A/N
Note: Sorry that I got you guys all happy and waiting for the next chapter...And it didn't show up. I'd only written up to that point and was editing it slightly before I posted, so that's why the updates were really close together. Now, I'll actually be developing the plot and all that jazz! Plus, someone asked me to make the lovely chappies longer (Sorry, can't remember who at the moment) so this is over 3000 words! Yay! (...I talk too much. XP)
Note2: YAY! I've officially got a new beta! Name of JK Fie'r (Find her link in my bio), she'll be doing most of the tediousness associated with writing. So be nice, greet the poor girl, and say THANKS! Without her, this chapter would still be being written (heh heh...).
Note3: I am officially addicted to reviews. The more I get, the happier I become, the more I want to write! So review on, faithful readers, and watch the next chapter appear like magic!
JK: If any of you wish to complain about the lateness of this particular update, feel free to blame me. It's my fault.
DARK PASSIONS
Ch 6 Sound Ideas
Yami awoke with a splitting headache, and immediately forced his head back under his pillow, where it was much cooler. A muffled groan still escaped him and he buried himself further into his bed.
So preoccupied was Yami with trying to convince his body to go back to sleep, that he almost missed the amused laugh of someone else in his room.
Trespassers, was his fleeting thought before he instantly jolted awake.
The vampire sprang into action with superhuman speed, ripping the pillow off and flinging it in the general direction of the voice before following it, a dagger in his hand.
Although his body was highly alert, aware of the slightest change in the air, Yami's mind continued to doze on as he sailed across the room. It was only when he had the intruder pinned under him with the ancient Egyptian dagger (yes, he had his preferences) at its throat, that Yami realized it was Seto, the infamous glare on his features.
"Is this how you always greet people when you wake up?" came Seto's amused and slightly exasperated greeting.
With a sheepish grin, Yami slid of him and stood, trying to bring the fuzzy parts of his brain together. Maybe teaching both him and the Tomb Robber the secret of magical lock-picking had been a bad idea...All they ever seemed to do, with the talent he'd bestowed upon them, was pick his guard spells and mind barriers.
Of course, the mind barriers never came down, but they –in particular the Tomb Robber- never gave up hope.
This relatively flawless break-up pointed out another factor: Yami's guarding spells needed a much-needed update if Seto had gotten in his room so easily, disarming the alarms perfectly so that they didn't alert him before turning off as they were supposed to, if tampered with. He frowned as he tried to figure out a time when he could visit the Spell Witch in this city.
What would be her name? He wondered, forgetting about Seto for the moment and recalling certain facts. "If the city's called Domino, then..."
"She's called Vraza 'Domin," Offered Seto, and at Yami's blank look clarified, "The Spell Witch, I mean."
When Yami continued to sport a vaguely suspicious look on his face, Seto smirked. "I didn't look in your mind, idiot. You said it out loud."
"Oh," was the other vampire's intelligent remark before he remembered why he'd been woken up in the first place. "What do you want, Priest?" he tossed over his shoulder as he walked into the bathroom.
Yami missed the glower sent his way but chuckled upon hearing the muffled curse. "Don't call me that!"
Like the Tomb Robber, it amused him to no end that Seto, high and mighty priest in his past life with a self-important air that made you want to throttle him, had been reincarnated as this high and mighty CEO, who also had a self-important air, but mention anything remotely related to Egypt and watch Seto fly off into a rage.
Amused, he shook his head. Some things never change.
Seto narrowed his eyes, almost certain the former pharaoh's private joke had been at his expense, before returning to the question at hand.
"The truth, Yami," Seto gestured with one hand towards himself, as if asking for a physical thing. "None of that vague shit you pull with Bakura. I am not so easy to fool; I know something happened last night that you're not telling me."
Yami ignored the accusations, true as they were, in favor of attacking Seto again in the area he knew infuriated the intruding vampire the most: his pride.
"Not so easy to fool, eh?" Yami drawled, tilting his head to the side and staring at the other vampire through the mirror, as he put on his jewelry and assorted belts and buckles. Ah, nothing like a good leather belt against your skin…
"I seem to recall a certain incident with Bakura and your precious coffee machine." Yami remarked as innocently as he could manage while trying to zip up the back of his leather outfit and squinting into the mirror.
To his embarrassment, Seto could feel the beginnings of a blush color his cheeks. Somehow, Bakura had managed to 'borrow' some of his newest technology, which could simulate the "Worst Case Scenario", when programmed with the necessary information, in a live action clip. How he'd figured out that Seto was dependant on his coffee in the mornings and had a routine, Seto would never know, but the result was his inability to go near the poor, abused coffee machine for a week.
And the rest of the vampires had then found out the hard way that they should never, ever again separate Seto from his coffee, under any circumstances. Of course, Bakura had managed to land himself a trip out of the country during that period, and missed the entire episode...Not that he'd planned on any of that, of course!
"That was a one time thing, and you know it, Yami!" Seto's reply was clipped, and Yami couldn't hold back another chuckle. Sometimes, it was just too easy to get under the other vampire's skin.
Then, Seto's brow furrowed in confusion for a moment. "Hey, wait a minute! Don't you go turning this all on me; we're here to discuss you, idiot."
"Unfortunately," Yami muttered under his breath as he followed the taller vampire down the hall, toward the elevator.
Ding!
The door closed behind them and Seto let out a frustrated sigh that echoed off the mirrored walls. "Fine! But we're going out then, and by the end of the night- By gods Yami, you will tell me what happened last night, and then I'll be satisfied. Got it?"
Yami was about to reply that lower ranking priests didn't have a say in what a pharaoh could do, thereby pissing off the already pissed off Kaiba even more, when the elevator stopped and opened to admit none other than Bakura.
Seto smacked himself in the forehead.
"What's all this about going out then?" Bakura grinned. "Sounds like fun, I'll invite Ryou!"
Yami's gaze darted furtively from side to side as he scrambled for an excuse to get out of going and Bakura continued to grin, a mischievous glint in his eye.
Seto just looked upwards in despair: "Why me?"
"God, I'm bored," Yuugi whined once again, to no one in particular. He'd been at home the majority of the day, trying to do non-strenuous things and limit his activities so he could regain his energy.
But people with personalities like his were not meant to sit still, and Yuugi found himself getting up to pace his apartment for what felt like the zillionth time. There must be something fun I could do, he thought.
If I have the energy to pace, than I obviously have the energy for...Yuugi trailed off as a thought hit him. He dived for the phone, and flipped over the back of the couch, landing with an 'oof!'. Maybe that wasn't a smart idea, he reflected before dropping the issue with a shrug and began to dial.
On the other end of the line, Ryou was trying to juggle his papers, dinner, and TV remote. Sometimes, it just didn't pay to multi-task, he thought ruefully before dropping everything in surprise as the phone abruptly rang. Like now.
"Yes, yes. Ryou speaking!" He spoke into the phone, out of breath. Ryou waited for the other to speak as he surveyed the damage to his kitchen.
His dinner was smeared all over the counter and dripping down the sides, the TV remote looked like it had been jammed in between the cabinet door handles, and his papers, well, he wouldn't be getting any value out of them anymore.
Yuugi giggled, already in good spirits if his friend was ruffled, which was a very rare occurrence.
"Hey Ryou! Sounds like you've got something going on there, eh?"
After a second, Ryou blushed scarlet when the meaning of Yuugi's words registered. His voice came out a squawk, "I most certainly do not!"
Yuugi giggled again, goading Ryou was just too fun. "Great, then you wouldn't mind going out with me!"
"I dunno, Yuugi. Last time you decided where we'd go, we ending up driving in circles in the red-light district with that biker gang on our tail!"
Yuugi laughed nervously, "Aw, come on, Ryou, that was only one time! And who knew that the bikes were real? I didn't mean to knock them all over!"
Ryou ran a hand through his hair in thought. "Oh, all right. God knows, I need a break after all this work; my head's running in circles."
"I'll be around in half an hour, or so. And guess what, Ryou?" Yuugi's voice took on a blissful tone. "We're going clubbing!"
And with that, Yuugi hung up, leaving Ryou to sputter indignantly into the phone. "But, but- Oh, why that?"
Not a second later, the phone rang shrilly again, and this time it was Bakura on the other end.
"Hey there, stranger," He purred. Ryou merely raised an eyebrow.
"Oh? Stranger, am I?" He grinned mischievously. "Guess you've got the wrong number then. Cheerio!"
"Oh, you're no fun, Ryou," Bakura scowled while Yami snickered in the background. "Anyway, you and me are going out, and the Pharaoh and High Priest are tagging along."
Ryou tsked, "Sorry Bakura, you should have made reservations. I'm going out with Yuugi, although you're welcome to meet us-"
"Done!" Was Bakura's instant reply. "You have no idea how annoying those two are. After all," He lowered his voice until it was only audible to Ryou, "I'd much rather be spending my time with you."
Ryou inevitably blushed at that, before he caught something that his boyfriend had said previously. "Ph-pharoah? Er, High Priest? Bakura, what kind of names are those?"
It was now Bakura's turn to stammer, he frantically searched for an excuse, "Er, um...Oh yeah, they're nicknames. Nicknames, Ryou."
"Weird..." He murmured. "Yuugi didn't say where exactly we were going but I'm sure I can guess. Just look for the loudest and most crowded club in the city, ok?"
"Right-o," Bakura replied mimicking a thick British accent, something he liked to do because it amused Ryou, who was also British. Well, the vampire had lived in London, but that was some time ago and his actual accent had worn out, leaving nothing to suggest where he had been.
"Okay then, love ya 'kura," Ryou said shyly, and then giggled in surprise as Bakura pressed the phone to his mouth and gave it a kiss that vibrated through Ryou's ear.
"I'll be seeing you, Love," Bakura whispered in a low voice before hanging up.
Ryou let the hand holding the phone fall to his side as he propped himself up against the counter. Sometimes, he thought blissfully, it did pay to multi-task, especially with a boyfriend like Bakura.
"Yuugi!" Ryou gasped out as, once again, he was left behind. "Wait up!"
They'd actually managed to make it to the club before remembering what night it was.
"Ryou..." Yuugi had groaned while smacking himself in the forehead. "It's Saturday...Saturday night! How could we have forgotten that?"
"Well, I didn't forget it, Mr. Let's-Go-Clubbing-Without-Asking-If-Ryou-Wants-To-Go," The other sniffed indignantly.
"Aw, Ryou," Yuugi grinned. "You know you want to be here."
Ryou chose to ignore him as he surveyed the crowd and scanned his mind for options. Going home was a definite no, Yuugi had so much energy he looked like he was about to start bouncing off the walls. Waiting was an option...But only if they wanted to wait into next week; the line was already stretched two blocks from the entrance.
Wait a minute! Ryou's eyes widened as he remembered. He turned Yuugi around from where he'd been eyeing the crowd with a little too much interest, "Listen Yuugi, I forgot to tell you, Bakura's coming!"
Yuugi's eyes widened as he caught on, "Yes, we're saved!" He gave a 'whoop' and jumped into the air, drawing a few stares from those nearest.
Lucky for them, Bakura was a party legend; that was, in fact, how Ryou had met up with him. And being a legend did have its perks, such as free and instant admission among other things.
Now, they'd been running through the crowd, searching for a white-haired, leather-clad figure, though so far with no results. Although they had gone so far as to mistaken someone's fur-trimmed coat and a discarded stuffed toy as The Bakura.
And Yuugi still had energy to burn; Ryou was astonished at the rate at which his friend darted through the crowd, zipping from one area to the next. And Ryou was beginning to doubt if Yuugi was actually looking, so quick did he flit to and fro, with no apparent system.
About ready to call it quits and just watch Yuugi search, for it was quite amusing to see the indignant girls and windswept guys he left in his wake, Ryou didn't notice the dark form loom up in front before he hit it, dead on.
"Oof!" He let out a soft grunt as the ground tilted and came up to meet him backwards. But a hand with a familiar strong grip wrapped itself around his waist and righted him.
" 'Ello, Love," Was the amiable greeting.
"Bakura!" Ryou exclaimed in happiness and wrapped his arms around Bakura's own waist in return. Calling for Yuugi over his shoulder (he was sure the other would hear, as high-strung as Yuugi was at the moment, so were his senses), Ryou turned to greet the rest of Bakura's friends, or 'freeloaders', as Bakura dubbed them, to which Seto crossed his arms and Yami snorted.
Not really knowing if all the energy in his system was from his excitement or from saving up his energy all day, Yuugi raced past the same couple for a fifth time, once again ruffling their appearance and earning a few strange stares from the people standing around.
He couldn't help it; something in his system had turned on and Yuugi just couldn't hold any of it back. Not that he wanted to; in any case, being full of so much exuberance was fun and enjoyable. Sometimes, he just wished everyone could be so optimistic and joyful, but, and he always remembered this with reluctance, that wasn't the way of the world. He knew that there needed to be balance: light and dark, happy and sad. Or else no one would appreciate the good things, if there was nothing in comparision.
But, he beamed at another couple he just passed and received confused smiles in return, this wasn't a time to be thinking such thoughts. He and Ryou were out here to have fun, enjoy themselves, and forget the worries of life, at least for tonight. Speaking of whom, where had Ryou gone?
Yuugi halted in his search, of which he had half-forgotten, and scanned the crowd for the familiar figure of his friend. And then Ryou's voice sounded from somewhere behind him, and Yuugi's happy countenance was back again. With a grin, he jumped down from the box he'd been standing on, and headed towards the direction he thought Ryou would be.
What he wasn't expecting was to see Ryou standing with an entire group of people, dressed formidably in black. A challenging thought flitted across Yuugi's mind in which he wondered if they danced as well as they dressed. Ryou caught sight of him as he neared and alerted the rest of the group, who had their backs to his general direction.
A greeting upon his lips, Yuugi froze as familiar and haunting crimson eyes turned to meet his; and they reflected the same shock he felt. They seemed to stand like that for an eternity, yet time had stopped and both crimson and amethyst hung in the wave of overpowering emotion that followed.
Out of anyone he imagined to see tonight, Yami had thought the last would with this human, Yuugi. All he'd wanted was to forget, to leave behind all that snapped at his heels in reality, but it seemed that was not what was meant to be. The one person who'd successfully imprinted himself onto the vampire's mind throughout his long life and wasn't letting go, now stood in front of Yami.
To say he had no defense or response to this kind of situation was an understatement; Yami's logical and thorough mind had shut down, leaving his unprotected and unsure of how to proceed. For once, he found himself vulnerable.
Yuugi stood with his hand half-raised, all things forgotten save for the need to make sure the person standing in front of him was really there. And suddenly, the reason for his restlessness all day and abrupt bursts of energy tonight were explained. Yuugi had been thinking of this vampire without pause, and without reason, his mind trying to make sense of an incomplete encounter with something he thought didn't exist.
The yearning for an answer to his limitless questions had choked off his ability to forget, to put away from his mind that which plagued it, leading to the need to get rid of his frustration through the one way that he knew how. That's why he had convince Ryou to come out here tonight; they were also known throughout the red-light district…But unfortunately, those that knew them were already inside the club.
And just as abruptly, his and Yami's eye contact was broken and they came back down to Earth.
Ryou's voice drifted back into his consciousness, and Yuugi realized that Ryou had been introducing him to the group. Names came back to him that must have registered on some level in his mind. Seto was the tall one with a sad expression on his face that he was masking with a stony stare, Yuugi could only see it because he'd become quite good at reading people, a normal person wouldn't know the difference.
Yuugi's gaze focused in on Ryou's boyfriend, Bakura. He saw the strange resemblance every time: the same snowy, white hair and bottomless, brown eyes. Yet Bakura's eyes flashed in the neon lights and Yuugi saw the age reflected there, the years that he felt. Bakura also wore more leather, he thought in amusement, and it was tighter too.
"...So shall we go in, then?" Ryou inquired, nudging Yuugi in the side and unintentionally breaking the thought-trap that had held him quiet and captive. Yuugi blinked and nodded slightly in agreement, falling into step beside Ryou and Bakura, the rest falling behind.
Why did he have the feeling that surprises for the night weren't over?
Note: I wonder who'll be dancing with Yuugi...
Special thankies to JK Fie'r for beta-ing this chapter