Blood Only Glows in the Dark Chapter 12: 12, 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!)

Woooooo...new chapter! Look at me, actually providing you guys with entertainment!

Or not. Whatever.

Disclaimer: Check other chapters in this fic, foolish ppls.

Their journey through the alleys had been a quiet one. When they had gone about halfway without either of them making a sound, Yami began feeling slightly uneasy.

Travel this quiet was something he did fairly regularly…but he'd spent enough time watching Yugi to know something of the boy's mannerisms, and silence such as this was not normal.

He'd checked several times, just to make certain that Yugi was still following him, and the other was. But Yami should have at least gotten some kind of nervous question by now.

And, out of the corner of his eyes, it appeared to Yami that Yugi was watching him. Why? He hadn't revealed anything too unusual, had he - oh. Yes, as a matter of fact, he had.

'Fuck. That blond bastard was talking to Yugi when I was busy convincing Honda that his slow and painful death wasn't imminent. I'm going to vivisect him the next time I see that idiot…'

Not that Jou had discovered exactly what Yami was himself. But whatever he had said to Yugi had put the mortal on edge.

'And how exactly am I going to be able to protect him if he runs off, thinking I'm about to eat him or something?'

Well, he might as well try to convince the boy he was semi-normal. Casual conversation wasn't his strong point, but…no time like the present to practice it, neh?

"Yugi, are you getting tired?" Yami settled on as a starting point.

'See, I'm not totally evil, I have concern for his welfare. Take that blondie!'

"…No, not really," Yugi mumbled back.

And with that, there were no more 'casual conversation' ideas left. Why did humans have to put him in situations like these?

"…Perhaps we should take a short break, nonetheless," Yami said, stopping as he spoke.

Yugi looked like he wanted to protest, but then decided against saying anything and sat down on a nearby box. This was just wonderful - Yami felt a keen longing for the days when Yugi had no idea he existed, just because the boy was about a billion times more outgoing when he wasn't fearing for his life.

This, plus the rest of the crap that had happened since this afternoon, started Yami feeling extremely annoyed. At last, after a few minutes of this, Yami abruptly moved to stand in front of the sitting Yugi.

"All right, fine. What did he tell you?" Yami demanded.

"What?" Yugi asked, backing away slightly in surprise, "Who? What are you talking about?"

"Before we separated from the others. You and he talked alone, and now you're acting like I'm about to pull out a - a gun or something on you," Yami said, changing the word 'sword' to something more modern at the last second.

"…Oh," said Yugi.

"Yeah. 'Oh'. Well?"

"…Jou just said that I should keep an eye on you," Yugi admitted, looking sullen, "He wouldn't tell me why. And since Jou can judge character pretty well, I took his advice. And…"

"…And?" Yami asked, now starting to regret snapping.

'Why don't you just wear a flaming sign TELLING the world about you! You can pin it over your idiotic mouth!' he screamed at himself mentally.

'Yeah, right after I take both feet out…'

"…I can see you're a very strange person," Yugi said, apparently deciding to just tell the truth, "And for some reason, I keep expecting to see you with claws and fangs, alright!"

Yami sighed. He was such a moron. It didn't help that Yugi was so perceptive. Weirdly enough, that made the boy somehow even more attractive then he'd already been.

"That would be…" Yami answered, his voice soft, "Because I do possess those features. Look now and tell me what you see."

Yami extended his claws a little and bared his fangs slightly when Yugi looked again. Normally they remained retracted and concealed, allowing him to pass normally through humanity.

Besides, as powerful a master of the dark arts as Yami was, especially one possessing the soul of a demon, wasn't exactly what most humans kept a regular eye out for, after all.

As for the mage-demon himself, Yami kept his gaze firmly pinned on the inside of his eyelids. Patience was the best way to deal with panicked humans. As a fugitive himself, Yugi would probably remember not to scream, but demands for Yami's immediate departure were going to start coming any time now…

"…Um…" came Yugi's voice, "Well…whoa. Are you like a vampire or something, Yami?"

Yami blinked down at Yugi in pure astonishment. Now the human wanted to ask questions! Before he'd been afraid to sneeze in Yami's hearing!

"…No, I am not a vampire," Yami finally answered.

"Oh. Okay. Well, since we're all on the same page now, shouldn't we keep moving?"

'What!'

"Hold on!" Yami snapped, as Yugi blithely got up and started walking.

"…Sorry, was I supposed to scream or something?" Yugi asked, honestly contrite, "I thought it would be a bad idea, since we're trying to be hidden…"

"…Just tell me how, exactly, you can be calm about this," Yami demanded.

"Well, you're a friend of mine, aren't you? I wouldn't leave a friend just because I found out that he had some kind of deep dark secret. Especially since you're trying really hard to help out, and all," Yugi said.

Besides the nearly ludicrous nature of the statement, the boy's tone and expression both clearly added on the further statement of: 'This is unbelievably obvious stuff, why'd you need to ask me anyway?' Yami found himself starting to chuckle.

It had been too long to think about since the last time he'd laughed. Still, Yami clamped down on his bubble of good humor. It would be a really lame way to get caught if he broke down into hysterics and attracted every Dammug in the city.

"Fill me in on the joke?" Yugi asked as Yami finally regained his composure and started walking again.

"Maybe some other time," Yami answered, leading the way past a few branching alleys and down the one they needed to take.