A/N

Note: "Pushing the Sky" has been taken off my website as of this chapter. Please visit and check out my awesome media page! -End shameless plug- In other news: Oh wow! That was an amazing review response to the last chapter! I loved each and every one of your reviews, especially the ones that addressed the fanfic's specific points. It's nice to know my writing has the power to move your emotions.

Let's see, this chappie is slightly sad-ish material, so...be warned. Hopefully, the end makes up for it. xD

Note2: Oh, you guys! Do you think I'm that mean to not put Jou in the story? Don't worry! I know exactly how our favorite mutt is going to come into the fic...But keep in mind that this story is partially-titled 'Dark' for a reason, and inner turmoil and struggles are part of it. And love won't come so easy, either. It's there, hiding in between their other emotions, but it won't come so fast yet. So, please review and tell me how I'm doing!

Note3: I'd like to take a moment to say thanks to Princess Nefertari AKA Krysta for dedicating the latest chapter of her amazing story, Moonlit Waters, that I'm sure most of you have heard of, to me! So, I want to dedicate this chapter to her in return! Thanks, Nefertari-chan! xD

DARK PASSIONS

Ch 9: Memories on the Wind

"Why am I telling you this, anyway?" Yami leaned back again in his seat, and allowed his gaze to travel around the room. It looked lived-in, he could gather that much, but it all looked so unfamiliar. While the Da'sara liked to decorate the walls and shelves with things they were attached to, vampires felt no such pull towards objects.

In a vampire's home, almost always temporary because of their nomadic nature, everything was kept to a bare minimum, so the number of things Yuugi kept was puzzling and though he'd never admit it, overpowering. After all, Yami had never spent time in a human's home, not since his days in ancient Egypt. 'And things change a lot in five thousand years,' he commented to himself dryly.

"Because you need to," Yuugi finally replied to his earlier question, his voice quiet and subdued for once. Something was different about him, Yami realized. Was he trying to be...helpful?

'No...' His mind immediately refused that idea. 'Since when has he been even the least bit helpful?'

What was he doing here, in this human's home? Yami mentally berated himself while Yuugi calmly looked on, watching the inner struggle unusually displayed across Yami's face. The vampire couldn't remember the last time he'd actually put his guard down, but around Yuugi...Somehow, it just came naturally.

Even through the haze of his conflicting thoughts, Yami had managed to flit to where he'd left Yuugi the first time they'd met. But before he'd been able to leave, Yuugi had latched onto his arm, a determined look on his face, and actually demanded that Yami come in with him so they "could talk", a situation made quite ironic by how he'd refused the vampire's 'attempts' at conversation earlier.

During the time, it had seemed more like a threat, but Yami had found him self quite unable to resist the puppy-dog look on Yuugi's face. His mind had immediately connected it with how Jou used to do the same thing to him, and before he knew it, Yami was sitting in Yuugi's kitchen across from him.

"Where to start?"

"...How about the beginning?"

He sighed, "As good a place as any, I suppose."

"What's wrong?"

"I...I've never told this before." Yami let out a deep sigh and leaned forward again, resting his elbows in the table.

Yuugi was unusually reserved, a fact that did not go unnoticed. "I understand. I know what it feels like, to lose someone who was important to you."

"Then, you should understand when I say that Jou was like the sun..."

Yami awoke to the sounds of rustling coming from the next room. Without even opening his eyes, he sent out his mind and reached his intended target. Even this early, he could feel his lips turning up in a familiar smirk. Quietly reaching with his mind, the vampire extended a thought-tendril and poked the part of the other's mind barrier that he knew was ticklish.

"Ai!" The 'intruder' yelped, and the sound of something metal hitting the floor resounded in Yami's ears, making him wince. The next moment, Jou walked into his room, rubbing the back of his head, and leaned heavily against one of the four, tall bedposts that held up the canopy over Yami's bed.

"Now what was that for, Oh Great One?"

"I do not appreciate the pilfering of my kitchen, even from you, Jounouchi Katsuya," Yami replied evenly, his eyes still firmly shut.

But Jou gaped indignantly. "What do you mean 'pilfering'? You don't even eat that food! You just go to all those fancy-pants restaurants with the ever-optimistic Azura or that dear lover of mine."

"Have you seen either of them, by the way?"

"...Seto? No, he was up and about even before me today. That's strange, but what's stranger is that he actually left a note. Since when has he found time to gather enough bits of his scattered brain to be able to write coherent sentences?"

Yami chuckled and raised a hand to run through his hair. "I don't know; you tell me. How long have you two been together now?"

Jou frowned as he remembered. "Well, not counting the time he almost blew me up, we've been together about four centuries. Our anniversary's coming up..." He paused as he began counting in his head again for the date.

"And in all that time, you still can't remember the two dates that Seto remembers to leave you a note?"

Jou just looked at him in confusion. "Eh..."

Yami decided to drop the subject; it wouldn't do to have the missing vampire livid because his boyfriend's surprise has been spoiled. Although, Yami was still completely mystified as to how Jou managed to stay clueless every single year, on both occasions; he had no problem remembering other important dates but this managed to surprise him every time.

"And Azura? Have you seen her?"

Jou snorted, and by the tremors racing across the bed and up Yami's bedcovers, he inferred that Jou was trying to hold back a laugh.

"Out with it then, Jou. What is it now?"

"Oh, you should have seen her, Yami. She was actually trying to get a treaty with the Elves. The Elves!" He paused for breath, and the laugh he'd been holding back let loose. In between, he managed, "Firstly, they live practically on the other side of the world. Do you think they even care about signed a treaty with a bunch of 'self-important, pompous vampires' when all we seem to do is 'drink, drink and drink that vile, disgusting blood-thing...And party'?

"And everyone knows they party way harder than we do! What, with there three thousand-year-old wineries, and drinking games. You'd think we're tame compared to them! Oh, you should have seen Azura's face..."

Yami could feel the edges of an insane giggle surfacing as well, and clamped down on it before he really let go. "Are those quotes from their reply, then?"

"What? Oh yeah, they are. Oh Ra, that's all I managed to read before she took it back from me. I should go find it again..." He trailed off as a plan began to formulate in his mind.

"I see you've been talking to Bakura again." Yami observed.

"No..." Jou stalled, for he knew that all Yami had to do was check in his most recent memories and find out; Unfortunately, he'd never become quite good at hiding anything from his close friends. Maybe that was something else Bakura could teach him while he was at it...

"Ah-ha! I knew it!" Yami exclaimed with glee as Jou accidentally pushed out 'Bakura' from under his guard.

"Ya-mi..." Jou drew out the word and made the puppy-dog eyes he was famous for; even though he knew Yami couldn't see him at the moment, he knew how it managed to make Yami drop the subject every time. And it didn't fail to produce the same results this time, either.

"Oh, fine. Ra knows what Bakura's teaching you...I'll just leave Seto to deal with you in his own special way." Yami smiled. Although his eyes had remained closed throughout their entire conversation, he knew exactly what expressions were going across Jou's face and how he was feeling. But sometimes, a vampire just needed his sleep. "Now, go away, Jou. I'm tired."

"What? Still? But you've slept all day and now it's past nightfall! How much to you need to sleep?"

"Well," Yami grinned slyly, "I would have slept all that time, except I was kept awake all day by someone's screams and moans next door. Not to mention all the furniture you guys were moving around and...breaking, I think. What were you doing, having a belated spring-cleaning?"

It didn't take a genius to know that Jou was blushing furiously. "I...Well, I'll have you know...That...Enjoy your rest, Yami."

Yami sighed in content. Sleep was good...Embarrassing Jou? Even better.

"We'll be seeing you later, though. You didn't forget that tonight was your turn to do the Telling, did you?"

Yami let out a groan as Jou closed the door after himself, laughing all the way down to the downstairs theater.

"So, he was a good friend then?" Yuugi tried tentatively, conscious of the strange mood the vampire was in that allowed him to be this straight-forward for once.

Both he and Yami had somehow moved from the slightly cold and stifling atmosphere of the kitchen to the comforts of his living room. And now, as Yami finished telling him about one of his times spent with Jou, he had fallen into a sort of trance that Yuugi was reluctant to break.

But as the human spoke, Yami's eyes flashed and his voice came out gruff but sure. "He was one of my only friends," More quietly he spoke again, "In my whole life..."

"I see," Yuugi confirmed, quieter still. Somehow, he hadn't expected this pang of jealousy from hearing Yami speak this way. It just didn't make any sense. To take his mind off the matter, he said the first thing he could think of, "What's a Telling?"

And Yuugi was surprised to see a half-smile playing about Yami's lips. As his gaze settled back on Yuugi, he opened his mind again and enveloped the both of them in his memories.

Yami stepped through the double doors and stopped as he surveyed the turn-out, a much higher number than usual. He shook his head, but couldn't help the grin that spread over his features. "Jou..."

"Yes?" A seemingly innocent voice called from somewhere to his right. Yami turned to see Jou himself leaning against the wall with Seto's arms wrapped tightly around him from behind. The taller vampire paid Yami no attention but searched the gathering crowd for something or someone.

"Jou..." Yami's reproachful tone would have held more meaning had he not been sporting such a smug grin. "You brought in the entire city this time!"

"Well, I can't help it. All it took was an off-hand comment that you were the one doing it tonight and before I knew it...Everyone wanted to come! They do love you so, Yami." Jou finished with a teasing grin.

"Don't you think the hunters are going to notice something's up?"

"Of course not!" Jou exclaimed, "Remember the time we crashed their parties? They just thought we were the Thirteenth division!"

Seto's attention was caught by that remark and he turned his gaze down on his lover. "Jou..." His voice was curious, yet held a slightly threatening edge to it as well. "'Thirteenth Division'? You mean the one that you and I took down a couple of months ago?"

"Well," Jou let out a nervous giggle while Yami looked on, an amused eyebrow raised. "You know what they say: You are what you eat!"

Both Yami and Seto let out an exasperated groan.

"That is the lamest excuse I have ever heard," Yami remarked, but before Seto could reprimand them both, Azura stepped onto the makeshift stage next to the piano and called everyone to attention.

Her dark blue hair flickered in the light of the chandelier hanging over them all, and even from where the trio stood, they could see that she wasn't in the best of moods. As such, when her eyes flashed dangerously, the rest of the audience had the wisdom (and a few had the first-hand experience) to know that it was time to quiet down.

"And that's your cue," Seto commented to Yami, while subtly pinning his boyfriend's arms to his sides and as they watched Yami leave, moving them to a darker corner of the room. Perhaps, a little...lesson, was in order.

Yami walked calmly to where Azura had been moments before and took his place beside the piano, all conversation non-existant. After a moment's thought, he took a seat beside the piano, and closing his eyes, opened the part of his mind that he wished to broadcast tonight.

The Telling...It was a way to prevent all those creatures of the night from losing their human aspects. It was, essentially, what kept them human, and in some cases, even sane. And while all of those present could broadcast their mind as well, no one could do as good a job, and on such a wide range, as vampires. Maybe it was because they were the most in touch with what made them human, or something else, but the task had been somehow appointed to them to make sure that the Da'k, the people of the night, did not stray too far from the path they walked.

"What's on the list tonight?" Azura asked him quietly as she stood behind him, ready to offer assistance if needed.

"Egypt..." The word seemed to leap from his lips and engulf them all in a grip that sent them spinning through time. And somewhere, through the scenes displayed so vividly in each being's mind, the piano began to sing under Yami's hands.

Everyone in the room, whether they'd come out of curiosity or were long-time attendees, felt the undertow of emotions that flowed from his mind to theirs, the memories of a vampire who'd been around to watch a civilization rise and fall: his own civilization.

It was Egypt. It was the tang of sand on their tongue, and it was the heat of the sun on their skin, as it was the playful freedom of the wind whistling through their hair. The Nile rising with the yearly flood brought joy to their hearts, and the droughts and famines brought tears through their eyes.

And yet, nothing could prepare them for the sight of the Pharaoh's palace. It was majesty incarnate; and it was all of Egypt, everything that made it what it was, all unified in that which was the Pharaoh. He, who stood before them tonight as a vampire, a survivor of the ages, had been that Pharaoh, and his own memories of his life were the sweetest. And throughout this Telling, the piano continued its lament.

It felt like centuries later when Yami at last finished the Telling and stood from the piano, leaving those in attendance to come back to themselves on their own. He just felt too drained to stay for idle talk, or even the usual greetings that would be expected of him. 'I guess that took more out of me than I thought it would.'

He made his way through the throng of slightly dazed people towards the back wall, where last he'd seen Seto and Jou. Of everyone there, they would understand what he was feeling right now, as they were probably feeling it themselves. A moment later, he finally found them: Jou slumped against the wall, head down, and Seto not doing much better, standing next to him looking completely exhausted.

"How was it?" It was a lame question, and Yami knew it. But nevertheless, it silently conveyed everything he wanted but couldn't ask at the moment.

"I'd almost forgotten," Jou suddenly spoke and startled both of the other vampires, but he didn't lift his head. "I'd almost forgotten what it had been like."

Suddenly, he looked up at the both of them, and they realized that he'd been hiding tears. His expression was enough to make Seto catch his breath and move forward, but as he did so, Jou spoke again.

"Does it make be a bad person? If I can't remember my prelife very well?"

"No," Yami found himself answering. "I didn't remember mine either. I...I think I lost it at the start of the millennium, and it has only been in the last hundred years or so that I got my memory back."

Seto also spoke up. "Every single one of us has been through that. It's not right that we should suffer for becoming what we are with our memories, not everyone was made willingly." He said this last part with a trace of bitterness, but Yami could see it was fading now. There had been a time when Seto hated what he was, but it was long passed now.

"Did you forget too, Seto?" Jou asked in a small voice, his expression so fragile that Seto had trouble replying for a moment.

"Yes," he finally managed in something barely above a whisper, "I lost it almost as soon as I became what I am. I think it was more a natural reaction than anything else; you see, I didn't willingly choose to become a vampire, so it would have been painful to have to deal with that at first, on top of everything else."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Jou replied in as much of a whisper.

Yami tuned the conversation out at this point as he turned back to the crowd. Whether they wanted to or not, now was not the time to be discussing such things, especially in such a place with so many people. He did trust the folk of the underworld, but right now, their concern and wish to help would on get in Jou and Seto's way rather than help them.

He turned back to the couple to watch Seto pick up Jou in his arms, so he led them out and managed to deflect any immediate inquiries sent their way. There would be time for the later, if Jou or Seto so wished.

"So you didn't have your memory for a time?" Once again, Yuugi was afraid to break the silence.

"I was close to death. There really wasn't anything else they could do, so when the chance presented itself, my priests seized it."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be; It's not so terrible, after all. And my priests only wanted what was best for me."

"Still..."Yuugi was quiet, trying to assimilate so much information in such a small time. To experience it as if he had been actually there...Now that was a trip.

He was abruptly brought out of his thoughts by Yami's pained groan. As the vampire leaned back on the sofa, he misjudged the distance and unexpectedly found himself staring at the ceiling as he lay across the seats, his head suddenly in Yuugi's lap. Then,Yami found himself staring into concerned eyes as they looked over him in assessment.

"What's wrong?" Yuugi asked, concerned.

"I just pushed the limits of my mind a bit too far." Yami answered, as his eyes refused to listen to the rest of his body and closed of their own accord. "I..should have visited the Spell Witch before I went out."

"Oh, is that all?" Yuugi confirmed dryly, back to his usual self. "And how would one manage to do that?"

"By being forced to share my history with a noisy Da'sara," Yami's voice was faint. Possibly forgetting himself, he suddenly turned and burrowed his face in Yuugi's middle, who couldn't help but let out a gasp, and blush crimson.

"Mmm," Yami mumbled into the fabric of Yuugi's shirt. "Smells good."

But Yami didn't seem to notice the discomfort he was causing, and the next moment, his light breathing reached the human's ears and he gave up his futile struggle to get lose.

'What else can I do?' Yuugi thought as he got himself comfortable underneath the vampire and relaxed. 'Guess I'm here till morning...Wait a minute,' He suddenly realized. 'Vampires sleep during the day! Ah! I'll be here a long while, then...'

Yuugi tried to feel reluctant and frustrated by this thought. Really, he did. But somehow, he couldn't hold back the smile working its way onto his face, and the warm feelings beginning to grow inside.

Special thankies to JK Fie'r for beta-ing this chapter