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

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YAY! 50 REVIEWS! MY LIFE HAS MEANING AND PURPOSE!

No, really. This gives my life meaning and purpose. Take a second and imagine how pathetic I am before you get on with the fic.

Disclaimer: Authoress owns nothing not made by her

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At least three hundred assorted humans had apparently decided that the blame for all their current woes rested in the hands of someone else, though none of them seemed to know who exactly if their shouts were any guess.

Whoever they were blaming , they were all on the move, and determined to prove themselves right.

Unfortunately, such a tightly-packed bunch of humanity was too tempting for some of inhuman predators that were about this night. Screeching and swatting at each other with their tails in greedy delight, several gargoyles swooped down and plunged into the sea of mortal flesh that awaited them.

Louder still was the roar of those humans, who finally had something they could rip apart in their range, as they retaliated the assault.

Aside from being able to fly and claw and bite, gargoyles didn't have much skill in fighting. They were dragged from the air by rock, by club, by hand, and vanished into the crowd, never to be seen alive or whole again.

Their distressed cries brought more gargoyles, who avenged their fallen broodmates in a mindless bloodbath. Even more disturbingly, those humans who were unable to keep from hitting their fellows in the closely-packed mess were thusly sprung upon as, 'Monster-loving scumbags', to say the least.

Needless to say, the only good thing about all this was that no one in this crazed mob would notice if a few people ran into the alleyway that was just over that way…

Swinging the makeshift plywood club around, Yami was more than able to make headway in the small part of the mob that blocked his group from its goal. A few punches from Jou helped wonderfully in this respect, while Ryou and Yugi worked to keep up.

There was the small worry that the humans they were knocking unconscious would end up being trampled or eaten…partially amused and partially annoyed that he was at all concerned on the matter, the only thing Yami did to address it was to knock unconscious people off to the side, where they might be a little safer.

'I really am getting soft,' he thought, but for some reason it didn't seem so bad now.

Especially when you had certain people in comparison. Like the white-haired lunatic who was currently coming in for a landing.

"What the heck -!" Jou yelped when he noticed what Yami was frowning at in the sky.

Having apparently run out of Dammug Beasts to play with, Bakurah had hijacked a ride on a gargoyle and was currently steering it towards the middle of the mob. The stupid animal obviously wasn't thrilled with serving as transportation, but since it couldn't reach Bakurah it was instead lashing out at everything else nearby.

Slashing at the sensitive wings of the beast, Bakurah insured it would go into a total frenzy without anymore help from him, before jumping off and neatly landing on the sidewalk like a cat. And sure enough, the gargoyle plowed into its fellows, snapping and tearing, until they too vanished in the mass of humanity.

"HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH!" Bakurah roared, "Oh, I can't even REMEMBER the last time I had this much FUN!"

"Hello again, Bakura," Ryou managed to say politely.

He was the only one among them who was willing to grant the necromancer-demon even that much courtesy. And even then, it was probably only because Ryou still very much had his magical whistle of pain that Bakurah only responded with a 'feh' noise before turning to face Yami.

"Sticking with the blunt objects, I see," Bakurah sneered, casually gesturing towards Jou and Yugi as he spoke, "Oh, you used to be so much more…entertaining, Pharaoh."

"Enough, thief," Yami snapped, "If you would kindly stop preening long enough to look around you, you might notice we were trying to -"

"Find a safe hiding place for the mortals, I know," Bakurah sighed, rolling his eyes, "Like, say, that old warehouse that's hidden in the alleys, oh-so-very near here, hmm?"

Luckily, the momentary distraction of hitting someone over the head with a piece of wood kept Yami's surprise from being visible, but Bakurah would know anyway, curse him!

"Of course," Yami retorted when they had all finally made it to the alley mouth, "Since you know so much about skulking like a coward in the safety of the shadows, Bakurah, you can guide us straight there."

"Not ta break up yer little love-fest an' all," Jou cautiously interrupted, "But I think we got us an' angry mini-mob heading dis way!"

Some people in the main mob had broken off from the rest. Now totally riled up, they had noticed their much smaller group fighting their way through the mess and gotten it into their heads that here were five weaklings who were on the side of their enemies.

And they were coming over to deal out 'punishment'.

Still, they were only human, and there was only twenty or so of them. Easily dealt with, even if killing them wasn't such a good idea for some reason.

"I'll take care of this," Yami said, "You all go on ahead without me."

"Is that a good idea? Will you be okay?" Yugi piped up - the first thing he'd said in some time.

And because it was Yugi speaking, Yami made a point of trying to smile reassuringly. Since Yugi appeared more reassured afterwards, this apparently worked.

"Don't worry," he said, "I'll be right behind you in just a moment."

Thusly comforted, the mortals began trooping down the alley. Yami was about to turn and face the oncoming threat when he realized Bakurah was still there.

Not only that - he was standing extremely close -

"You still look so adorable when you get all noble, you know," the other breathed into his ear.

It took Yami a second to understand what Bakurah had just said to him. Then there was another second's pause as shock replaced itself with a white-hot blast of rage, and before he could stop himself - not that he very much wanted to stop himself - Yami slashed at the other's head with fully-extended claws.

Bakurah had been expecting that, though, and dodged easily.

"How dare you," Yami snarled, "Traitorous bastard…"

"Relax, star-head," Bakurah purred, "You're old news. I have my eye on someone a little less pig-headed right now."

And with that final shot, Bakurah turned to stride briskly after the mortals, who hadn't even noticed any of this.