of stifled giggles from the kitchen, as Yami had quietly told Yugi exactly what had just happened. Of course, Anzu didn't know this. She screwed up her nose, somewhat hentai images flowing through
her mind, before getting up, and rushing up the stairs.
~
"Yami, you are really evil when you want to make a point!" Yugi said,
hitting the ex-Pharaoh lightly on the arm. Yami winced slightly, Yugi having hit just where the burning black marks still hurt his arm. "No..." Yami said. "I'm just creative in the ways in which I tell people things.
Makes life more interesting." Yugi laughed. "And I suppose, at close-on
five-thousand-and-eighteen, you need to keep life as interesting as possible." he commented, pushing the lever on the toaster down, and turning to wait for it. Yami swept up the last of the glass shards, and mopped up
the last of the milk, before sitting down on the table. "Please. Five- thousand years in a tiny, dark, cold, frankly annoying puzzle hardly counts towards my age. I didn't grow older, so I'm still only seventeen-nearly- eighteen. And you are sixteen-nearly-seventeen." Yami said, looking at the golden Puzzle which still hung about his neck. "And Anzu is sixteen-nearly-
seriously-disturbed by your point-making." Yugi added, staring at the toaster as if it would make it work faster. "And don't you dare say that fire is better than a toaster." Yami sniffed. "Doesn't take as long." he
said.
Yugi looked away from the toaster, and went over to Yami. "But a toaster
gives you longer to do this..." he said, gently pulling on the Puzzle's
chain so that Yami had to lean forward. When he was close enough, Yugi
reached up and kissed Yami gently on the lips. One of the spirit's arms slid down Yugi's back, pulling the boy closer, and deepening the kiss. They didn't break apart until the toaster announced the completetion of its task
Yugi sighed, returning to making breakfast.
~
As Anzu aided Yugi with the washing up, Yami slipped out of the room, and towards the phone. He bit his lip, knowing he was risking Yugi overhearing. While he heard Anzu and Yugi chatting, he quickly dialed Ryou's number. 'I hope Bakura answers...' He listened to the rings down the phone. It rang
about four times, until it clicked, as someone picked up.
"Moshi moshi!" It was Ryou's bright, chirpy voice. Yami sighed. "Moshi moshi, Ryou. It's Yami; is Bakura there?" he said. There was a pause. "Hai, Yami, he's here. Do you want to speak to him?" Ryou asked. "Yes, please."
Yami said witheringly. "OK!" The voice went silent, then fainter voices
were heard.
"Hey, Bakura! Yami's on the phone! Wants to talk to you!" There were loud footsteps, as if Bakura had run down the stairs. "Yami; Yugi's fine, you're
fine, Anzu's fine, right?" he said hurriedly. "Only just..." Yami said
quietly. "Youkai nearly got Anzu last night... I can't risk being alone again." There was a gasp. "Oh dear... maybe I can convice Ryou into coming
over with me... I don't know..." Bakura's voice grew more worried. "Anything, please! It doesn't have to be until nightfall; just get here!
I've got to go!" Yami dropped the phone as Yugi's chatter stopped.
"Who were you talking to?" Yugi asked. Yami shrugged off the remark.
"Bakura. He's still trying to find out why Malik has disappeared." Yugi
nodded lightly. "Of course, they were good friends." He paused. "Anzu's
going shopping today, so we're alone, unless you want to go out." Yami
smiled weakly. "I'm a bit tired, Yugi. I might just go back to bed." he said. Yugi looked puzzled. "Are you alright?" Yami nodded. "Of course; I just didn't manage to get back to sleep after Anzu woke us up, that's all." Yugi beamed brightly. "OK then, you rest." He kissed Yami lightly on the cheek, possible now as he was catching up with Yami in height. "I'll go out for a bit, I think. You don't mind?" he said. "Of course not." He turned to
go up the stairs. "See you later." "Yeah. See ya, koi!" With that, Yugi practically bounced out the door. Yami sighed, and walked up the stairs and
into his room.
~
Yami flopped down onto his bed, unable to do anything else. "I won't let
this get to me..." he muttered. "No-one will be hurt. Youkai will NOT
control me!" The doorbell rang. Growling in annoyance, Yami got up, and
went to answer the door.
"Bakura..." Yami said, on finding the white-haired tomb robber beyong the door. "Yeah, don't look so disbelieving. Can I come in?" Bakura said. Yami
nodded, and allowed him in, shutting the door behind him.
"Right; let's get straight to the point. I've been doing some research - would you believe that some people still believe in Ancient Egyptian magic? - anyway there's only one way to break your curse." Bakura informed Yami, sitting down on the sofa. Yami sat opposite him with eager eyes. "But you
won't like it." the tomb robber added. Yami fixed him with his crimson
glare. "I don't care! Anything to break this curse!"
Bakura sighed. "You have to..."
~
Pan: HAHAHAHAHA!
Pan: I've officially gone insane. Just letting you know.
~
Yugi rested uneasy until morning. His supposedly peaceful sleep was interrupted by visions of demons and other foul creatures of the night. By
the time dawn came around, he had given up on sleep, and instead was
reading. The book was a favourite story of his, 'Dawn of Fate'. It's characters all had magical powers, and fought off evil lords and the like.
Yugi smiled, reading over the hero's final triumph over evil; it always made him think of Yami. This magical spirit who had overcome opposition and
death so many times... but the Pharaoh's spirit was sinking. Yugi could feel it through their ever-present mind connection. Yami's emotions were hidden, but obvious to his aibou of nearly three years. There was guilt and fear rising in him. Yugi laid back to ponder the matter, shutting his book.
~
Yami watched with impatient eyes as the sun rose. Finally, a pinkish circle blossomed over the horizon, heralding dawn, and safety. Yami quickly gave
his thanks to Ra that Anzu was near unhurt by the demon within him. He
walked out of his room, and down the stairs.
"Good morning, koi!" Yami said, finding his aibou in the lounge. "Did you
sleep well?" Yugi looked up at him, but gently shook his head. "No, not after Anzu woke me up. You?" he sighed. Yami smiled. "Me neither." He sat down next to Yugi and kissed him lightly. Yugi mumbled something like 'I
love you' incoherently, snuggling up against Yami.
Yami noticed the closed, red-covered book nearby. He picked it up, taking a moment to decipher the text on the front. "'Dawn of Fate'? I've seen you
reading this book before." he said curiously. Yugi grinned. "It's my favourite. More so than Jonouchi's comic books." he said. Yami looked down
at Yugi disapprovingly. "I've seen the kind of magazines and books that Jonouchi has. I've also seen that none of them are manga. I would have said something, but it's not my place to, seeing as how we Egyptians had dancing
girls who wore about as much as the girls in Jonouchi's books." he commented lightly. Yugi blushed. "I don't look at them! And Jonouchi DOES have comic books! He reads them in class!" he protested. "Why would I want to look at girls anyway?!" Yami laughed. "Shh, I was only joking. You'll
wake Anzu!" he said.
Soft footsteps were heard above them. "Too late, koibito!" Yugi said. "She
is already awake!" Yami sighed. "You'd better start breakfast then." he said. Yugi smiled. "Yes. No touching the toaster, Yami! I do the cooking
here, since you blew up the last three toasters I owned." he stated, getting to his feet. It was normal for Yugi to remind Yami of his 'kitchen
rules' in the mornings, and it was normal for Yami to reply, "Stupid
things. In Egypt, we made do with fire."
Anzu padded down the stairs in her night-dress. "Ohayo Yugi-kun, Yami-kun!"
she said sleepily. "Ohayo, Anzu-san." Yami replied. "How are you this
morning?" Anzu smiled weakly. "Better, after that scare last night. I'm
sorry I was so silly." she apologised.
"It's alright!" Yugi said brightly. "I'm just about to do breakfast, ok?" Anzu nodded. Yugi happily trotted into the kitchen. Anzu sat down next to Yami. Yami opened up Yugi's book and started reading. About halfway down
the page he paused, frowning as he attempted to figure out one of the
words. Giving up after a few minutes, he held the page open for Anzu to
see. "Anzu, what does this say?" he asked, pointing to the character in
question. Anzu shifted closer to Yami to look. "That's the kanji for
'youkai'." she said. "Demon." Yami nodded uneasily. "Thanks..."
There was an awkward silence. After a minutes or so, Anzu spoke up. "So you're still learning to read?" she asked. Yami looked up at her. "Learning to read Japanese. I can read Egyptian fine, so I'm not actually learning to
read. But I can guess at anything it says on a card because of the
pictures; they're the same as the original ones." he commented. Anzu
nodded, moving slightly closer on the pretence of seeing what Yami was
actually reading. "'Dawn of Fate'? That's one of Yugi's books, ne?" she said. Yami nodded, flicking one of his golden bangs out of his eyes. Anzu's sapphire-blue eyes were fixated on Yami's face, daydreaming. "Yami..." she murmured quietly. "Nan desu ka?" Yami asked, ruby eyes still scanning the
page methodically. ("What is it?") Anzu went straight forward with her
question.
"Did you ever love anyone?" she said dreamily. Yami opened his mouth to answer, then paused. He lowered the book, and looked at Anzu, catching the
emotion in her eyes before she erased it, sitting up straight, and blushing. "If it's not being too nosy..." Yami sighed. "It's not. Yes, I did, and still DO love someone, ok?" he said, somewhat uneasily, having an idea where Anzu was going with this. An idea formulated in his mind, and he
started reading again to hide the smirk on his face.
"Oh?" Anzu said curiously. "What's her name?" Yami coughed to keep himself from laughing. "Ano..." he murmured. 'Come on, any time now...' he thought
rapidly. As if on cue, there was the sound of smashing glass, and Yugi entered the room. "Yami-kun..." he said carefully. "Can you help me? There was a slight accident with the milk bottle." Yami nodded, getting to his feet. "Sure..." When he got to Yugi, he kissed the boy lightly on the fore head. "... koi." Smirking as if he had just won some game, he went to do Yugi's task. Yugi looked bewildered, then shrugged, and returned to making
breakfast.
"Nani?!" Anzu exclaimed, eyes widening. "Not a her? A HIM?!"
There was the sound of stifled giggles from the kitchen, as Yami had quietly told Yugi exactly what had just happened. Of course, Anzu didn't know this. She screwed up her nose, somewhat hentai images flowing through
her mind, before getting up, and rushing up the stairs.
~
"Yami, you are really evil when you want to make a point!" Yugi said,
hitting the ex-Pharaoh lightly on the arm. Yami winced slightly, Yugi having hit just where the burning black marks still hurt his arm. "No..." Yami said. "I'm just creative in the ways in which I tell people things.
Makes life more interesting." Yugi laughed. "And I suppose, at close-on
five-thousand-and-eighteen, you need to keep life as interesting as possible." he commented, pushing the lever on the toaster down, and turning to wait for it. Yami swept up the last of the glass shards, and mopped up
the last of the milk, before sitting down on the table. "Please. Five- thousand years in a tiny, dark, cold, frankly annoying puzzle hardly counts towards my age. I didn't grow older, so I'm still only seventeen-nearly- eighteen. And you are sixteen-nearly-seventeen." Yami said, looking at the golden Puzzle which still hung about his neck. "And Anzu is sixteen-nearly-
seriously-disturbed by your point-making." Yugi added, staring at the toaster as if it would make it work faster. "And don't you dare say that fire is better than a toaster." Yami sniffed. "Doesn't take as long." he
said.
Yugi looked away from the toaster, and went over to Yami. "But a toaster
gives you longer to do this..." he said, gently pulling on the Puzzle's
chain so that Yami had to lean forward. When he was close enough, Yugi
reached up and kissed Yami gently on the lips. One of the spirit's arms slid down Yugi's back, pulling the boy closer, and deepening the kiss. They didn't break apart until the toaster announced the completetion of its task
Yugi sighed, returning to making breakfast.
~
As Anzu aided Yugi with the washing up, Yami slipped out of the room, and towards the phone. He bit his lip, knowing he was risking Yugi overhearing. While he heard Anzu and Yugi chatting, he quickly dialed Ryou's number. 'I hope Bakura answers...' He listened to the rings down the phone. It rang
about four times, until it clicked, as someone picked up.
"Moshi moshi!" It was Ryou's bright, chirpy voice. Yami sighed. "Moshi moshi, Ryou. It's Yami; is Bakura there?" he said. There was a pause. "Hai, Yami, he's here. Do you want to speak to him?" Ryou asked. "Yes, please."
Yami said witheringly. "OK!" The voice went silent, then fainter voices
were heard.
"Hey, Bakura! Yami's on the phone! Wants to talk to you!" There were loud footsteps, as if Bakura had run down the stairs. "Yami; Yugi's fine, you're
fine, Anzu's fine, right?" he said hurriedly. "Only just..." Yami said
quietly. "Youkai nearly got Anzu last night... I can't risk being alone again." There was a gasp. "Oh dear... maybe I can convice Ryou into coming
over with me... I don't know..." Bakura's voice grew more worried. "Anything, please! It doesn't have to be until nightfall; just get here!
I've got to go!" Yami dropped the phone as Yugi's chatter stopped.
"Who were you talking to?" Yugi asked. Yami shrugged off the remark.
"Bakura. He's still trying to find out why Malik has disappeared." Yugi
nodded lightly. "Of course, they were good friends." He paused. "Anzu's
going shopping today, so we're alone, unless you want to go out." Yami
smiled weakly. "I'm a bit tired, Yugi. I might just go back to bed." he said. Yugi looked puzzled. "Are you alright?" Yami nodded. "Of course; I just didn't manage to get back to sleep after Anzu woke us up, that's all." Yugi beamed brightly. "OK then, you rest." He kissed Yami lightly on the cheek, possible now as he was catching up with Yami in height. "I'll go out for a bit, I think. You don't mind?" he said. "Of course not." He turned to
go up the stairs. "See you later." "Yeah. See ya, koi!" With that, Yugi practically bounced out the door. Yami sighed, and walked up the stairs and
into his room.
~
Yami flopped down onto his bed, unable to do anything else. "I won't let
this get to me..." he muttered. "No-one will be hurt. Youkai will NOT
control me!" The doorbell rang. Growling in annoyance, Yami got up, and
went to answer the door.
"Bakura..." Yami said, on finding the white-haired tomb robber beyong the door. "Yeah, don't look so disbelieving. Can I come in?" Bakura said. Yami
nodded, and allowed him in, shutting the door behind him.
"Right; let's get straight to the point. I've been doing some research - would you believe that some people still believe in Ancient Egyptian magic? - anyway there's only one way to break your curse." Bakura informed Yami, sitting down on the sofa. Yami sat opposite him with eager eyes. "But you
won't like it." the tomb robber added. Yami fixed him with his crimson
glare. "I don't care! Anything to break this curse!"
Bakura sighed. "You have to..."
~
Pan: HAHAHAHAHA!
