Blood Only Glows in the Dark Chapter 6: 6, a yu-gi-oh fanfic

(NOTE 3/8/06: Chapters have been restored to their original order! Assuming nothing ELSE goes wrong, here ya go!)

And a happy/merry whatever you're celebrating to everybody!

Disclaimer: Yugioh not owned by me. Everything that I made up is.

Nothing unusual happened for the rest of the day, or that night, or even the next day and night. The sudden calm and quiet made Yami feel more on edge than if there had been a constant stream of attacks - he was extremely suspicious of it, and didn't sleep during the long nights.

He was beginning to feel the edge of a deep exhaustion creeping over him by the third day after the Plant Shop Incident, but did not let that make him any less vigilant. It was a slow day in school that day - a strain of a human disease known as the 'flu' was going around and most of the class was sick.

The girl was sick as well, or at least using that as an excuse not to come in today. Yami suspected she and her mysterious cohort were up to something, but he hadn't figured out how to 'call in sick' in time to skip class.

Oh well, at least it was quieter today. He'd found a reason to hate school as much as anyone else there - it was too damn noisy!

Plus he'd never been a fan of sitting for nine hours watching other people show off their complete ignorance in front of a crowd of people with the same amount of brain cells or less.

Since fate worked in strange and mysterious ways purely for its own fiendish amusement, the day the most people were out sick was the day the entire class was going to receive a 'special arts lesson', that required a field trip to the nearest park. Each student was supposed to sketch a landscape on a canvas.

As soon as the materials were handed out, everyone scattered. Most of them hung out in small groups with their friends, or if they wanted to be alone they sat by themselves until another loner plopped down nearby and they ended up turning into quiet little groups themselves.

Yami headed as far as he felt like going and sat down, not really interested in the assignment. Art wasn't a big thrill for him. He could appreciate it's value, and enjoy looking at it sometimes, but making more of it wasn't really one of his usual habits.

Still, he absent-mindedly started on the general lines as he tried to figure out yet again what the girl and her associate were up to. And there might be more in the plot then just them…

"Um, excuse me…"

Startled at the sudden voice that intruded on his musings, Yami looked for the owner and suddenly had an urge to run.

The boy was standing right there! Right next to him! Less than five feet away! He was the one making the speaking noises! And the boy was actually talking to him!

There was another there as well, the blond idiot, but that one looked like he'd rather sit elsewhere.

"Um…"

"Yes?"

Yami managed to keep his voice level and his face expressionless, but boy was it a struggle.

"All the other places are full…do you mind…if we sit here to draw?"

Now, Yami turned so they couldn't his face - the emotions were getting a little too rampant to hide for the moment - and made a non-committal sound. The boy took it as a yes and sat, the blond sitting on the other side of the boy from Yami a minute later.

Yami, on the other hand, had suddenly found a new passion for his sketch, and focused on it as much as possible. For the first ten minutes, it was silent except for the scratching of charcoal pencils. Yami was even beginning to relax somewhat when the boy spoke again.

"Um…I don't think we got introduced," the boy said, very tentatively, "At least I don't think so…"

"Hmm," Yami allowed himself to say. That wasn't too hard.

"I'm Motou Yugi ."

"Hmm."

"…And this is one of my friends, Jounouchi Katsuya."

"…Uh, nice ta meet ya?"

"Hmm."

There was a pause.

"You're called Yami, right?"

"What about it?"

Yami had his emotions and voice under complete control now, and had actually turned to look at the two humans. He didn't make eye contact, but that was just a habit.

"Nothing…"

The boy seemed skittish, but apparently unlike the rest of the humans in school - he didn't really count the girl as human - 'Yugi' was willing to try being social.

It made Yami nervous for more reasons than one - he was trying not to form interfering social ties that he'd have to break later. But…he could tolerate some social interaction…couldn't he? The same weird fluttery feeling in his stomach that had been bugging him since the first time he'd seen the boy was arguing for it, and it was a persuasive little bastard.