Blood Only Glows in the Dark Chapter 10: 10, 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!)

Ah. Fans are nice.

Disclaimer: Please get the idea at some point - my fingers are getting tired from typing these things.

Claimer: Guess...give up? All made-up stuff and the plot, of course!

'Okay, what in the name of heck HAPPENED back there!' Yami mentally berated himself as Yugi dragged him after his two still-running friends.

The whole idea had been to remain unnoticed, not to announce to the whole city that he was trained in the Black Arts! And even without counting the millennia he'd been sealed away, Yami was WAY too experienced with his magic to loose control of it just like that!

'Of course, normally my magic doesn't peak like an apprentice working his first spell, either,' Yami thought, worried.

He was so caught up in that train of thought that he almost didn't acknowledge the tiny corner of his brain that was currently launching a thunderstorm in his stomach over the fact that the boy was not only less than a foot away but he was also holding his hand and that they were really touching, they were in actualphysicalcontact - skintoskinforthefirsttimeEVER -

"Okay, dat was really WAY too freaky back dere," Jou's voice broke in, putting a halt to Yami's inner musings.

Yugi let go of Yami's hand when they stopped, right next to the other two, and something in the back of Yami's mind started protesting very strongly about that…

"I think I killed something invisible," Honda said, sounding completely stupefied by the idea, "But whatever it was…it sure was creepy!"

"But why did, whatever those were - why did they attack us?" Yugi wondered.

"Anzu and her weirdo friend were trying ta kill us is why - and they seemed awfully keen on grabbing ya, Yug'," Jou said, thinking out loud.

He seemed to remember something else as well, and turned towards Yami.

"Hey man, I almost forgot, thanks for the save back there! You ain't some kinda professional at dis or something, are ya?"

"P-Professional?" Yami barely managed to hold in what threatened to turn into a bark of laughter.

"No, I'm not some kind of professional demon-hunter or anything…this sort of thing is really more of a hobby for me," he not-quite lied.

"Great! Den you know what da heck just tried ta KILL US!"

Yami attempted to respond to that statement, but before he could actually say a thing he heard, very faintly, a far-too-familiar scraping and dragging sound. Down the street was the source - another Dammug Beast!

"What'cha looking at?"

"Guys…" Honda said, suddenly looking slightly off-color, "I think…I think I just saw something really, REALLY weird…"

"We need to get indoors as quickly as possible," Yami interrupted, "It's not safe out here."

The four of them headed for Jou's house, because it was the closest. On the way, the three humans continued to press Yami for information. On this subject, Yami had to think very hard and word his explanations very carefully in order not to blow his cover.

"And da invisible things dat tried to kill us are called 'Dammug' beasts?" Jou asked him for the third time.

"Yes," Yami growled for the third time, "Very weak monsters, not very intelligent, but still very dangerous."

"But why did I see it?" Honda wondered.

Gladly, Yami turned his attention towards this new question. Why had a human seen a Dammug, anyway?

"I'm not certain," Yami began, "But I think…did you turn and look knowing that something was there?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, I knew you weren't just checking for cars," Honda shrugged, "And I really thought that one of those invisible monsters was coming our way…"

"That explains it - because you knew exactly what you were looking at, the Dammug Beast was visible to you," Yami answered, "It's almost impossible for hu-for people to see them otherwise."

Thankfully, no one spotted the slip. They rounded the last corner before Jou's house, the blond asking 'What did it look like anyway?' and the brunette answering, 'Dude, you do NOT what to know what that thing looked like,' when Yami jerked to a halt.

Since he was in front now, Honda and Jou rammed into his back at full speed. Yami bit back a curse as he was almost knocked flat on his face.

"Yam', why'dya stop? Is there another Dammug thingy in front of us?" Jou asked.

"DUCK!" Yugi yelled.

He had been the only one looking in the right direction - up - and the other three dove for the pavement as something very big swooped down low over their heads. Honda was a second slow and he was knocked to the ground with a yelp of pain.

"SHIT! Honda, buddy, speak ta me! Are you okay man?"

"I think…shit that hurts…I think somebody up there doesn't like me very much," the brunette groaned, hugging one arm close to his body.

"I dunno, man, looks like they thought you're good enough ta eat," Jou attempted to wisecrack as they stared at the large claw-marks and bite-marks now decorating Honda's arm and shoulder.

"These look really serious," Yugi said as he fussed over the wounds, "Honda, you need to go to the hospital right away!"

Yami felt a tug on his sleeve, looked over to see Jou with a very serious expression. Not expecting this particular human to be a threat, Yami was startled when, once they had taken a step away from the other two, the blond grabbed his arm tightly.

Furthermore, in his surprise he and the blond accidentally made eye-contact. What Jou saw made the human start, but then his grip increased like a strong vise.

"I dunno who you really are," Jou hissed, "But now I know dat you're here for da same reason as dat guy and all these monsters. Tell me what da heck's goin' on, 'cause I know something real big is going down!"

"Whatever you think you know," Yami replied coldly, his voice barely loud enough to be a murmur, "I am not your enemy. Unless it is your desire to make it so."

A glare that could normally scare the skin off a sprite only made the blond human glare back. While Jou's glare was not particularly intimidating to Yami, the fact that the human was willing and able to glare back was actually a strong point in his favor.

"I don't actually know what's going on," Yami finally admitted, "Only that there are very powerful forces at work here, and for some reason they wish to take possession of your friend Yugi."

"And you're here ta stop 'em from getting Yug'?" Jou sounded skeptical.

"I could have left the three of you behind in that park," Yami reminded him.

"Okay, I'll give ya dat much," Jou conceded, glancing over to where Yugi was determinedly attempting to bandage Honda's injuries.

"But why? What's Yugi to ya, Yami - if that even is yer real name?"

"It is my real name," Yami replied, "As for Yugi…"

"Yeah?" Jou prompted him.

"Yugi is under my protection, nothing more."

For some reason, that sentence was the hardest lie Yami had ever said in his entire life. He glared at the blond, daring the human to try and contradict his statement. Jou had the gall to look actually AMUSED, before releasing his grip on Yami's arm and moving to help Honda stand.