Ch 5 Life, death, and love.

The scream of a young child came from the city, Yami races to the spot. He came to an ally; two people lay dead on the ground, blood soaked sand every where.

Agwana sprinted past Kristol towards Samantha, pouncing at her with double claws stretched out. Samantha dodged her attack quickly missing just barely,

In horror Yami looked up to see a man with a raised sword, hovering over a small child. She had already been attacked. Yami viewed a deep slash on her right arm. The man raised the sword, bringing it down quickly toward the child.

Agwana swung her deadly tail directly into Samantha's side. Blood splashed the ground,

Yami ran forward and kicked the man in the back; the man almost lost his balance, but kept it barely. He turned around to see the pharaoh. This man seemed to have no idea who Yami was. The man was a simple peasant; he seemed entranced, unaware of anything he was doing. Yami hesitated, but soon tripped the commoner, knocking the sword out of his hands. Yami sprinted to grab the blade. Only then did Yami realize that the man had another weapon, a smaller dagger. He slashed it at Yami, cutting his hand.

Samantha cringed and fell to the ground 'Only fools dare to take me on… shadow'

'Samantha!'

Yami jumped back. The man stood, staggering towards the child; he drove the blade swiftly towards her…

So suddenly, Yami drove the sword through the mans back before the blade reached the sobbing girl. He walked to her, she looked up surprised,

"Pharaoh! Th-thank you!" she panicked' the girl hadn't seen Yami's face. She tried to bow, but slipped on her badly injured arm. She whimpered, tears and blood covered the ground. Yami smiled in pity.

"Don't worry, you don't need to bow" he put is uninjured hand on the Childs cheek softly and lifted her head to meet her eyes…

'Samantha?'

Lifeless, cold…dead?

The child looked into Yami's eyes, innocent fear…

Samantha overcome by fear…

Dead?

A swift flash of black and red…

Pain…

'Yami!'

Darkness…

Yami bolted up quickly… he had been on the recliner in Yugi's home, Samantha lay motionless on the couch, Kristol lay by her side talking quietly to Yugi, who sat in a chair opposite from Yami in the same room.

'Was that a dream? Samantha… that girl… no it couldn't be, how?' Yami's mind strained, he shook his head… a sudden throbbing pain jolted from the back of his skull, placing a hand on the hurting area, he felt a rather large bump. Yami ignored it.

"She-she's that girl in my dream…" Yami whispered. Kristol overheard him but only glanced. Yami looked at Samantha who still lay as lifeless as ever. Was she still alive?

" She's alive Yami… but just faintly." Kristol said to him with more then visible concern for Samantha. She looked at Samantha and liked the girls' hand nudging it with her face before resting her head on the couch. Yami looked at her sorrowfully. Then he saw one of Kristol's front paws had been bandaged and was slightly stained with blood.

"What happened?" he asked still rubbing his sore head.

"You were knocked out" Yugi said quietly. Yami blinked.

"How? I don't remember anything except for a few things." Yami said trying to recall his memories.

"My sister… after she supposedly left she came back attempting to attack me. As she flew down she hit you with the blunt side of her tail." Kristol said.

"So that's why my head hurts." Yami said sarcastically.

"I was just barely able to avoid her and launch my own attack on her." Kristol continued. Yami looked back at Samantha. He was really concerned. There was a long silence that seemed to last forever, Yami's eyes never left Samantha's face.

"Samantha…" Yami finally broke the silence in a whisper. Kristol sat up and moved next to Yami.

"She is alive, though I do not know if she will last the night." Kristol said the facts as they were but something in her voice gave Yami some hope. How or why he wasn't sure. Yami stood up walking to the couch were Samantha lay, he kneeled down looking at her face, he wanted to touch her… his hand twitched… she looked so much like that little girl… thoughts flooded his mind, he closed his eyes.

"Yami?" Yugi asked sympathetically but his words didn't reach Yami this time. Kristol sat next to him. She sensed the obvious love Yami had for Samantha. Gently, Kristol took Yami's hand in her jaws and moved his hand to Samantha's forehead. She twitched only slightly. Yami took in a deep breath, letting it out slowly as he felt cold skin under his hand. He looked to Kristol and smiled weakly. She raised the bandaged paw to show him.

"I think you should know this if she dose wake." Kristol began. "After Agwana had left, the only thing I could do for Samantha was a trick that few of my kind know. My blood has magical properties. One is healing." She paused.

"Sooo you healed her with your blood?" Yami asked… not sure what else to say. Kristol continued.

"In some way, yes. But I haven't the power at the moment to do much. But in any case its not the freshly inflicted wounds that we need to worry about… the wounds she had gotten a while back were caused by the double claws of my sister." Kristol explained

"So? I thought they had healed why do we need to worry about that?" Yugi asked impatiently.

"Her claws are toxic. Fortunately Agwana didn't bite her or else I wouldn't have been able to do anything at all." She paused for a second. "Though healed on the surface, venom still runs through her veins. And being attacked again triggers the venom to react more violently." She sighed. Her voice faintly broken now.

"Ah I see…" Yami nodded.

"Though if she dose wake… I need to warn you she may seem a little different." Kristol mentioned.

"Different how?" Yugi asked.

"Not in personality or anything… she is what my kind call a shadow. It basically means she can use the same powers that I can…if she touches my blood first, but since I used my blood to heal her, this might not have completely worked." She explained.

"So what would be different?" Yami asked curious.

"Well… different color eyes, maybe even cat like eyes, some fire abilities…wings…etc. I can't really be sure." She said this in a very casual tone.

"Wings?" Yugi asked sarcastically "you mean like an angel?" Kristol shook her head. She was about to speak then a knock on the door startled them a bit. Yugi sat up and walked to the door, opened it.

Joey, Tristan, and Tea were at the door, unaware to the fact that there was any one else there.

"Hay Yug' I thought me you and the rest of the gang was going to go to the movies." Joey said. Yugi sighed.

"Yeah I remember… um sorry guys, uh something came up…" he glanced back; Kristol sat up and moved further out of view from the door. This wasn't enough for the large cat. Joey walked in and paused suddenly as he saw Kristol, she folded her ears back and growled a deep intimidating growl.

"Kristol! Hey calm down these are my friends." Yugi said quickly.

"I don't feel comfortable with this many humans around me at once." She snarled.

"This… um…" Yugi tried to explain.

"It's a long story. Kristol I promise you, I've known these people for a long time and I know they wouldn't do any thing to you." Yami said, he was still stroking Samantha's face with his hands. Tea looked over joeys shoulder.

"I-isn't that the new girl from school?" she asked.

"Hey you're right… Yug' what's she doing here?" Tristan asked, Kristol walked back over to Samantha's side. And nudged her face with her nose.

"She…" Yami began but couldent find the words he was looking for.

" Is—she ok? She don't look very good." Joey calmed down as he as the concern in the eyes of Yami and Yugi. There was a grave silence in the room.

"Guys?" Joey asked in a low voice. Still no answer… Tea and Tristan walked in and closed the door silently behind them. Yami sighed as he stood up and sat on the couch, laying Samantha's head on his lap.

"There's a possibility that she won't live. W-were not sure." Yami said in a harsh, worried tone.

"Oh no!" Tea said

"Why?" Tristan asked

Yugi, Yami, and Kristol explained what happened. This didn't all seem too weird to the three. But it was all overwhelming at the same time.

" Why is it that all the freaky stuff only happens to us?" Joey asked sarcastically every one shook there heads, except Yugi. He pointed at Yami and smirked. Yami defensively pointed at the puzzle.

"he has a point Yami, if Yug' never found that puzzle a lot of things would have never happened." Tristan pointed out. Yami rolled his eyes. Then looked down at Samantha. She still felt cold, and the color in her face hadn't fully returned. Yami put his hand on her cheek rubbing it gently, he seemed oblivious at that moment.

"What's with Yami?" Joey asked, Yugi whispered to him and the other two.

"He has a crush on her." He tried to sinker, but the somber vibe in the room held him back.

" Hey Yami, could you check her bandages? See if the bleeding has stopped." Yugi asked, Yami nodded, he moved her shirt away just enough to see ace bandages wrapped around her. Almost her entire torso was wrapped up. His hands brushed against her wounds, this made her flinch. She sighed, it was the first sound she had made except for quiet, harsh breathing. She breathed in deeply, and held it for a second.

"Samantha?" Yami whispered. Kristol sat up quickly and anxious. Samantha blinked then raised her hand to shield her eyes.

"Why it is so bright… w-where am…" she cringed, speaking was very painful… breathing was painful. She held her hands in fists, digging her own fingernails into the palms of her hands. Yami took one of her hands into his. His other hand on her still on cheek, he bent down and rested his forehead on hers. And whispered.

"Shhhh. You'll be ok…" he calmly said. She grasped his hand holding it tight, trying to fight pain, that's what he had intended so she wouldn't rip her own hand apart.

"I-its so cold." She managed to speak again but more pain swept over her, and her grip on Yami's hand tightened. He didn't care. Kristol looked worried.

"Samantha… listen to me, you have power over fire… try to concentrate." Kristol said

"I –ca.." Samantha cringed again, she couldent finish her sentence.

"Couldn't you keep her warm? I mean you have fire on your back for crying out loud." Yugi suggested.

"Not now, after that battle and after healing her as much as I could… I don't have an endless supply of power you know." Kristol snapped, she was too worried to keep arguing.

Samantha's breathing became harsher. She tried to say something else but couldent. She cringed with pain. Yami closed his eyes, sighed heavily.

"You'll be ok" he whispered again. Then, as Samantha continued to grasp Yami's hand, he kissed her on her forehead. Samantha felt the warmth of his lips on her cold pale skin… her grip loosened, her breathing was more subtle.

"You're ok…" Yami whispered, calming her. His voice, to her, was soothing. With a deep heavy sigh, she fell back into an unconscious sleep. Yami still held her hand. There was another long silence that was soon broken by a burst of laughter that came from Joey.

"He kissed her!" he snickered. Almost every one was smiling at this. Kristol wasn't, she was still shook by the whole thing, and Yami… he simply didn't care. The girl he for some reason felt love toward was in his lap asleep, and he had just kissed her…

( Jaroo: heh… yeeaah… R&R please.)