I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh, or any other show, brand name, song, movie, or anything else in that nature (if used). Constructive criticism is accepted and very much appreciated! This is not recommended for children under the age of 13 due to violence, language, possible mental scarring (unless you're ireneotaku), and suggestive themes (the voices made me do it!). People of the internet, you have been warned. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Hunting is Preparing For Battle

Yugi ran out of the apartment building. He didn't want to be around Ryo and Chihiro, not after what they had just said. How could they question Yami? Why? Why did they do that? Yugi gritted his teeth as he ran down the street, enlightened by the orange beams of light from the tall, medal lamps above his head.

He stopped when the game shop came into view. He clenched his fists as he walked up to the front of the door, and then he slowly opened it. He tiptoed in, and quietly shut and locked the door. He scanned the dark shop, and sighed with relief when he heard Grandpa snoring upstairs. Yugi ran behind the counter where the check-out was, and began ransacking the drawers and cabinets. But it wasn't money he was after. Why would he want to steal from himself and Grandpa? Where did he put it…?

Yugi eyed the final drawer. Please, he begged, please be in here… His hand shook as he reached for the shiny silver knob, and gripped it. Yugi's heart began to beat faster and faster has he slowly pulled the drawer out. He sighed with relief and excitement when he found what he had been looking for. He reached in and pulled out a hand gun. Grandpa had put it in one of the drawers just in case they had a break-in or something along those lines. Luckily, they never had to pull it out for anything other then cleaning. Until now. Yugi nodded at his decision and silently left the game shop, his heart pounding inside his chest when he thought about what he was about to do.

He began running once he left the shop. If Ryo and Chihiro won't help, then I'll do it myself! He was so swallowed up by his plan that he failed to notice the shadow looming behind the small hikari. The shadow had glowing red eyes, as well as long sharp fangs, but perhaps the most frightening fact was that it had spiky, multi-colored hair, almost identical to Yugi's…

"Are you sure that you're up to this?" Ryo asked Chihiro. She nodded with a solemn look on her face. They were driving out the neighborhood where the news broadcast was earlier in Ryo's black car. It was already dark out, even though it was only 6 pm. Ryo tried to concentrate on the road, but he found himself glancing at his partner in the passenger seat. Ryo sighed.

"We don't have to go," he pointed out. When Chihiro didn't respond, he went on. "Maybe we should wait until you get more fit for the job." This made Chihiro whip her head around and glare at the driver. A growl was trying to burst out from her throat, and her eyes began to glow with the wild and pride of a werewolf.

"No," she snapped, "we shouldn't risk people's lives just because my money is tight! And besides, if we want to kill off this vampire, then you're going to need me."

"Vampires," Ryo corrected. The rage in Chihiro's eyes was replaced by confusion and curiosity.

"You mean there are more then one of them?" she whispered. Ryo nodded. "How do you know?"

"While you were resting I ran down to the investigation's main building and asked to examine the bodies for myself," he explained, "After I showed them my ID, they lead me to the bodies, and one, the body of a young girl, had a completely different scent on her." Chihiro looked at him with her tired and dull eyes.

"Big deal," she countered, "there are tons of minions."

"Yes, you're right," Ryo went on, "but it was the scent of a true vampire."

"But we found his scent earlier on in the investigation."

"Only this time," Ryo swallowed, "it's female." Chihiro's eyes stretched wide, revealing her shock and horror.

"So he has a mate," Chihiro whispered, "well then, I guess we'll just have to take them both out!" The werewolf's eyes gleam with excitement as her fingers gripped the arm of her seat. Ryo wished that he shared her feelings, but with the way Yugi stormed away…

"Before you begin ripping the stuffing out of my poor car," Ryo began, "what do you think Yugi'll do?" Chihiro let go of the arm and shrugged.

"He's your average mortal, Ryo," she explained, "he might go after the vamp…" her words were cut off when Ryo slammed on the breaks. His body forced forward on the steering wheel, and Chihiro let out a small squeak with astonishment.

"The hell," she roared, "why'd ya do that?!"

"I told you to buckle up!" he yelled back.

"I did, and that's not answering my question!"

"Then if you just have to know, someone ran in front of my car!" Her gaze softened, and they both looked out the giant front window. The unknown stranger was using the front of the car to help him stand back up. Because of the headlights, he just looked like a shadow. A shadow with spiky hair. Ryo unbuckled his seatbelt and rushed out of the car, with Chihiro close behind.

"Yugi," he yowled, "I'm so sorry! Did I hit you?" When Ryo offered his hand to help Yugi up, the small hikari smacked it away.

"No," Yugi growled, "I don't need anyone's help, especially from a lowly vampire hunter like you!" Ryo could feel his rage growing inside. How dare he say that? Does he have any idea what it's like to keep half of your life secret from the rest of the world? Ryo forcefully grabbed Yugi by his jacket's collar, and pulled him up to his face so he knew that he could hear him.

"Listen you little piece of crap," the white-haired hikari growled, "you have no right to be making fun of my job. And as for your precious Yami, he's gone. So get over it, you clueless moron!" Even though he could tell that he was acting a bit out of character, but Ryo knew that Yugi had to hear it. Yami's finished playing this fateful game they call life. As Ryo was beginning to set his friend down, he heard a few loud bangs, and pain began to race through his lower torso as bullets began forcing through the skin and muscle. He dropped Yugi's body, and Ryo fell onto the red-stained asphalt with blood seeping out of his mouth.

Yugi stood up after falling onto the street. He watched as Ryo lay at his feet, barely breathing. The bastard had it coming, and now he had Chihiro to deal with. He turned around to see her place her hand over her mouth, her eyes filled with shock. He turned back to Ryo's pale body. The hunter had finally stopped breathing, and his blood had stopped oozing out of the bullet wounds and mouth.

"You're next," Yugi growled as he turned to the werewolf in her human form. But her reaction completely shocked him. She wasn't begging for her life or crying! Instead, she was laughing with a huge smile on her face.

"Hey Ryo," she giggled, "I think we've tricked this pathetic mortal good. Now let's go. We've got vampires to slay." Yugi's body began to tremble. What the hell was she talking about? Ryo's dead! He can't come back to life! It's impossible. But when Yugi glanced at the body, it began to twitch. Muscle reflexes? Yugi remembered seeing that kind of stuff in movies, when the body would twitch shortly after the victim died. His heart skipped a few beats as he watched Ryo open his eyes again, and he sat up on the pavement. Yugi's mouth was left agape when he noticed that the holes in Ryo's chest had disappeared, as well as the ones that burst through his black jacket. Ryo began to stand on his wobbly legs, and he hacked up blood into his hand. When the hunter looked up, he was smiling while a small trickle of blood remained from his mouth to the bottom of his chin, and he walked up to Yugi. He fought the urge to flinch when Ryo stuck out his bloody hand.

"I believe these are yours," he mumbled as he opened up his palm. Yugi almost screamed when he saw that blood wasn't the only thing Ryo vomited up. The pale hikari had also coughed up all of the bullets Yugi's gun had shot him with! Yugi's body began to shake uncontrollably as Ryo frowned.

"Well," he asked impatiently, "do you want them or not?" When Yugi didn't answer, he shrugged and dropped the bullets on the ground, and then grinded them with the help of his black boot and the darkened asphalt.

"We'll be leaving now," Ryo announced as he walked over to the driver's side of his car. Chihiro nodded and opened up the door to the passenger side.

"Wait," Yugi yelled. Ryo turned his head to look at the small hikari, but Yugi couldn't find the words. "I-I want to come with you." Ryo shook his head.

"Go home, Yugi," he warned, "this isn't a game. And besides, that little toy of yours won't be able to any damage, even if it does hit its target with some amazing miracle." His words stabbed Yugi harder and more painful then the scythe of a reaper.

"Th-then," Yugi pressed, "what will?" Ryo sighed and turned to face the little hikari.

"Even if you did know how to kill a vampire or a werewolf," he explained, "there'd be no way you could possibly get them necessary weapons. Unauthorized people aren't even allowed to see them, let alone use one." Before he could ask another question, Ryo and Chihiro slipped into the car and drove away, leaving Yugi bewildered and lonely. He looked at where Ryo fell when he was shot. There was still blood, and Yugi turned his gaze to the crushed bullets. How did Ryo do that? Did the bullets even penetrate Ryo's body? Yugi shook as another breeze blew in. According to the news, it was supposed to snow tonight, but he never really believes the weather man anymore.

"Hello, Yugi," a voice whispered behind him, "Have you missed me?" The hikari whipped around and squealed with joy.

"Yami!"

"Are you sure that leaving Yugi there on his own was a wise decision," Chihiro nagged, "I mean, what if they were patrolling that neighborhood for a second time? He most certainly would be unable to defend himself." Ryo tried to ignore her. Besides, Yugi would either be smart and heed his warning, or be foolish enough to go after the vampires by himself. Ryo looked into the mirror in between the driver and passenger seats, and saw that he still had blood on his lips. How did I miss that? He began licking the red liquid off, and soon he was overwhelmed by the taste, and he could feel power surging through his body after every drop he consumed. He must have been making a face, because he felt Chihiro shaking his shoulder. He shot an evil glance at her, but she didn't flinch.

"Chill," she gently ordered, "if you activate your cravings, then that'll be yet another problem." Ryo's burning gaze began to soften, and he sighed as he kept his eyes on the road in front of them.

"You're right," he answered, "it's just… sometimes it just gets control over me, even if I taste just a little blood." Ryo could feel tears running down his face. He'd cover up his eyes with his hand, but he was driving.

"It makes me feel like a monster," he confessed as more tears began to fall, "this blood lust, i-it makes me look like one of-" He stopped when he felt someone rubbing his tears away. Chihiro smiled as she pulled her hand away.

"You're not the same as the others," she reminded him, "kinda like me. We want to help, not hurt. Even when it looks like we're being brutal." Ryo bit his lip and nodded. When turned around to watch the road, a shadow slammed onto the front hood of the car, causing him to slam onto the breaks. His head smacked into the steering wheel for a second time that night.

"Damn it," he cursed, "has any of these assholes ever heard of a crosswalk?!" When he looked up, the shadow dropped a body onto the ground, and began to run away. Ryo burst through the door, and ran in front of his car as Chihiro came out to join him. Ryo starred in horror at the small body, and Chihiro smacked her hand over her mouth. Lying on the ground in front of them was Yugi. Chihiro bent down to check his pulse.

"He's still alive," she sighed with relief, "and there aren't any bite marks on his neck, so whatever dropped him here didn't take advantage of the little guy." Ryo clenched his fist. This time, they've gone much too far. Another shadow leaped above them, but it didn't stop. It kept going in the direction where the other shadow went. Ryo burst into a sprint.

"Where are you going?" Chihiro yowled after him.

"Take care of Yugi," he ordered, "I'm going to get to the bottom of this!"

"But you're going to need…" her voice disappeared as Ryo pressed on in his pursuit. What's going on, and why all of this confusion?

Yugi slowly opened his eyes. His head was spinning, and he had absolutely no idea where he was. He looked up, and he saw a roof not far from his head. When he thought it had all been just a bad dream, he started looking around his "room". To his disappointment, he was in a car, most likely Ryo's. He slowly sat up, and looked out the window. He watched a large ball of black fur crawl out from underneath the car. Chihiro! He remembered seeing the werewolf in this form last night, when his entire view of life had been changed. He leaned against the door, and slowly knocked on the window. The black wolf's ears twitched toward the car, and the beast met Yugi's gaze with eyes lit by a glowing blue fire. Like the night before, her fur began to hide back into her skin, and her paws were replaced with hands and feet. When she was fully back in her human form, Yugi sat back as she pulled the door open. He stepped out, and fell. But this time, Chihiro was there so he didn't slam into the asphalt. She helped him get back onto his feet.

"You alright?" she asked. Yugi nodded, and began looking around when he noticed the Ryo wasn't with her.

"Where's Ryo?" Chihiro looked at her feet.

"He went after whatever delivered you here," she explained, "I don't think I've ever seen him so angry and confused before."

"Then what are we waiting for," Yugi asked, "We have to go out and help him!" Chihiro looked at him with surprised eyes, and then her fire began to burn again.

"Right!" She ran over into the driver's seat in Ryo's car, and Yugi ran into the passenger's side. Once they were both buckled in, Chihiro reached over and pressed a button. The roof above their heads began to fall back revealing the stars of the night sky. She then rolled down all of the windows. Again, Yugi's mouth was stuck in an agape position as he stared at the female werewolf.

"What better way to hunt vampires?" she laughed. Yugi nodded with a smile growing on his face, and sped down the road after Ryo. Yugi's body was pressed onto the seat, so hard he wondered why he even needed a seatbelt. Chihiro's hair was streaming behind her as she watched the road in front of them.

"Don't you think we're going a bit too fast?!" Yugi yelled at her. She shook her head.

"No," she retorted, "if we follow the speed limit, then we me may find a real dead Ryo!" She began laughing again. Yugi wasn't sure why, because she obviously cared a lot about the vampire hunter. She's probably having fun driving at such an excessive speed.

"Did I mention that Ryo never lets me drive his car?!" she smiled.

"Gee I wonder why…!" Yugi spat back. She just kept laughing as she increased her speed.

A/N: I'm trying to make the chapters longer less confusing for some certain people that I won't name here. I had tons and tons of fun writing this chapter, considering that fact that I wrote most of it during the day. I need to get life…-_-' Or maybe not! Please leave a comment! Thank you!~