Come What May Chapter 2: Chappie 01, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

A/N: Have you ever had a moment where you wanted to run and hide from a conversation? Well, Yuugi actually can! I had fun with that fact. Ah… good old teenaged embarrassment. Le sigh of Fond Memories.

Hmm… More Creepy!Yami.

Overtones of Rurouni Kenshin. Because, yes, he's cool. And so is Sarah.

And a line from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, too. I can't help it! It's got funniness! (And sexy Spike, but far be it from me to start drooling over another character from another fandom during this story. That would just be rude.)

Mandatory Writing Code!

{Aibou! That's me! I'm an aibou, and I'm talking! Oh yeah!}

[I am a flashback! Woo.]

'Thoughts. They do exist, oddly enough.'

Come What May

Chapter One

Croquet strode through the forest as silently as he could, given his large frame. He was a man with a mission, and he would not disappoint his boss. He and his men gathered around the clearing, nodding in confirmation to the other guards that were with them. They knew what they had to do, and they had no problems with it.

After all, they did worse things. They served Pegasus.

Just then, the two figures they had been waiting for entered the moonlit clearing, oblivious to the impassive eyes that watched them.

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Yuugi smiled up at Sarah as they slowly stepped foot into the clearing. He could only hope that the dark night was hiding his blush. The only light that shone down was from the moon and stars from above. They'd been talking about everything and nothing, but now that the stars were fully in sight, they slowed down and stopped to stare above.

"The stars are beautiful, aren't they, Yuugi?" Sarah whispered in reverence.

"Yeah…"

But Yuugi wasn't staring at the stars.

At his strange tone, she glanced sideways at him, and he flushed deeper than before. It was times like this that he hated his pale colouring.

{But, Yamiii! What if I do something wrong? I don't want her to laugh at me!}

An ominous tingling whisked through their link. {{If she dares to laugh at you, then I shall destroy her mind. It is that simple.}}

A shock of horror and black rage backlashed at Yami's mental spirit. {YAMI! Don't you dare! I just – well, don't you dare!}

Wide-eyed, Yami stumbled backwards, {{A-Apologies, aibou. I did not know that you cared so deeply for this mortal female.}}

A wave of sheepish embarrassment flooded back over to Yami's side, unconsciously soothing his previous hurt, {I- Well, I didn't, um, Yami, you see, it's not, not really, um…}

Yuugi would have most likely continued in this intellectual manner, were it not for Sarah tapping his shoulder lightly.

"Yuugi? Just because it's dark doesn't mean that I can't see you tuning me out!" she carolled. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," the word slipped past Yuugi's lips without asking permission from the brain.

{Ack! Yami! I didn't mean to say that!}

Calming fingers invisibly ran their hands through Yuugi's hair, ruffling the strands as a breeze brushed by. {{Relax, aibou. I shall take control?}}

{Please! I'll be in my soul room, dying of mortification.}

A warm chuckle rumbled through their link. {{Silly aibou.}}

Still, Yami let the age-old magic do its work, letting the subtle transformation begin. And just in time, too. Barely had he re-accustomed himself to breathing and moving physical limbs, when he felt a teasing finger poking into his cheek.

"Yuugi… It's quite natural that you'd be thinking of me. We're talking, aren't we?"

Despite the slight blush on her face, Sarah was trying to provide his aibou with a way out. Yami distantly noted that with pleased satisfaction. It certainly softened his opinion of this new addition to the group. After all, despite his aibou's confidence, he could sense a kind of…darkness about her, as if she was incapable of trust.

Yami could also see, from her very movements, that she was highly trained in stealth and attacking. If offended, she would indeed be a formidable adversary. He was not sure, if in a fair fight, that he would be able to protect his aibou against her. 'And if it comes to that,' Yami silently vowed, 'then I shall not hesitate to use magic to banish her mind to the Shadow Realm, no matter how much I wish not to. None shall touch my light.'

Just then, the shadows themselves leapt from the bushes in an ambush.

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Sarah whirled about in action, fighting off the invaders. She mentally cursed herself for not paying as much attention to her surroundings as she should have been. And yet, she couldn't seem to help herself around Yuugi! The small duellist seemed to gently ensnare her attention, no matter what he was doing. It didn't matter whether he was discussing Pegasus' grim deeds, or if he was staring into space, she just couldn't seem to help herself.

She let fly a particularly nasty roundhouse kick into a man's face, infuriated with the mere thought of Pegasus. How he had stolen Sage's soul, her only friend. How he'd stolen the souls of the innocent servants in her castle. How he'd forced her into coming and duelling in this stupid game. How dare he? She fumed and saw red as she smashed another brute's nose.

And what was this about, anyway? Why the sudden attack? Sarah wished she knew; yet she also knew that she would get no answers until the opponent had been defeated. She grunted in frustration as she threw another man into a tree.

They wouldn't stop coming! It was so frustrating!

Her body began whirling in a deadly dance; the impact was only slightly lessened by her unsheathed swords. Her fists flew with horrifying accuracy and feet suddenly aimed for vulnerable points in rapid succession. Two…three…four… five men down – she looked up, lightly panting.

"And only twenty to go. Crap."

She glanced backwards, where Yuugi was standing still against a tree. They were safe for the moment, as the dark men regrouped. She took this moment to re-catch her breath and saunter over to the smaller teen.

"Hey, what's wrong? Doncha wanna fight?"

She was expecting a teasing answer in return, or an embarrassed mutter of a lack of fighting skills. Anything for what actually occurred.

Instead, a dark grin swept across Yuugi's face. The moon fled to hide behind the clouds, which threw the face into ominous shadow. "If I fight, they will die. Do you wish me to kill them? Hmmm?"

Blinking rapidly to clear the confusion that she was sure was appearing on her face, she opened her mouth to reply. And then she realized that it must be the …other…Yuugi to whom she was speaking.

Stars above, was he scary like this. What had happened to the nice boy she thought she knew?

And suddenly it was all over. Wide amethyst eyes peered up at her, and the moon shone once more down on the gentle boy's face. "Sarah? Are you ok? You weren't hurt in that fight, were you?"

She got her voice back and asked the pounding question that was resonating through her mind. "What the heck was that?! Who was he?"

Yuugi's head tilted as if he were trying to figure out a particularly hard math question. "Who was…? Oh, them? I think they work for Pegasus! Oh, gosh, what do you think they want?"

Her eyes turned the colour of a stormy sea and Sarah snapped out, "That's not who I meant and you know it! Who was that guy? The one who was in your body just now?"

The jewel-like eyes flickered in apprehension, and then suddenly stared behind her. They widened in dismay, and Sarah once again had to squish the side of her that wanted to moon over those gorgeous eyes.

Instead, she, too, swivelled to see what was wrong.

And she came face to face with an army of shadows.

She cursed under her breath and drew her reverse-bladed sword. She knew she shouldn't be drawing a sword at all, but there were so many. Besides, after that confrontation with that other Yuugi, there was no way she trusted him with anything.

She threw her body into motion once more, hitting, dodging, kicking, ducking… Her arm twirled as she whirled the sword in a "Kend no kaze!" and then sliced downwards in rapid succession as it followed the form of "Akai no katana." There were many guards who finally hit the ground, expelling the breath in their lungs with a forceful 'whoosh.'

But one got through.

Busy as she was with holding off an exceptionally nasty fighter, the rushing, dark-clad man barely caught her eye. In horror, she quickly performed a nasty maneuver that she knew would cause her left leg to cramp for days on end, but which toppled the giant to the ground.

She turned around, her left hand automatically drawing her other sword…

Only to see she was too late. The goon had already reached the fragile-looking duellist and had picked him up. For some reason, this move surprised her. She had thought for sure that the other Yuugi would have stepped in and done… whatever he did, to the attacker.

Until the moonlight illuminated the gold that was being held in Croquet's hand. The stylized eye, despite being removed from its other half, still seemed to glint ominously in the silver light. 'I may be unable to act now,' it seemed to say, 'but just you wait, mortal. Just you wait.'

She shivered, and then stiffened as she felt someone rush up behind her, too fast to dare move around for defence, offence, anything…

The heavy branch that hit her head made the ground rush up to meet her, and the world dimmed.

'Yuugi, I'm sorry.'

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Croquet grinned as he held the squirming little duellist tighter. The brat's eyes were wide open as they gazed helplessly to the left.

To the left, of course, was the unconscious body of that blasted girl. And the kid's necklace.

Croquet debated putting it on, just to make this Yuugi brat writhe in sheer discomfort, but for some reason, he suddenly didn't want to. It certainly wouldn't have had anything to do with the ice-cold fingers that seemed to rake down his back, or the voice that echoed darkly in his head: 'Do not even try that, mortal.'

He hoisted the kid up higher, and then sighed as the brat finally started to yell for Sarah to wake up. No help for it now, he'd just have to silence this boy.

Using the pyramid, he hit the teen over the head. Instantly, Yuugi fell unconscious.

'You'll PAY for that, mortal. No one uses me against my aibou!'

Croquet shivered and tried to ignore the screaming in his mind. He nodded brusquely at his men to get up. Once they had, Croquet quickly led the way back to the boss' castle and trying not to start at every shadow in the night.

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Sarah groaned as she rapidly swam back into reality. Yuugi! Where was…?

She sat up, clutching the back of her head in pain, yet forcing her eyes to scan the deserted clearing. Her sharpened eyes picked up the flattened grass, and the bent branches. Despite all the evidence of activity, the clearing was now missing a certain kind of activity – one that came from a sweet, tri-coloured hair duellist, with eyes like the moon and a smile like the sun…

She shook her head quickly, not believing she was sighing over Yuugi like some silly 15-year old girl.

"Wait. I am a fifteen-year-old girl. Gaaah. Bad day. Bad, bad, bad day," she muttered to herself. Still, despite her one-sided witty banter, she quickly grew serious. She didn't know what Peggy-boy wanted with Yuugi, but she was going to stop it, no matter what.

Sarah didn't know if she'd ever been more grateful for her patient ninjitsu master. Through the art of learning how to be a ninja, she had picked up so very many tricks to stealthily track her opponent, and how to move like the wind while maintaining silence. Almost immediately, she saw the departing trail of her foes and she flitted rapidly after them, humming under her breath.

"Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of men? Only the Shadow knows! Dun dun duuuun…"

And after this tournament, she would never touch a cup of double espresso for as long as she lived. It just made her too weird.

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Yuugi woke up on a cold slab of rock, under a grinning figurine of death. He groggily opened his eyes, feeling the ache in his bound, spread-eagled arms. His legs, too, were spread and tied to the far end of the chilly rock.

As awareness tapped into his memories, he felt his mouth open slightly as he remembered all that had happened.

["Hey, Yuugi, do you mind if we go for a walk?

"I'd love to, Sarah!" he'd replied, smiling up at her. Finally! They'd get some time alone, just the two of them! ]

["Yuugi? Just because it's dark doesn't mean that I can't see you tuning me out!" she carolled. "What are you thinking about?"

"You," the word slipped past Yuugi's lips without asking permission from the brain.]

["Get the brat!"

"Yuugi, watch out!

{{Fear not, aibou. I shall quickly dispose of this…mortal.}}

{No, Yami! You can't! You CAN'T! }

And then he'd fought against himself, overcome with the need to keep the unsuspecting lackey safe. Unfortunately, that had shown up as physical hesitation, and the next thing he knew, Yami had been ripped away from him, just out of his reach…]

Yami! Where was he? Yuugi couldn't move his arms, but he didn't need to check his chest. He knew right away, from the crying silence of his bond, that Yami wasn't where he should be.

And Sarah! She'd gotten really hurt trying to protect him. Oh, gosh. Now he felt even worse – was he really so useless and weak that the two most important people in his life had gotten hurt because of him? He hoped she was okay. Maybe she was around somewhere?

He tried looking around to see anything or anyone, but it was super hard to get his eyes to pinpoint anything specific. The large hall was only dimly lit with flickering torches, and it looked as if he was on a sort of raised platform. Above him and around him were looming statues of ancient gods. Their likeness was carved into the rock, and in the inscriptions below were their names. Yuugi's mind flashed back to the information he'd memorized at an earlier age about Ancient Egypt. He'd always had an interest in the civilization ever since he could remember, and fortunately, his brain had wanted to retain the knowledge for future use.

The one at his head with a beetle's face was named Khepera. Khepera, Yuugi remembered, was the god in charge of either having the body transform from death into life, or the god of basic reincarnation.

The one on his right was a jackal-headed creature who Yuugi knew was Anubis. Anubis was the connection between the living and the dead, and the messenger of Osiris.

On his left were actually two deities, Shai and Renenet. Shai was originally the god of destiny, or what was decided to happen to someone. Renenet was the goddess of good fortune.

Death and good luck? This was creepy, but it still made no sense.

The place seemed to be deserted, but just because he couldn't see anyone didn't mean that no one was there. Hope blossomed, and softly, he tried calling out, "Sarah? Yami? Is anyone there?"

The steady clapping that started up was his only answer, and too late he realized that there were probably other people in the room besides the ones he wanted. He swivelled his head again to the right and peered around Anubis, only to see a sight he'd witnessed again and again in his nightmares.

Pegasus.

Despite the lack of his Yami, – his dark side – rage infused him and he began to struggle anew. "Pegasus! What are you doing? What have you done with Sarah and my Puzzle? And where is my grandpa?"

The red-suited ruthless man grinned at him for a few moments, then moved forwards again.

"Yuugi-boy, I suppose you're wondering what a nice boy like you is doing in a nasty place like this?"

"Um, well, y-yeah, I guess," Yuugi stuttered. "I'm more concerned about my grandpa, though! Where is he?"

"Hush, hush, little Yuugi-boy! His soul is safe – for now. Besides, don't you want to know what I brought you here for?"

"Even if I don't, you're going to tell me anyways, aren't you?"

Pegasus' face lit up in deranged glee. "Why, yes! I just knew you were a smart little duellist! You see, last night, I had a dream. And, before you say anything, this wasn't an ordinary dream. In fact, this was a magical, mystical, wonderful dream. It had my precious darling…" The man trailed off, lost in the maze of his own mind.

Yuugi wanted to leave.

"Anyway! Where was I, Yuugi-boy? Oh, right! So, my beloved came to me in a vision last night and she warned me about you! Isn't that just too funny? Me, afraid of a little boy such as yourself! I laugh just thinking about it!" And Pegasus did laugh, too, giggling crazily.

Yuugi squirmed in increasing discomfort.

Pegasus suddenly turned deadly serious. "But enough joking, Yuugi-boy. My beloved said that you were dangerous. And while I could just kick you out of the competition and off of the island on a whim, your soul is much, much too precious to waste. After all, you hold in your possession – or used to, at any rate! – the Millennium Puzzle. And that makes you precious, Yuugi-boy."

Yuugi suddenly froze, his eyes widening even further. This was his first head-to-head meeting with Pegasus, and he already saw why everyone obeyed him. This guy was off the edge! Absolutely nuts! Yuugi began to fight the shackles with renewed vigour.

"Now, pretty spirit. I can't bring my love back in spirit form – she hurts so veryvery badly, you see. But I can bring her back to life. Somehow. Somehow… I don't know how. But I will figure it out! And a little sacrifice to please the Egyptian gods certainly doesn't hurt now, does it? Well," Pegasus giggled again, "it might hurt you. But you certainly don't matter, Yuugi-boy. Silly, precious, Millennium child."

Yuugi gulped. Then, he summoned all of his courage. He could do this. He believed in himself, he believed in his friends, he believed in Sarah, and he believed in Yami. He knew that none of them would lie here quivering in fear while Pegasus ranted and raved. Besides, he knew that his grandfather was counting on him! He took a deep breath to bolster himself. "Pegasus! Let me go! This is madness. Please, let me and my grandpa go!"

Pegasus, in return, simply sighed and shook his head. "So noble, pretty Yuugi-boy. So very noble, indeed, the way you are worried for him. Unfortunately, I really think you should be more concerned about yourself. Wouldn't you agree?"

As he spoke, he pulled a dagger from beneath his jacket. It flashed obsidian in the torchlight, and seemed to radiate cruelty. Yuugi stared in horrified fascination as Pegasus waved it to and fro hypnotically. Its curved, serrated edge sucked in the dim light around it, yet the fires that burned slowly coloured the blade red.

Blood-red. Yuugi gulped.

Pegasus began crooning as he walked slowly towards the bound teen, muttering lyrical nonsense about an Eye that saw everything, and the prettypretty wife he had, oh yes, and soon they'd be together again, darling, just wait, wait for me…

Yuugi clenched his eyes shut as he felt Pegasus come closer still. He didn't want to die! No! Nonono! He didn't WANT to die!

"YAMI!"

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Across the hall, the Puzzle on the table began to glow fiercely, radiating a desperate cruelty. It almost seemed to lift itself off the table briefly, before the overwhelming force of gravity pulled it back down.

The dark-clad spirit could only stare in horror through the stylized eye of his prison. His light! His aibou, his hikari, his only! He was going to die! Never had he felt so helpless before, even with his amnesia. Futilely, Yami pounded at the gold encasing of his Puzzle, desperate to be freed and to rush to his aibou's side to protect him forever and ever and ever evereverforeverNO!

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TBC

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Please note: Yuugi's reluctance to tell Sarah about Yami is based on two things.

First: I read the manga, and there's a scene (after a duel) where Jou goes to ask when Yuugi "came back," and then Yuugi acts all innocent and pretends he doesn't know what Jou's talking about. It's very convincing, except right after that, he thinks, "I knew right away what Jonouchi tried to ask me…"

Second: Would you want to tell an apparently normal girl (on whom you're crushing!) that you have an evil, 5000 year old, Egyptian spirit living inside your NECKLACE? I know I sure wouldn't! Seriously:

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OUTTAKE!

Sarah: That's not who I meant and you know it! Who was that guy? The one who was in your body just now?

Yuugi: Oh, him! You can call him 'Yami' and he's a 5000 year old spirit that was born from the darkness of the Shadow Realm! We're together now because I solved a random puzzle that my grandpa found in Egypt at a shady bazaar, and now he lives in my brain and tells me of the destruction he can cause to other people's heads!

Sarah: o.O What?

Yuugi: (nervous grin) He says if you laugh at me, then he'll have to make you go insane and banish your mind to the Shadow Realm, where monsters lay slavering over the thought of fresh victims they can make scream!

Sarah: Ok… I'm going to go… over here…now.

Yuugi: (big grin) Come back soon! And don't worry, he's not that bad once you get past the obsession with darkness. Oh, and he also thinks he's my soul mate.

Sarah: This is me. I am leaving now, you crazy little midget.

Yuugi: Okies! Lalala…

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Now THAT was horrible OOC-ness. Except maybe for Yuugi's cheerfulness. But, yeah.

Le gasp! Le Cliffhanger! Oh me, oh my, oh dear!

Chapter Two is next! Should be the end of this short little fic. As always, reviews are readily accepted, put in a shrine and worshipped for the happiness-causing things that they are!

Yami: . You had too much fun writing about my inability to help my aibou.

Divey: Why, yes. Yes, I did.