After they had all settled down, Yami explained to Bakura what they knew about Yugi as everyone made their way to the gameshop.
"I'd think that Ryou's past is similar," he finished.
Yes, Ryou told Bakura, his green eyes fixed on the older boy. With the discovery of their link, he'd lost what fear he had of Bakura, and was walking so close to him that their arms were pressed together. Bakura seemed torn between snarling at him or holding him closer.
"Hikaris," said Yugi suddenly. Everyone stared at him. He pointed at Ryou, and then at himself. "Us. Hikaris."
It did suit the young boys, with their bright eyes and innocent faces.
"More," Ryou added, raising his head as if the thought had only just occurred to him. "More. Hikaris."
Everybody stared at him. "How many?" asked Honda.
Ryou shrugged, looking as if he was sorry to have said anything.
"He doesn't know," growled Bakura, one arm going around Ryou's shoulders protectively. Don't worry, hikari. I will never let anyone hurt you, remember? I'll kill them first.
Ryou snuggled into his side.
They had reached the Game Shop by this time, and Yami let them all in without a second thought. He was frowning thoughtfully.
"Bakura, may I ask Ryou some questions about where they were held?"
Honda and Anzu both looked at him strangely, wondering why he was asking for Bakura's permission. Bakura himself didn't seem to find anything strange in the request, however.
"Only if it doesn't scare him."
Yami gave him a look. "Do you honestly believe that there are any questions about that place that wouldn't scare him?"
Before Bakura could get annoyed, Yugi tugged at Yami's sleeve. /We. Not-know… much. Lot hidden. Lot evil,/ he added with a shudder.
Yami frowned, absently relaying Yugi's comments to everyone else's minds. He realised what he was doing when he saw the wide-eyed stares on their faces. "Sorry."
---
I hope that I will find them soon. Ryou is with Yugi – this must be a good sign, surely? I know that they are not under the trainer any longer.
I am very glad of that.
I shake the irrelevant thought from my head. I must find the hikaris, and be sure that they are well. Then I can search for Ishuzu, and see if she is willing to help me.
---
They sat in the lounge. Yami sat on an armchair, with Yugi sat on him. Honda and Anzu sat together on the sofa, and Bakura was sat crosslegged on the floor. Ryou was sat in his lap.
None of them could think of anything to say. They were agreed that they needed to find out about the Hikaris' pasts, but they could not think of how.
"Maybe we could break in to wherever they were kept," suggested Bakura.
Yugi and Ryou were both cowering against their counterparts at the thought of the laboratory.
"We don't know where it is. We don't know who owns it. We don't know what precautions they have taken. We don't know how to keep our lights safe while we break in," Yami pointed out, emphasizing the last words. Bakura scowled, but nodded sourly.
Yugi looked nervous, and turned to Yami.
/Yes, aibou?/ he asked, instantly gentle.
/(Fear-concern-decision) I… search-place. Find. Learn, about-people./
Yami held him tightly while he considered Yugi's suggestion. /From here?/
Yugi shook his head regretfully. /No. Need… closer./
/Closer?/ Before Yugi could say anything, Yami remembered the time he'd carried Yugi to Honda's apartment – and the fear he had shown when they went down one of the streets… /Like there?/ he asked, picturing the warehouses.
Yugi nodded hesitantly.
"Uhm – interesting as your conversations are, I think I preferred it when you were the only ones hearing them," Honda interrupted.
Yami and Yugi both looked startled.
Bakura snorted. "Pharoah-no-baka, you've been broadcasting your conversation with the midget for the whole time we've been in this room!"
Yami glared at him, but held his tongue. Keeping the thought private, he told Yugi, /Bakura is borderline psychotic; there's no chance of me scaring him enough to make him shut up unless he wants to. And he never does,/ he finished dryly.
"So let's pick up Jou and go see what Yugi can tell us about the place he comes from," said Anzu brightly.
"I am NOT being seen in public with the mutt!" declared Bakura.
---
Seto, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu stood around in the abandoned building, with an annoyed 'Tomb-Raider', a concerned Yami, and two frightened hikaris.
Why did I agree to this? Bakura asked himself.
Bakura? The worried tone, and Ryou's wide green eyes, answered Bakura's question better than anything else could have.
Of course I'm happy to be here, he told his hikari sarcastically. It's thrilling, hanging out with the mutt and the high priest.
"High. Priest?"
"Seto," chorused everyone. Yami raised an eyebrow at Ryou, his lips quirking. "Your – uh – aibou has a talent for giving people annoying nick-names."
"I am NOT going to be called his partner," Bakura growled.
"So what do you want to use?"
Bakura stopped. He looked at Ryou helplessly. You choose, he finally told the boy.
"Tenshi-no-yami," said the younger boy immediately.
Bakura turned brilliant red, and everyone else fell to the floor with laughter – apart from Yugi, of course.
"Tenshi!" snorted Yami, wiping tears from his eyes.
"Tenshi-no-yami," Ryou corrected him. He didn't think of Bakura as an angel. But an angel of darkness, yes – that suited the Tomb-Raider.
Bakura scowled horribly. Only call me that like this, he told his Hikari. Out loud, you'd better call me Tomb-raider!
"Tombraider," Ryou said immediately, curious about the embarrassment he'd sensed from Bakura at his suggestion for a nick-name.
"Your tombraider," Seto told him with a large smirk. "Like Yugi is Yami's aibou, and Jou is my puppy."
Jou mock-growled at him.
"How do we do this?" asked Anzu, heading off another argument.
Yugi sat down in a corner, and closed his eyes. /Concentration… hear-sense-know other, people,/ he explained to Yami disjointedly. Yami caught himself before broadcasting the message to everyone else, and said, "He just needs to concentrate."
They stood in a loose circle around Yugi as he focussed his attention on the laboratory. /Many people… anger… pain… too much pain…/ The young boy began to whimper and twist in reaction to the sensations he was picking up from the people in the laboratory.
/Yugi? Yugi!/
Yami's call brought him back partially, and the sensations faded. He took a deep breath, and tried to get some information that would be more useful. /Hikaris,/ he thought, concentrating on the idea in an attempt to find them.
---
They have moved. I do not know why, but I am concerned that they are now closer to the laboratory. If they are not careful…
I speed up. I must reach them.
I must be sure that they are safe.
---
/Hikaris./
[Yes?]
/Hello?/
[Yes-yes! Come… closer…]
Yugi jerked violently, his head thrown back and his spine arching.
"/YUGI/" Yami yelled, making their friends cower at the volume of his mind and voice.
The hikari smirked, his eyes opening – but they had changed, from amethyst-violet to a pale mauve. He began chanting in an unfamiliar voice, "Curiousity killed the cat… Satisfaction brought it back… Body and mind and heart and soul, where's the half that makes you whole?" He looked at Yami as he spoke the last two lines.
"What are you talking about, Yuge?" asked Jou, looking worried.
Ryou was cowering away from the seated boy, shaking his head. "Not. Not. Not. Yugi," he managed, shivering. "Other. Person!"
"/Who are you?/" demanded Yami. "/What have you done to my aibou?/"
Yugi's body pouted. "Nothing bad. Just wanted to see…" his lips curved in a disturbing smile. "Come find me? Me and the last hikari-pretty, we're lonesome. Find us our darklings?"
"Darklings?" Seto asked.
"Yes-yes! Darklings. Him for him," pointing at Bakura and Ryou, "Him for this," pointing to Yami and then to Yugi's body, "One for me? And one for other. Find us? Find them us?"
/Yes. Yami, help-them!/
"/Yugi?/" Yami's crimson eyes widened, then narrowed again as he looked at the person sat before him. "/Alright, but only if you give my aibou his body now!/"
The boy smirked again, and closed his eyes.
Yugi opened them, and smiled nervously at Yami – who immediately crushed him with a hug. "/Do not ever risk yourself so again. I swear by all the Gods, Yugi, I couldn't survive without you!/"
Yugi returned the embrace, shivering in reaction to what had just happened to him.
"Who was that, anyway?" asked Bakura with a frown.
"Malik," an unfamiliar voice answered from the doorway.
All of the teenagers spun around to see a tall man with tanned skin, wearing a robe and turban.
The hikaris both jumped up and ran to glomp him.
"SHADI!"