Just to be clear, I was not aware of the death of the creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! until someone commented about it in the reviews.

If there was something that caused him endless amounts of amusement, it was the fact that he saw Jounouchi and Honda as two small puppies barking at a much older, far more experienced and seasoned wolf. It was hilarious and made their attempts to 'toughen him up' far more amusing.

Anzu still didn't get why he was so mellow about it. She just saw him as her nerdy, "safe" male friend.

Recently he had been making decent progress on solving that damn puzzle. Good thing too, because he didn't need that distraction considering he had to take his OWL's in a few weeks.

Yugi had a bad feeling about Ushio, the so-called 'head' of the disciplinary committee.

In reality, the group was a joke operating under a banner of school club. It was a gathering of the more idiotic delinquents and those looking for a place to belong, not that Yugi would judge them for it.

They only knew him as the 'harmless' head of the chess club. Everyone knew Yugi had a guaranteed scholarship because of it, as he was extremely good at playing chess.

Yugi let out a bone cracking yawn, and was heading home when Ushio confronted him.

He took one look at the beaten forms of Jounouchi and Honda and saw red. However, he couldn't be sure whether they would keep their mouths shut, so he opted for the alternative option...of accepting their ass kicking in their place.

Yugi was fuming by the time he walked home, unaware of the impact he left on the two he helped...by indulging in his saving people thing again.

At the game shop...

Solomon listened to the story Jounouchi told him, ignoring the fact the boy was dripping wet despite the lack of rain, then went to visit his grandson who was making surprisingly good progress on the puzzle tonight.

"One of your classmates came to me with an interesting story. Something about a thug extorting you for money at school?" said Solomon.

Yugi's eyes shifted in the light from the almost amethyst tone to something closer to a blood ruby. It was an almost imperceptible shift in darker lighting, but in the well light room he saw it just fine. He wasn't sure what caused it, just that it meant his grandson was serious about something.

"I did what any decent person should have done, but likely won't because it means taking a hit," said Yugi embarrassed. "That being said I don't plan to let this idiot actually win."

Yugi had one simple rule that his grandfather rather approved of when it came to certain types of information. Namely he refused to lie, even he might spare someone's feelings.

"So why take the hit?" he asked honestly.

Yugi's eyes hardened.

"As amusing as I find Jounouchi and Honda, I don't spend enough time around them to be sure of their temperament. If I beat up Ushio and it got back to the school, it would only cause headaches. Easier to take the beating then go back and insure he knows exactly who he pissed off than deal with that," said Yugi dismissively.

"Fair enough...coincidentally Jounouchi dropped this off. Strange thing really, he was dripping wet despite the lack of rain."

Solomon dropped a puzzle piece in Yugi's hand.

Yugi looked at it dumbfounded, as he had been unaware it was missing at all.

He looked back at the nearly completed puzzle. Without a second thought...mostly because he was leery of this thing falling apart again and undoing ages of work, he put the piece in.

He knew of some nonsense that whoever solved the puzzle would gain a wish and the powers of darkness.

In reality he assumed that meant that whoever solved it would forcibly awaken their ability to use shadow magic (as it was called in ancient times) and whatever they were trying to obtain the spirit would use their overwhelming magical abilities to grant it.

Some wishes could never be granted. In fact, it was a bad idea to try.

Sure, he could have wished to go back to his old life. Be the man he was before.

Hiryu was the lingering remnants of that past life after all.

But... Yugi didn't care for the regrets of his past life. That man had been tired, reckless, and just plain done with all the crap he had to put up with.

His only wish, heavily influenced and reinforced by Hiryu, was to protect his family and keep them safe. Even if it meant doing things that most people would balk at, like blood magic.

The puzzle piece slid in. Hiryu was well aware he had only tapped the bare bones of shadow magic, as he didn't particularly like using it much to begin with. So the sudden influx of the stuff knocked him on his ass...metaphorically speaking.

It was overwhelming and a sudden revelation occurred that what he had used sparingly had only been water droplets compared to the sheer ocean he was suddenly floundering in.

His senses were overwhelmed, his mind overrun with trying to maintain his sense of self after being suddenly dropped deep into an ocean of power. Rather than try to control it, he created a bubble around himself that would allow his mind to anchor itself while he tried to reorient and figure out what the hell was going on.

Hiryu knew his core was still fractured from his past life, and shadow magic had the odd effect of acting like glue towards his battered soul. Being reborn had done wonders for it, but it had also increased his sparse capacity for the stuff into a more respectable size.

Yugi was predisposed to using the stuff over traditional magic, Loki only knew why. Sure, he could use all the spells Hiryu knew in his past life, but for some reason his core had a natural aptitude for shadow magic despite their strictly light-oriented core.

And now they were drowning in the stuff. Sensing their body moving, Hiryu/Yugi managed to open up a window that allowed them to view their body from outside it. Something had taken control and it was too strong for them to deal with.

Yet.

Ushio was an idiot, and by solving the puzzle Yugi had accidentally unleashed a very pissy and apparently overprotective spirit. They had to wince a bit as it deliberately destroyed Ushio's mind after playing a game.

One commonality shadow magic had was that it liked to play games. Almost all use of it, that Hiryu had found during the few times he encountered it, centered around something called a 'shadow game'.

There were very few records of shadow magic being used outside a game, and what little was recorded was all strictly low-level stuff.

Seeing Ushio the next morning would have been sobering for anyone else.

Yugi dismissed it and was surprised to see Jounouchi there waiting for him.

It seemed his act of protecting the two had created the same sort of bond that Hiryu had with his two friends before his death.

Yugi...was actually fairly happy about this.

Hiryu was on a mission. Over the past few weeks, he had gotten to learn more about the spirit inside the puzzle, and he could state with no uncertainty...that the guy was most definitely not a morning person. At all.

He didn't know what sort of king the guy was in his life...the one time he had dared to poke his head in the 'other' room across his mental hallway, he had seen a ton of ancient hieroglyphs and most of them were associated with kings and royalty in some way...but the guy was seriously pissy whenever something threatened 'Yugi' and it was becoming a total chore trying to shore up their defenses so he didn't overwhelm them every time he woke up.

However, he was making serious progress. He had learned the spirit had a lot less control if he wasn't wearing the puzzle, but the second he was in the same room as it, it could wake up. Much like that damn locket from that ridiculous hunt so long ago.

If it wasn't for the fact that the spirit was clearly overprotective of his family and friends (and particularly Yugi himself) Hiryu would have dismantled the damn thing and chucked the pieces into the ocean and be done with it.

His patience snapped however, after Jounouchi went missing for a few days.

Rather than wait to get the others involved, Hiryu started asking around in his usual manner.

After the third or fourth delinquent he beat the crap out of, he was pointed in the direction of one scumbag he had a particular dislike for.

Hirutani, the small dick prick who had challenged him on more than one occasion over territory.

This was the perfect opportunity to test out Jounouchi's loyalty.

In the abandoned warehouse...

Jounouchi stared at horror at the tiny form of Yugi being held hostage by his former 'friend'.

This had gone entirely too far.

Jounouchi happily threw the first punch...as such he completely missed the expression in Yugi's eyes.

Yugi listened in, and had to inwardly shake his head at the way Jounouchi finally let it slip why he was with this band of thugs in the first place. Apparently Hirutani had made a direct threat against his new friends in order to coerce him.

Rather than allow the spirit a chance to deal with this, Yugi did the only sensible thing he could.

He just started laughing. It was so out of place that everyone stared at him.

"You really haven't changed in the least, despite the fact I let you and your petty thugs go unchallenged for a few scant years. You still haven't got the balls to challenge a real threat, Hirutani," sneered Yugi.

Dead silence, as Hirutani's expression shifted to utter rage.

"You little shit! Kill him!"

Yugi easily dodged the punch...and followed it up with a swift and merciless knee to the solar plexus. The petty thug went down hard.

Jounouchi stared.

"Yugi?"

Yugi didn't feel like hiding it anymore, and besides, he wanted to work out some steam.

He pulled out a single hair tye and pulled back his ridiculous star-shapes hair back. Then his eyes hardened, and he removed his jacket...to reveal not the pendant Jounouchi had become used to seeing, but an all too familiar and infamous choker in the shape of a red dragon biting it's tail.

Jounouchi's jaw dropped...only one person in Domino wore that choker. He had thankfully never ended up on that guy's particular radar, but he had heard enough about it to know to stay the fuck out of his way.

"No way... Yugi is Hiryu the dragon?" said Jounouchi in utter disbelief.

"Shall we dance, fuckers?" sneered Hiryu.

A scant hour later...

Jounouchi was looking at Yugi...no, Hiryu...with some respect. The kid was tiny, but he packed a mean punch and he didn't hold back.

He also covered Jounouchi without a second thought, and was polite enough to leave Hirutani to Jounouchi.

"So..."

"Grandpa and I have a simple deal. He ignores the fact I wander the city at night and get into fights, and I don't try to lie when I need help. His only stipulation is that I keep my grades up and don't do anything that would end up in the news that would impact my future in a negative way," said Yugi, already knowing what he wanted to ask. "Anzu doesn't know, and only Grandpa is aware as far as I know."

"He's okay with this?" he asked.

"He was apparently a bit of a scrapper in his youth, and said that as long as I don't try to hide important things from him, he can learn to live with it," shrugged Yugi. "I keep my late night activities away from home and school, and Grandpa is happy I have a scholarship via chess."

Seeing Jounouchi wince as he took a bad step, Yugi rolled his eyes and forcibly pushed him towards the game shop. His mom wasn't around and his grandpa wouldn't ask needless questions.

Solomon took one look at their battered state (Jounouchi more than Yugi) and said nothing. He merely got the first aid kit and went to work on the taller one first.

Yugi knew instinctively that after learning of that small secret...and more importantly defending him the way he had...he had gained Jounouchi's loyalty for life. Maybe now he could finally open up to a friend about his other secrets.