Blood Only Glows in the Dark Chapter 8: 8, 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!)

Here is another chapter. Ta-da.

Hey, you try being happy and perky when YOU go back to college!

Disclaimer: See other chapters

Claimer: What she said

- -
-

He was right - the next day found him cramped, dead-tired, and extremely cranky. It was only after dawn that the three gargoyles in the skies had departed; there was that one still sitting on the tenement roof, but it couldn't see Yami stretching and working the knotting pains out of his poor, abused back.

He was definitely going to start planning things a hell of a lot better, Yami decided. This was just embarrassing!

Some soon-to-be-damned sense in the back of his head warned him that the human school was starting soon. There would be a lot of people there, with the sickness epidemic over, and an exhausted student would probably get sent home anyway…so Yami carefully made his way into the narrow alleyways and cut through them to get to the school building.

He didn't actually go in, but he watched and made certain Yugi had gotten there. Yugi had - the boy Katsuya had slept in so that all three of them were late and they were going to get an hour's detention after school. The girl was there, but instead of the slight sluggishness the truly formerly sick humans were showing, she seemed energized and ready to put some sort of plan into motion.

Yami could sense her irritation when she was informed of the detention, which meant only one thing - whatever she was planning to do with the boy was going to happen today. And it was going to happen as soon as she could grab him without making too much of a public scene. That was how long Yami had left.

Never had the nine-hour school day seemed so short.

In his newfound spirit of planning ahead, Yami ducked back into the alleyways and did a serious survey, noting exactly the places one could hide, and any items that could be used as weapons in a pinch.

He also made certain to check out half a dozen places that could be used for safe houses.

Then, Yami headed back to the school, the nagging inside his head about ignoring his charge too persistent to ignore. And he was about to pass out, vision throbbing…there was no way in the seven hells that he could do anything else without getting some rest.

Yami secured himself in the tree nearest the clock and bell alarm system, hidden securely from all prying eyes, and after making certain he wouldn't fall out accidentally, let himself drop like a stone into slumber.

The school day ended five hours later, the bell startling him awake again as he had planned. But since Yugi wasn't coming out for another hour Yami let himself doze as lightly as he dared to, until he could hear the boy's voice.

"Wow, I thought that detention was going to go on forever," the boy was telling his friend, "And it was all your fault for sleeping in, Jou!"

"Aw, cut me a little slack," Katsuya said as he followed, "It ain't every day dat dey show all da Star Wars movies in a row on cable TV!"

"I didn't see why we had to watch all of them," 'Honda' continued, "And then you were mumbling like Yoda in your sleep for an hour afterwards! I didn't catch a wink last night!"

"What are you talkin' about, I slept great! It was fine!"

The boy rolled his eyes good-naturedly. During this conversation, the three of them had stopped beside Yami's tree, right below the very branch he was lying on. It had to be sheer dumb luck that the boy's off-handed, totally casual gesture of polite amusement, came at the same time as a stray breeze which blew some of the concealing leaves away from Yami's perch.

"Huh? Is there a person in that tree?"

"A person?"

"Hey, yeah, there is! I think it's that new guy!"

"But I thought he was out sick today!"

Still slightly dozing, Yami didn't really register the change in their conversation until a pebble whapped him the forehead, dead center.

"Cut that out," he snapped irritably, before noticing exactly what his situation was.

"What're ya doing in dat tree, Yami," Katsuya called back.

"…Sleeping…" Yami answered, confused.

"You spent da whole day in a tree, sleeping!"

"…Is that a problem?" Yami said, hiding his relief.

He could talk his way out of this awkward situation if that's what they thought he'd been doing.

"I can't believe you skipped school to sleep in a tree! And get down from dere! All dis is giving me a crick in my neck!"

Happy to oblige, Yami leapt down the whole distance easily. He hid the smirk that threatened to appear when the boys Honda and Katsuya both jumped back in surprise. Yugi, on the other hand, didn't seem to notice anything unusual either way.

"Why were you sleeping in a tree, Yami," Yugi asked.

"…I like trees," Yami lied.

"Yeesh. I enjoy a good snooze as much as da rest of em, but in a tree!"

"Are you going to be complaining about my sleeping habits for much longer, Jounouchi-san?" Yami inquired, glaring at the hapless blond.

"Who, me? Eh, I ain't complaining! Not me, no way - ya musta been hearing somebody else," Katsuya said with his hands held in the universal signal for surrender.

There was a moment of uneasy silence, one which Yugi broke.

"Well, since you're here, Yami…" the boy began.

"Hmm?"

"…Do you…um, you know…do you want to come hang out with us?"

Yugi blurted out the question, looking and sounding quite nervous. Of all the things Yami had heard so far in his rather lengthy lifetime, somehow that little question topped his personal Weird Question List. And Yami had absolutely no clue what to say in response to it.

"Uh…"

And as for the response he was able to make, Katsuya immediately leapt on it as an affirmation.

"Great! We was gonna check out da arcade, and maybe grab a bite ta eat, and den maybe go see a movie! Let's get going!"

Before he really registered what was happening, Yami was being dragged down the street by Katsuya - pulling him by the right arm - Yugi - pulling him by the left arm - and Honda - who had started pushing him from behind when Yami had managed to splutter a semi-intelligible protest.

"Aw, relax, it'll be great!"

"Yeah!"

By the time they got to the 'arcade', Yami had finally stopped trying to get away. If this was how the last day of peace and quiet was going to go for him…hey, there were worse things he could be doing. And it wasn't like he was skipping on his duty to watch Yugi.

Although he wondered if he should reconsider that 'worse' part when he was actually inside the arcade. The large amount of noise and bright flashing lights were very disconcerting for him, a condition that Katsuya and Honda, at least, had little sympathy for.

"C'mon over here, Yami! Don't just stand in the door! Play something!"

"Actually…" Yami said, eyeing the exit as he tried to figure out some kind of appropriate excuse.

"Yami…have you never played any of these kinds of games before?"

Yami had no clue why, but just the fact that Yugi had spoken was more than enough to quell his sharply rising desires to get out of there. Yami privately wondered if being in such close quarters with the boy was somehow affecting his judgmental processes as he turned back.

"Ah…yes," he said, not being totally untruthful, "I have never played any of these games before."

And when Yugi tugged him over to one and began explaining it, Yami decided that in the last few hours or so, he'd managed to go completely soft. Not only was that dangerous, it was massively embarrassing…and it was even more so when Yami realized that he was enjoying it.