A/N - I'm slowly getting back on track from getting far away from updating due to the KnY RR and the Halloween Fic...
"I'm sorry. I was a jerk for running away…I love you."
"I love you too," Yami whispered, while burying his face into Seto's chest as the hugged. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you earlier."
"It's okay. We're together now. We'll always be together. I promise, we won't be apart ever again."
"I'll make sure you keep that promise."
Lifting his head, Yami brought their lips together for a sweet kiss. The cat demon knew that his life was now complete; they would return to Chale Jao and live out a peaceful life with nor more worries about death.
It would be a good life.
"Wake up!" a harsh voice commanded and cold water splashed against Yami's face. The cat demon blinked open his crimson eyes and stared up at the three strange men hovering over him; directly above him was the brunet, to his right the redhead and to his left the blond.
Yami groaned when he remembered his current situation.
"Good. He's still alive," the same voice said but this time Yami saw that it was the brunet, Varon, who was talking.
"That's a relief," the redhead, Amelda, replied. "Lord Dartz would not be pleased if we accidentally killed him."
"He's not worth being in the collection if he had died that easily," Raphael told them, shutting both up. Whether they liked it or not, Dartz had put the big blond man in charge.
Yami struggled to move but found his arms and legs tied together with a thick rope. Darting his head around he saw that he was no longer in the forest but in a grassy valley with the hot sun beating down upon his worn and tired body as he helplessly laid on his back.
"What's going on here? Let me go!"
"We can't do that," Raphael replied with a shake of his head. "Our lord will be displeased with us if we allow you to get away."
Yami was tempted to transform and try to escape but with the three men so close they could easily reach out and grab him before he would get away. Therefore he was stuck for the time being until they let down their guard.
"What does Dartz want with me?" Yami demanded to know as he glared at the Three Swordsmen with dangerous eyes. Although he was tied up and at their mercy, he would not be intimidated by them.
"You'll find out when we get there," Varon taunted as he stroked Yami's cheek with the back of his hand. Yami flinched and snarled at the touch.
"He's a feisty one," Amelda said while Varon laughed.
"Just the way I like them!"
"Leave him alone," Raphael ordered. Extending his arm across their chests, he pushed the other two back slightly and blocked them from further touching the cat demon. "Lord Dartz does not want damaged goods."
"All right, All right," Varon replied as both he and Amelda backed away.
For a brief moment, Yami felt gratitude towards the muscular blond but the feeling quickly vanished.
"I'm sorry but there is no other way to do it," the big man said as he closed his fist and punched the side of Yami's head.
Quickly the cat demon blacked out, wondering what was in store for him.
Seto growled in frustration as another feeling of dread washed over him. By now, he had grown used to having random feelings that Yami was in trouble but had yet to figure out how to ignore the feelings.
He tried his best to ignore them, but they were becoming more frequent and annoying since the night he spoke with Malik, two days ago. Malik was wrong. Yami was fine and wouldn't die.
"More rum?" the barmaid asked, a brunette girl who went by the name Anzu. Seto slowly nodded his head, not looking up at her as the girl refilled his mug. "You might want to ease up a little. You've been drinking pretty heavily since you got here a few hours ago."
"Leave me alone," Seto grunted. "I know how long I've been here."
Normally Seto wasn't a heavy drinker; even when Mokuba was killed he was too determined to get revenge to turn to liquor, but the alcohol numbed his body and gave him something other to think about besides Yami.
With a roll of her eyes the barmaid walked away to deal with another customer, leaving Seto to once again be alone in his self-pity.
Yami didn't know how long he had been out when he came to again. It could have been hours or days as far as he knew. All he knew was when his crimson eyes blinked open he found himself with his hands and legs attached to a long log as he dangled below; the log was carried by Amelda and Varon who each held up an end as they marched through the forest.
"Where are you taking me?" Yami asked groggily. His head was pounding and he clenched his eyes shut as he tried to ease the pain.
"To Lord Dartz," Raphael replied from where he was walking next to Yami's dangling body.
"Why?"
"Are you going to ask these questions each time you wake up?" Amelda complained. "If so, I say we keep you out until we get there."
"Lord Dartz will explain everything when we get there," Raphael replied ignoring Amelda's comment.
Focusing, Yami opened his eyes so he could look at the big blond man. "Let me go or you'll live to regret it. Demons are not something you want to mess with."
"Ha! Lord Dartz has more powers than you can even imagine!" Varon taunted from where he walked in the lead. "Don't you know? Our lord is a powerful wizard who can tame the wildest demon with his powers!"
"That's enough!" Raphael ordered, while panic began filling Yami's body. Wizards were rare in the world and Yami had never met one before but it was said that they have enormous powers from the magic they possessed. "Lord Dartz insisted that he wanted to be the one to inform the demon what was in store for him."
"Seto will rescue me," the cat demon bravely growled.
"Not likely," Amelda scoffed. "We already know he wants nothing to do with you anymore. Together you two are almost invincible and thus our lord was most pleased to hear that you and the demon hunter had a falling out. There's no one who would want to save you."
Stars twinkled overhead and the moon cast its glow down upon the quiet village. Malik sighed from where he sat upon the damp grass as he glazed up at the peaceful night sky. He wished Bakura was there with him but he had lost track of the fire demon three days ago. It was frustrating though; there was only one month and fourteen days left until the mating period would end and Bakura made it quite clear he wanted nothing to do with the sexy blond.
"You'll catch cold if you sit out without a fire."
Malik turned his head slightly to uncaringly stare at Bakura who was strolling towards him. A few days ago Malik would have hopped up and run over to either hug him or kill him but now the blond didn't care. Instead he turned his attention back to the night sky and began ignoring the fire demon.
With a grunt, Bakura sat down next to Malik and created a fire in front of them. "Look, I'm sorry. I thought you were still on my trail. I didn't mean for you to get lost."
A frown appeared on Malik's pretty face as he turned to look at the white haired creature. "What are you talking about?"
"The game we were playing. Me trying to score with other guys while you tried catching me."
"Game?" Malik asked in disbelief. "That was all a game to you?"
"Yes."
"You seriously weren't interested in those other guys?"
"Yes!"
"You Ass!" Malik cried, lunging at the fire demon, trying to strangle his sometime lover. "You put me through all that crap for nothing!"
"Admit it, you liked the hunt," Bakura calmly replied as he dodged Malik's attack and pulled the blond into his lap. Creating a ring of fire around them, Bakura made sure that Malik wouldn't be able to escape.
"I still say you're an Ass," Malik grumbled as he buried his head under Bakura's chin. "Nice way to make me fall in love with you."
"You were already in love with me; I don't want our relationship to get boring."
"Maybe I don't want you anymore."
"You don't get a choice," Bakura growled as he raised Malik's head and pressed their lips together for a kiss.
Yami knew as soon as they entered Doma territory; there was an evil feeling over the land that he just couldn't describe. It was the same feeling he felt his one and only other time passing through the area.
Helplessly Yami was carried through the Doma forest towards the massive castle where he knew Dartz lived. In no time at all they reached the castle and soon Yami was being carried into Dartz's throne room.
"Please put him down," a heavenly voice commanded and Yami's back came in contact with the marble ground as he was cut free of the log. Sitting up, Yami rubbed at his sore wrists and ankles as he stared at the man standing in front of him who had long aqua colored hair, mismatched eyes and wore white pants and tunic.
"So you're Dartz," Yami stated, vowing not to be intimidated by the wizard.
"That is correct Cat Demon Atemu," the aqua-haired man replied. "Technically it's Lord Dartz but I'll let you by with the error for now since you're a guest in my home."
"I don't want to be a guest here."
"Oh dear, I hope my men haven't harmed you in any way." A green eye and amber eye turned towards the Three Swordsmen. "You three are dismissed since I'm sure you're tired from your journey."
The three men bowed and left the room, leaving the throne room empty save for the cat demon and the wizard.
"What do you want with me?"
"You're such a beautiful specimen," Dartz murmured, ignoring the question. Reaching out a hand he felt Yami's soft spikes. "Yes…definitely…you're the right addition to my collection…"
Disgusted by the touch, Yami quickly transformed into a leopard with a furious growl; the bell around his neck jingled as he swiped at Dartz with a front paw. Unfortunately the wizard quickly dodged the attack.
Climbing to his feet, Yami lunged again at the aqua-haired man, not realizing that the man was busy chanting a spell. Before he could even reach Dartz, the cat demon found himself unable to move.
'What?' he wondered as he tried moving again but found his body frozen in one spot. Rapidly he began panicking.
"That's it! Be a good boy!" the wizard taunted as he walked over and patted Yami on the head. "You got all worked up before I even had a chance to explain why you are here. Fortunately I'm a very generous person and will tell you anyway."
'Get away from me you Bastard!' Yami angrily thought. In a desperate attempt to try and get away from the nasty touch of Dartz's hand, the cat demon attempted to jerk it away but found he couldn't even do that.
"I'm a collector; a demon collector," the aqua-haired man explained. "Normal animals and slaves are simply too boring for me. But with demons to fill the roles of pets and servants it becomes much more fun to see if I can keep everyone under my control."
Seto! Yami attempted to call out but he had no clue if the demon hunter had heard him or not.
"Because of your exotic looks, I had planned on keeping you in your human form and using you as a slave. I host numerous parties for lords and ladies of neighboring regions all who would love to marvel at your beauty. However you've now transformed and despite my vast powers I cannot force you to change back and I doubt if you'll be so willing to change if I unfreeze you. Alas that means you must remain my pet, which will still impress the right people."
Seto!
"You won't be needing this stupid thing anymore." Reaching out with a hand, Dartz ripped off the red ribbon that had been tied around the cat demon's neck and threw it against a far wall where the bell rang as it fell helplessly to the ground. A heavy thick collar, which glowed a shade of aqua-green, was placed around his neck by the wizard and Yami suddenly found himself free.
Yami quickly darted away from Dartz and attempted to transform; he now knew he couldn't fight the wizard but he could still turn into a cat and escape the castle. Unfortunately for Yami he quickly discovered that he was unable to change his shape.
"That collar keeps you from using your powers," Dartz explained with a laugh. "Only I can remove it and that won't be happening any time soon."
Walking over to Yami, Dartz petted his head again. "The collar also makes you obey my every command as I'm sure right now you're thinking about ripping me to pieces yet are finding you cannot."
A low grumble escaped Yami's throat. Dartz was right, he was thinking about killing the wizard.
"My pet," Dartz quietly murmured.
Seto! Yami frantically hollered out with his mind once again.
Seto!
Rolling over in his sleep, finally getting some rest in a village he stopped in for the night, Seto completely ignored the voice calling out to him, thinking that it was nothing more than a dream.