Title: The Black Tattoo
Author: SilverWing147
Part: 1/?
Rating: Yet to be classified
Warning: AU, BL, Un-beta'd
Pairing: eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.
Summary: He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing the prologue. I am terribly sorry for the delay, work, and my internet being changed over, as well as myself being too afraid to even open the work document that is this story, because I'll get frustrated and throw my monitor. You know when things just don't go right? You can't get them to happen the way you want to? Yuugi does, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll be seeing you in a week.

Chapter 1 – Welcome the Dark.

"Yo Gramps!"

"Oh! Hello Jounouchi, I didn't see you there." Said elderly man replied as his last set of customers headed for the door. They had been busy this afternoon, a greatly appreciated rarity.

Jounouchi grinned, digging his hands into the pockets of his jeans, denim blue jacket tightening around his shoulders; after all he'd had it forever. It was worn in some places, and he had grown slightly taller and more muscular, and it had already been a comfortable fit beforehand, but he refused to throw it away.

"Is Yuug' around?" He asked, leaning casually on the counter.

Grandpa's eyes darkened slightly, he always seemed older these days. "He's upstairs sleeping, he had a rough night."

"Yeah, I heard this morning. Has he… been getting any better?" He asked seriously.

"Yes, the marks are faded by the time I see him again, and he recovers a lot faster now." Grandpa commented, heading to the front door and flipping the sign to 'closed' heading back to the counter, Jounouchi watching him.

"That's good to hear. Can I go up an' see him?" He said, as Grandpa returned behind the counter to balance the register. Grandpa smiled.

"Sure, he should be getting up soon." He said, gesturing to the door into the house, settling into his chair to begin the boring semi-automatic job of counting coins.

Jounouchi grinned in response and headed for the back area through the rear door. He toed off his shoes and headed for the stairs at the end of the hallway, only to stop short at the entryway to the kitchen.

"Hey Jounouchi." A tired voice called.

He paused, spinning around to peer into the kitchen, surprised to find Yuugi at the sink filling a glass with water. "Yuug' I didn't know you were awake, gramps said you were sleeping." Yuugi gave him a tired smile.

Yuugi's eyes were slightly bloodshot, and there was a slight darkening under them that told him he was still pretty tired. He downed a pill with a glass of water, rinsed the cup, and turned to him. He was still fully clothed from the night before, and his knuckles were dark with bruising.

"I was for a while. Nightmares." He said by way of explanation, shrugging as only Yuugi could and turning to head back upstairs. "Thanks for coming round to see me Jounouchi, did you wanna come up?"

"Sure." He said, following the smaller up the stairs to his room.

Yuugi's room was a little bit strange, for while it was fairly clean other areas were so starkly unorganised it was hard to believe that only one person inhabited it. The floor was clear of clutter but his desk was littered with scattered papers. The cupboards were in complete disarray, but the bed made.

"So how you been doing Yuug'?" Jounouchi asked, lowering himself onto Yuugi's desk chair as Yuugi himself sat slightly hunched on the edge of his bed, smiling and forcedly energetic as usual.

"Good good. Uh, me and Anzu have got better, it was like you said, some strange girl thing or something, but yeah… uh we're not moving in together for… obvious reasons, but I just told her I wasn't really ready for something like that and she was fine with it, so yeah, we're going well and the shop's business has been good. You get in yesterday?" Yuugi said avoiding answering what other part of his life needed care, also known as himself. It was the same thing that Yuugi always did, he didn't want his friends to worry, but couldn't he see this worried them more?

Jounouchi sighed. At one time while they had been in high school, he'd been getting beaten by one particular bully all the time. But he hadn't just beaten Yuugi, but threatened him into doing his homework for him, as well as doing the homework for the extra studies he took up knowing Yuugi would do his homework for that too.

Yuugi kept smiling and telling everyone he was okay, just some trouble sleeping, something about a cat, and kept running himself further and further into the ground. His eyes became sunken from lack of sleep and over work, and when he got sick his body was too weak to fight against it. So weak in fact that even a simple cold had him bed ridden for a week, that's when they found out about the bully.

If Yuugi hadn't caught that cold, who knows how long he would've kept pushing himself on. The tattoo was no different. A bully with extra work that was tiring and pulling at him, and he just smiled telling everyone that he was fine, a little tired, probably shouldn't stay up so late trying to finish that game he started.

"Nah, got in this morning. Took an overnight train rather than a flight in the morning." He explained.

"I uh…" Jouncouhic wasn't sure how to broach the subject, especially with what happened last night but, he needed to be there to make sure his buddy was okay… though he could hardly expect him to be." I…I heard about last night. Read it in the paper this mornin', when I got off the train."

The Black Raven strikes again! It had read that someone saw him attacking a gang who took residence on the docks, the attack apparently at random. He set fire to their lair, a group called the Red Riders, and cost the city quite a deal in damages to surrounding warehouses. The area had been forced closed for repairs, putting one of the busy docks out of commission.

Yuugi flinched. Lately he only seemed to attract the worst kind of people. He used to attract them and some of the slightly less violent ones, but recently only the worst. He had warned them, warned the two guys who had ganged up on him on his way home last night after having to go on a late night grocery run. It wasn't even very late, just slightly past dusk. But they had pursued, chased him, cornered him, and then… the black tattoo had activated, and under its influence he had tracked them all the way back to their nest and destroyed them all.

Well, most of them anyway. He chilled remembering the sound of his others victorious chuckle as the building caught alight and burned, how his hearing had dimmed, as though he were too weak to hear. Then again, the creature drew his power from him so it wasn't a surprise.

He shuddered violently. It was like a leech, sucking on his strength and then using his blood to sustain itself. Just so it could burn people alive.

His tattoo warmed slightly to the temperature of another body, as though that were the single contact point for another's warm skin on his. A whisper he couldn't quite make out but didn't want to hear, flittered through his consciousness.

"Oh." He said simply, looking down at his hands, his charade was up.

"Yeah… did you wanna talk about it, or something?" He asked.

Yuugi shook his head.

"Are you sure? I mean, I haven't seen you in ages, but you look thinner Yuugi, and you don't look like you've rested properly in ages. You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Jounouchi pushed.

Once more Yuugi shook his head. "What's there to talk about? I'm cursed. We can't… fix me, but it's been getting better you know? I can hold it off for longer, I mean the transforming starts, but I'm actually awake for most of it before I… change."

He fixed a stare on his friend. 'Getting better? Yuugi…Yami no Yuugi's actions are getting worse, you aren't okay with this, stop pretending.' But he knew that saying that to Yuugi wouldn't do anything but distress his friend further, maybe it was better to let Yuugi believe that he believed what lies he'd been told, or at least accepted that he didn't want to tell the truth. No, really he just had to offer a solution, however temporary it was.

"Maybe, don't go out for a while. Just stay home for a week, if you need something gimme a call and I'll do it so you don't get the chance to change into Yami no Yuugi." He offered, sincere in his concern.

Yuugi grimaced. This was what was happening to life now? Confined to his own home so he stopped being a danger to himself and everyone else. But maybe… maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Anzu could come around; they could spend an afternoon watching movies together at home, try to take his minds off things so he could sleep. It was a possibility. Not a bad one either.

Jounouchi saw him contemplating it and quickly decided to load his offer with more positive reinforcement. "And that way gramps wouldn't worry so much whenever you leave the house too. So he'd get a bit of a break as well. You could just stay and help in the game shop some, I'm sure he'd appreciate it too, you know… once you're feelin' a bit stronger."

At the mention of his grandfather and how he must be feeling, the guilt set in. Yuugi's grandfather was a strong man, one of the strongest people that Jounouchi had ever known, but he knew that Yuugi worried about his grandfather, and if someone offered him away to make life easier for his grandfather, even if he didn't very much like it. He'd agree.

"Sure. I'll stay in… thanks." Yuugi accepted.

He smiled. "Not a problem Yuug'. So seriously, how you been? I've heard some whispers while I was gone about what's going on around here, and that seemed to be not as bad as last night but still. I know you said earlier that it was getting better, and there wasn't much to talk about, but Yuug' you can't keep this all to ya self. I understand ya don't wanna worry gramps or burden anyone, but I wanna help you Yuug' anyway I can. So tell me, talk to me buddy, what went down on the docks the other night?"

Yuugi seemed to shrink slightly at the mention. "I… I don't want to talk about it Jounouchi." He murmured. "You have no idea how much I… I really don't want to talk about it."

And with that he got up and walked from the room. It was rare to see Yuugi walk away from a conversation like this, but it was obviously something he wasn't prepared to be pushed on, which meant…

"Things are gettin' pretty bad." He said to himself, slowly rising from his chair.

Yuugi was downstairs, on the couch when he got to the bottom of the stairs, flipping on the television and pointedly avoiding which ever channel was showing news. His grandfather was in the kitchen preparing dinner when he passed.

"I'm headin' home now Gramps." He said, poking his head in. Surogoku Mutou looked up at him from the carrots he had been chopping, heard the television in the lounge room and smiled somewhat apologetically.

"Don't mind anything Yuugi said Jounouchi, he doesn't mean to be short when he is, but… he's a little touchy about wanting to talk about what Yami no Yuugi does, and last night was particularly bad, I don't think I've seen him so white in my life.." He said with a small shake of his head.

"There's nothing to mind, I just… pushed him a little too far with my questions. I understand. I told him to stay home for a week, so if you need anything done don't hesitate to gimme a call, k?" Jounouchi said with a grin.

Grandpa returned it gratefully as Jounouchi slipped on his shoes and headed out the other entrance to the house.

Yuugi sighed, hearing the door close as Jounouchi left, his grandfather explaining about it, them both talking about him as though he had some disease it wasn't polite to mention. As though he couldn't hear them. Last night… last night had been one of the worst. It had been a large drain on his strength, not to mention the nightmares he'd been having. A black void, both hot and cold in unbearable degrees along with flashes and glimmers of light, images flickering past like polaroids caught in the wind, each one a memory, an image of what had transpired in the night.

The screams of those caught in the warehouse plagued him more than anything. He hadn't fought hard enough for control. The beating he would've received would have been nothing compared to the pain they suffered as they either suffocated or were burnt alive.

He shuddered, some part of his mind telling him that they had done things similar to others, and would've kept doing it. They were a gang, they'd hurt many. But that didn't excuse what he had done. What the creature the curse changed him to had done.

'How could that be me doing those things. Not even in my darkest dreams could I do anything close… how could… how could I bring myself to…' His grip tightened around the remote.

Things had been clearer later, he'd felt more aware when the transformation occurred, maybe he was getting stronger against it, building an immunity. Maybe soon he'd be able to control it. He could only hope. But he'd have a whole week to ponder that, and no more heads to add on to the count.

He'd been home five days, and he was bored. He worked very rarely in the store, his grandfather not wanting him to do anything but nothing and so reluctant to let him help out in the store, which made him feel entirely useless, and very bored. Even shop work was better than lazing on the couch watching three year old soaps. He'd finished every game that had been unfinished at the start of the week, within the first three days of the new 'home for a week' policy. Since then he'd had nothing to do.

He flopped onto his bed, feeling healthier than he had in a while. At least he'd been able to take time out to reconcile somethings he'd never been really strong enough to deal with these past few recent weeks. Like just lazily enjoying himself, spending time doing nothing, sprawled on the couch without being too tired to stay conscious through a movie. To really think about what was going on with his life while the tattoo wasn't consuming him.

Anzu had come around last night and spent a few hours with him between her work and late night classes. They'd just lazed around, watched some hired movies, the labyrinth never ceased to amuse him and so Anzu had hired it out especially. She'd rested against him as they'd watched. A comfortable weight against his side, pleasantly warm and welcoming, and he'd rested enough to stay awake to enjoy it.

They had lazily made out on the couch in the time between the labyrinths end and the time she had to leave for class. It hadn't been very long. His back had tingled the entire time, prickled slightly when her hand had brushed over it, but other than that, nothing.

For the entire five days thus far it had done nothing past that moment. When he saw it, he noticed it always seemed slightly darker than it had before. He heard a whisper, something too faint to make out the words, but loud enough to hear.

He shook his head. The boredom must be driving him mad.

Yami no Yuugi – as he'd heard himself referred to – sat in the dark. He was always in the dark, though just recently it had lightened to a very dark grey. The boy who bore the black tattoo was becoming stronger. Since the tattoo had activated for the first time, it had been able to gain more energy at a greater rate than it had all the years it had remained asleep.

He reached out a hand, testing the weft of the darkness in front of him. It was softer, weaker.

He smirked, the light was getting to it. Soon he would be able to communicate with him, and perhaps even project himself into world through him. He was becoming stronger very quickly.

Since the tattoo had begun drawing energy in all those years ago, the weft of the dark had weakened from the time when it had been so thick he hadn't had the space to move his lungs in mimic breathing. It had taken a vast amount of gathered light to break the seal, the toll on the boy had been immense, but it had been worth it.

For those few moments when the dark power had coursed through the boy and his consciousness, will and light had been too weak to control it, he'd had full control. He'd breathed in air that actually had life in it! Tasted the musk of a dark alleyway, been able to feel rock and damp and cold, instead of just pressure, and standing before him was the man he had to thank for it.

Only something truly terrifying would force the boy to pull so strongly on the tattoo for protection, enough desperation and fear that his light would flare hot enough to melt the seal and free the magic. He owed so much to the brute, but then again, he'd threatened his bearer. Worse, he'd assaulted him. That thug had dragged his bearer to the ground in an attempt to sully the light, something his curse would not permit in any circumstances, and nor would he. He'd taken great pleasure in driving his fist into his flesh again and again, the dark power making him so strong he was nearly drunk with the raw power of it. It had been so wonderful, the painful cries and blood once the skin broke, the sweet symphony of vengeance.

Unfortunately the magic wasn't strong enough yet to be sustained for long, and had faded, as had he. But now he could come out more often, even use magic now. The darkness was so easily called upon, but it was still a drag on the boy whose light fuelled and spurred the darkness to greater heights. But recently his bearer had been resting, growing stronger and stronger.

Soon. Soon he would meet his bearer. The first one since his entrapment with a soul bright enough and strong enough to break the seal and wake the tattoo. He would thank him for giving him those few moments of freedom. Thank him for breaking through the darkest times of his non-existence. Tell him that it was so miraculous to fly, and he had him to thank. The darkness created wings for him, though they acted more as something akin to modern solar panels. They flared to cover more ground, to draw in more delicious light, to absorb the dark from the souls that were destroyed in their quest to gain the bearers light.

He sighed.

Though the boy was growing stronger. This meant that his time as sole inhabitant when the tattoo was active would be over sooner than he'd like, though… sharing with the boy was a beautiful prospect. Currently his bearer wasn't able to maintain control while the energy was burning in his blood, which left him, the more experienced one to control the magic and therefore the body. But later as the boy's mind and energy developed to cope, he would be able to maintain control over his body while the shadows inhabited it.

Yami no Yuugi sighed, leaning back against the black, hearing wisps of the boys thoughts. He'd felt the flare of emotion from the day before spark again slightly, his host obviously reminiscing in his boredom.

Yami no Yuugi remembered it too. Some female touching his bearer. Her hand had touched the tattoo and he'd felt the brush of it against his own back, the constant part of him that felt as the bearer did. He'd bristled angrily. How dare she touch his bearer! She was not fit to try and covet such light as his! To touch him like that, with the slight dim to her soul as well! Jealously had swelled and boiled his blood as he felt the bearer responding to her, the desire for her. He could hear him, he knew what was going on, and he hated it.

No one should be touching him. He should be his. He protected him, his light was life to him, his penance, his duty, his everything. No hand should be touching the tattoo but his, no lips should kiss the bearers unless they were his. The bearer wasn't for anyone but him. His light, his. He would protect it!

But… he was a spirit, and she a girl. Undoubtedly he had deep feelings for her, and she at least reciprocated part of them. He should be glad that she could make his bearers light glow slightly brighter, but he could make it so much brighter; make him happier, he was sure!

One day he would be able to touch, and that day, would be the day that his bearer's infatuation with that girl ended!

He groaned at his own jealous thoughts. Grimacing as he thought of how very sad it was for him to even think like that. Although he knew he couldn't help it, as part of who, or rather what, he was. He couldn't help but desire and feel possessive of his bearer. Covet him as the precious commodity he was. No one alive could understand how precious, unless they dealt in the dark ways. Only a fellow… a fellow… a fellow what?!

The growled, shifting restlessly. Curse his memories. Curse his understanding without actual knowledge. Curse this curse.

He felt light spark briefly, and tested the weft of the dark again. Tomorrow. He'd be able to speak to him tomorrow.

Day six.

Boredom had nearly completely killed him. His mind had nearly completely dissolved, but he felt stronger, better. As though his body had finally been able to recover from the after effects of his curse. Maybe these breaks weren't such a bad idea, but he didn't think his mind could take it. This was it, the day before the last day. Then he would go for a walk in the park in broad daylight, go buy a new game to play, and visit Ryou at the coffee shop.

Currently however he was simply lying on his bed, staring at the roof, just waiting for something to happen. For Grandpa to call up and say that dinner was ready, or that Anzu was on the phone, or Jounouchi, or Ryou. Or someone had called around. Or mum mysteriously returned. Something.

The something he got wasn't quite what he expected.

'Greetings bearer.'

He sat bolt upright, staring wildly around his room. Someone… he heard someone. He must've heard it in his room somewhere, because the other possibilities were frightening.

A rich chuckle sounded, though… it didn't sound as though it was an actual sound, more that he'd been fooled into hearing something that wasn't there. Hearing in his mind not his ears, but that's just insane.

'Such fear in thine pristine heart. Fear not bearer of the tattoo.'

His fingers clenched instinctively in the sheets, head swivelling around his room, he had to be hearing with his ears, had to.

"Who… who's there?" He asked the empty room.

'You know who.' The voice replied cryptically.

The beginnings of a new kind of fear blossomed in his heart. Was this the curse speaking to him? Could the thing that controlled him talk now? No… no it just changed him to make him crueller, it didn't have a set of personalities. It wasn't as though he was being possessed, just changed with magic. Was this the insanity of the curse talking to him? The other being he became whispering in his ear while he was conscious?

'I reside without identification, though thou seemed to hath dubbed me Yami no Yuugi.' The voice replied, deeper than his own. 'Thank you, for freeing me the shackles I had been cursed.'

Yuugi turned cold. 'Thank you for freeing me'. Oh gods, he was being possessed. It wasn't just magic, but an evil thing taking over his body. He unleashed something on the world that killed and blew things up. Shit!

'You needn't tremble so bearer. I have never harmed thee. Nor will I ever.' The voice purred into his mind, in a way that he supposed was meant to be reassuring, but it only succeeded in giving Yuugi the chills, frightening him more.

"No. No, no, no. Get out of my head." He whispered, eye shut tight. "Out!"

He tried to force the voice out, block out the sound.

He felt the wind of a mental sigh.

'Desire me or not, thou art bound to me, as I am thou.'

With that comment, Yuugi suspected the voice to be gone, but stayed on his bed; eyes clenched closed, hands pressed to his ears. Things just kept getting worse. He wanted to recklessly explode from his balled position, yell, scream, weep tears of outrage and helplessness.

Wasn't there anything he could control?! That wasn't controlling him?!

The Tattoo had him, and now he finds out that Yami no Yuugi isn't actually him but something else entirely different which was taking over his body to kill and maim. Was that voice the representation of the tattoo's consciousness? The thing which controlled him? The him that was not actually him at all?

Why couldn't life be simple?! Why couldn't he have what he wanted? The only time he felt that he'd truly got what he'd wanted was when Anzu had first agreed to go out with him. Had the tattoo been there then? Had it been responding then? Had it just been growing and growing until finally it exploded? And why hadn't that consciousness spoken to him before?

No, the day he'd asked Anzu at, had been terrified, and he hadn't even felt it stir. Thinking back on previous bully encounters his back always became slightly warmer than the rest of him but… on that day…

It was decidedly hard not to squirm when Anzu was staring at him like that. It wasn't just her usual staring down when he said something against better judgment, it was staring at him as though he'd sprouted something from his forehead which had then proceeded sing a sonnet about the joys of cold pasta; or something to that effect.

He chuckled nervously, hiding a hand in his hair and ruffling it slightly. "Ano... Anzu, you're uh... you're making me very uncomfortable."

He hadn't done anything really so bad as a sonnet, it was merely an invitation really. An invitation for her to go out and have a meal with him, and to make meals such as that a more regular fixture to their lives. It was nerve racking, took all the courage he possessed in his body (and he was still shaking slightly, heart pounding) but he'd asked Anzu to date him. Chills had gone down his back when he'd started to ask, but now after years of watching and wanting, he'd done it at last. He shuffled on his feet slightly, trying to disperse the tension.

"I...I dunno Yuugi. Could I... could I maybe have some time to think about it?" She said, eyes darting away from him.

'No, I want an answer now so I can sleep at night.'
That cold chill down his spine… the tattoo? Or that feeling in his subconscious…he had to wonder if it had been his subconscious or the consciousness of the black tattoo. Or was it only the first time it activated it developed this personality.

There were so many questions.

Throwing his face in to the pillow of his bed, his hands clenched in frustration. Lying face down on his bed, the black tattoo – though hidden beneath his shirt – pulsing gently between his skin tone and a darker one.

"I hate this." He said fiercely, though the effect dulled by the muffling of the pillow in his face. "I hate this."

'Such purity could not hate so.' A voice replied.

Yuugi wasn't so surprised this time.

"I hate you." Yuugi continued, this time addressing the voice.

A low chuckle. 'Then be without shield oh bearer. Neither I, nor tattoo, shall shield thee. Thine light will be stark and stripped, and beaten before three days dusk.' Amusement. 'Call upon thine shields, when thine heart tells thee shields art needed. Let me see thine hate then.'

Yuugi felt that chill again, and this time was sure the voice had left. Suddenly the world pitched, he felt a strange tug, suddenly hot all over. He was so warm, suddenly flushed all over. His head felt light, as though he could float from the floor suspended from it, but he wasn't sure how to stand. He released a weak whimper before falling unconscious, face down on his bed.

The next day he felt… lighter. He didn't look pale but he seemed to have a glow about him that reminded his grandfather of a pregnant woman (something to which Yuugi had squawked in outrage to when he'd heard the comment). When he looked in the mirror at his back, the black tattoo was hardly visible, practically gone. It was a mystery. Had… had both the voice and the tattoo vanished as the voice said they would?

He grinned. Wide and happy. Yes. He'd never ask for them back and he wouldn't have to deal with that anymore!

He practically bounced out the front door to go to the coffee shop. He wished his grandfather a cheery goodbye, and smiled stupidly to himself all the way there. He took up his usual booth and waited for Ryou to spot him.

It didn't take long.

"Yuugi!" Said a light and slightly lilting voice, happily surprised. "It seems like it's been ages since I've seen you in here! And you look a lot better than when I last saw you too!"

"Hi Ryou-kun." Yuugi replied, smiling in amusement to his friends reaction, and generally happy to see him.

"I go for lunch in ten minutes, you still be here?" He said quickly, looking around the busy store.

"You bet." Yuugi replied with an emphatic nod.

Ryou smiled. "Good." He said simply before adding. "Oh and Yuugi, you really do look a lot better."

Yuugi's grin increased. A week of rest and now no black tattoo to worry about. His life seemed to have improved by leaps and bounds. Though something niggled in his mind, remembering the voice's comments.

His gaze flicked out the window, watching people walk past without really seeing them.'Be without shield. It wasn't a shield, but a sword… and a couple of pistols too.' He thought to himself. Not that that mattered anymore, he was safe from that now.

It later became apparent that he wasn't safe from much else. He enjoyed a coffee with Ryou while the other hungrily munched down a bento he'd packed that morning. They chatted idly, generally just enjoying the others company. Conversation wandered from their respective partners to the computerised version of the tabletop RP that was being released soon.

After he'd left the café he'd decided to go the long way home, through the park. A mistake.

'Big, big, mistake.' He thought, staring at a particularly evil looking woman, looking at up at her from the pavement. People seemed to go out of their way to run into him. He was beginning to stammer an apology when a stiletto heel came down very very painfully into his stomach. He gasped, curling around the injured body part protectively. It felt like he'd been stabbed in the stomach with a steel pike. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes as he rolled to his side, a stiletto toe striking his back before angry footsteps could be heard stamping away.

This time a tear slipped out as his back seared painfully, but only in the area he'd been kicked. The tattoo, true to Yami's word that they would cease to interfere, remained utterly inactive. He lay on the ground panting, heaving while he recovered, wincing as he clambered back to his feet.

Time to head home. He had barely managed four steps when he ran into a suited chest.

"You're in my way."

And Yuugi met pavement again. What was wrong with everyone today?! He gasped, falling flat on his back and winding himself. Though he was close enough to the edge of the pavement to land on slightly more merciful grass. His back remained cold.

His head throbbed from hitting the grass and being smacked by that crazy suit guy. He once more staggered to his feet, his body shaking slightly. He breathed shakily a few times before drawing to his full –however diminutive – height. His stomach ached beyond belief, and he was sure that a bruise was already forming. His back wasn't so bad, though was still painful, so he quickly crouched forward again, finding it too painful to stand fully erect.

Steering clear of all human life he traversed the grass and tree's and shrubs, back to his home. Running into one other just before reaching his front door. This man had grabbed his elbow and looked at him. Yuugi for his part had stared back.

The man's eyes shrunk suddenly, growing fearful as though Yuugi suddenly knew some dark secret about him or something he'd done. Yuugi just continued to stare at him… there was… something about this man.

"Don't accuse me." He snarled, burying his fist into Yuugi's already abused stomach, and throwing him down onto the pavement.

It was almost as if everyone had caught on to his good mood and had instantly wanted to destroy it. Well they could stop trying, because Yuugi was sure the first stiletto to the gut had done it. When he finally managed to stagger in through the front door of the game shop, his grandfather, sitting almost robotically behind the counter, had instantly rushed forward, inwardly surprised when he found no tattoo marks, and that Yuugi was wearing a shirt beneath his jacket.

"Yuugi, Yuugi what happened?" He demanded softly, supporting him best he could. Why hadn't the tattoo activated? Or maybe it had and this was just an after effect. Why was his grandson so badly injured?

"People…" He wheezed coughing slightly, wincing at the contraction of his stomach muscles. "People… don't like… me very… much today."

The next day hadn't been much better. He'd woken to find the most beautiful bruise on his stomach he'd ever seen, it even hurt to sit up from lying position because that involved using his stomach muscles. Bruised stomach muscles. He'd made the mistake of assuming it would only be that day. That it was just a particularly bad day. That was all.

He'd been running home, eyes keenly looking for anyone he may run into. It was growing dark, it got darker quickly this time of year. He had been out picking a video for him and his grandfather to watch. One of the video store people had been very nice to him while the other had been plainly arrogant and rude. The way people had been acting towards him lately, couldn't just be a co-incidence. It had to have something to do with the tattoo. Perhaps… perhaps it had done something with that magic to make him a magnet for people with a dark nature.

Did he really expect that creature to be fair when saying he wouldn't come unless called? He was just waiting for Yuugi to call him now that he'd become a beacon for every evil intention within a four kilometre radius. Waiting for Yuugi to hurt enough to draw his sword.

He was almost home when it happened. A harsh yank of his collar, tightening around his throat and gagging him briefly. He was pulled backwards away from the main road, never given the opportunity to turn around.

"Such a pretty light. Mm, you'll do very nicely." It was a female. A very strong and sickly voiced female, with an evil cackle like something out of the movies.

"Please, let me go!" Yuugi cried, attempting to dig his heels in, but going backwards, and already way off balance, he couldn't gather enough leverage.

She cackled again. "I think not."

He was pulled into an alley way, heading to an ominous looking door. "No, I think that I'll keep you."

Yuugi renewed his struggles flailing his arms wildly, the plastic bag holding the two DVD's he'd picked for the evening, swinging around dangerously. To his luck, it swung back and a corner struck her in the temple. She staggered, loosing her grip long enough for him to escape.

Without pause he fled, heading full pelt out of the alleyway and back towards home. His feet pounded on the pavement, hardly a car drove past, and his breath came in harsh pants, heart pounding in his ears.

A voice laughed, coming from…above?

Yuugi looked around wildly for the woman pursuing him, never slowing in his mindless run. She wasn't anywhere. Not ahead, behind, or to the sides. Another laugh.

There! He thought, catching a glimpse of her silhouette as it ran… along the rooftops? He swivelled his head quickly to look up at the top of the building he was running past. She was running beside him, except atop the buildings, leaping between them effortlessly.

Yuugi's heart pounded in fear. What was going on? There was a lady running along the rooftops, she didn't seem to notice as she leapt gaps she shouldn't have been able to. He sped up as much as he could to try and escape the strange woman. Where were the wings when he wanted them?

Except he couldn't manage to get away from her, she suddenly started to over take him, and before he knew it, she was in front of him, fist flying forward. His vision blurred as pain flared through his chest. It was so hard to breathe.

Suddenly there were more of them. Two more to be exact.

They grabbed him by his arms and hauled him up and towards a white van which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere… but there had been light with him all the way, nearly constant. Why hadn't he noticed this before?

"Take this one to the house. I'll go find another and bring them myself." She commanded briskly, winking at the slumped Yuugi as he was dragged to the van.

"No" He moaned weakly.

Ignoring his protest he was tossed into the back, hands bound behind his back, lying on his side as the other two climbed into the driver and passenger side respectively. He was left alone in the back, trying to grip the ground with his skin as they sped around corners.

He'd… Gods he'd… His eyes clenched tightly closed. He had to do something; he couldn't just be caught and carried away to some house, kidnapped. He… he needed help.

"Help!" He yelled. "Someone help!" Maybe someone would hear, and get the number of the van.

"Shut up!" The driver yelled, glancing back at him for an instant.

"Help!!!" He continued to yell.

"Hey, get back there and make him quiet down." The driver said to the guy beside him gruffly.

The other grunted in annoyance, undoing his seatbelt and clambering awkwardly into the back of the moving van.

"HELP!"

"Shut up!" The gruff man roared, backhanding him across the face, burying his foot into Yuugi's already far too painful stomach.

He was winded, and could taste the sickly copper tang of blood in his mouth, slipping from the corner of his lips as his teeth were stained red.

"Help." He wheezed out weakly. He couldn't stop, it didn't matter how much he got hurt, he didn't want to go to this "house" the lady had spoke of.

"I said, shut up brat!" The foot returned.

Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. It was no use, he'd have to… he'd have to draw a sword to act as a shield; he couldn't take much more of this and have a stomach or ribs left afterwards.

"Help." He said weakly once more. A foot came down on him directly, pressing his back to the ground, stepping on his bruised stomach. He couldn't help himself any more.

"Yami!"he screamed, black tattoo burning against the soft skin of his back. It shone with nothingness, as hot as white steel.

'…please help me.'

A smirk. 'As thou dost wish it, I shalt make it so.'

He heard the cries of alarm as blackness exploded around him, the tattoo's appearing all over his skin, his shirt tearing and searing with the heat of the magic pulsing through his system, the shadows flowing in his very veins. He felt Yami's smirk appear on his face as he began to loose control. Felt the brush of the other personality against his briefly, as though tagging him to take over.

He heard the crunch of bones as control fled completely and his other attacked, black wings perched on his back. The screeching of tires, the agonising shriek of metal as he tore through and flung himself into the night air.

He heard the screams of the passengers as their car collided with something far more solid than the car. The dark was back, and he had welcomed it.

Please feed the Author.