"How dare you come near him after what you put me through, you serpent!! It's not enough that you haunt me, you threaten Yugi as well?!" Yami

hissed in ancient Egyptian, as he curled his fingers into ever-tightening fists in sheer, undiluted rage at this manifestation of Seth that had so

viciously shattered the precious peace he had found.

Kaiba's eyes narrowed in curt appraisal, as he dangled his bloodied fingers in front of his face, but they bulged in shock when his attacker started snarling out the strange babble, and striding forward with both fists raised, quite intent on beating the hell out of him. Kaiba was no coward, of course. But taking on an enraged pyscho who had already broken his nose might not be wise. He did not back away, but watched him.

Yugi, being his noble, idiodotic self, flew in between the two of them, shielding his face with such small hands, as if he were fully expecting bruises from both sides of the combatants. But, Kaiba made no move to strike. As angry as he was, it simply wasn't in him to subject Yugi to punishment because of his lunatic cousin. He respected the runt's courage, even if he considered it a stupid move. When Yami suddenly lurched forward, putting Yugi in range of his very efficient fists, Kaiba sighed in disgust, snatched Yugi by the wrist. Yugi yelped to find himself dangling in the air for a brief moment before Kaiba uncerimoniously dumped him on the floor behind him.

"Don't you think it wise to stay the hell out of his way, Yugi?" Kaiba's silken growl came as Yugi was presented with Kaiba's warily straightening back, as he folded his arms, and raised an eyebrow at Yami in challenge.

Kaiba watched as Yami's face twisted from sheer rage to unwilling confusion at the action of him throwing Yugi behind his back. Was that not a protective gesture? It was Yugi who was staring at him with so much fear, not Seth. And, this person who so resembled Seth only studied him, coldly, with no fear, but cool indifference, despite the splintered nose. Yami had felt the bone yielding under his knuckles, and he had to grudgingly

admit the stranger was definitely an expert at concealing pain.

"Seto? I'm sorry about this...Yami's been through quite a bit, and I don't think he really knows how to interact with people.." Yugi's awkward apology

made Seto raise an eyebrow even higher, with a dry chuckle.

"Obviously. But do you really expect me to believe that you're safe around him?" Kaiba snapped bitterly.

From the very scared look on his face, to the sudden backward steps towards Kaiba, it was obvious that the poor boy had not considered any possibility that he was actually in any danger.

Yami looked both wounded and suprised to see this, but Yugi gulped when he saw the Pharoah's eyes slide shut, as he bowed his head, and started trembling. Yugi attempted the mindlink, but felt his thought crash like a wave against some mental barrier, and fall back into his own thoughts like breaking fire. Yugi recoiled with a wince.

"Yami? Are you alright?" Yugi's voice somehow pierced through the strange roaring that had engulfed Yami, and he heard the call of his name echocing somewhere outside the confines of his mind, as he fought to move, to breathe, to indicate to Yugi that he was not a monster. But, he stood, paralyzed and tremoring, eyes closed hopelessly as if he had mutated from being of flesh and blood to stone and ice.

Despite Kaiba's warning cry, Yugi scrambled forward, gripped one of the rigid arms between his two imploring hands, as he shook Yami until he

jerked like a branch caught in the wind, but nothing seemed to pull him from the strange, disorienting stupor. Yami did not move, only trembled, in the eerie, numbed fog.

Seto stared at Yugi hopelessly pleading for a reaction from his cousin, and wondered if his cousin was somehow a nutjob. It mattered little to him, but he found the dramatics of Yugi irritating, not to mention that he would be a slimeball if he left now. With a resigned sigh, Seto stepped forward, gave Yami a flying belt to the cheek, and watched as he reeled from the blow, and brought one hand to his quaking cheek, bringing his

wide, vancant eyes to stare at Kaiba.

"Kaiba!" Yugi squawked, "That's enough! I know he hit you first,but this won't solve anything!"

"Oh?" The sarcastic purr was very smug as Kaiba and Yugi watched Yami stare rather stupidly at them, his eyebrows climbing behind the golden bangs, his jaw dropped in astonishment, and one hand cupping the reddened cheek. The realization flooded his eyes with cloudy awareness, as he

turned to Seto, his voice thick, and low with astonishment. "You...you are not Seth! But then, how..."

Oh, no. If Yami's heart could have slid out of his body, and he could have melted into a puddle of anguished embarrassment, he would have done so. He stared up at the stranger, who only gave him an even deeper scowl, as he turned to Yugi, with contrite guilt. Softly, he bit his lip,

and winced when it pulled at his cheek, that was already developing a bruise.

"It appears that I have made a grievious mistake. I apologize, sir, for striking you, and I hope you may forgive me for it. If you feel the need to strike me again, I will submit to it without argument."

Seto watched as Yami bowed low after the formal speech, and his jaw fell open in startled,disgruntled anger. "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Seto's bellow was so loud that both Yami and Yugi jerked at the noise. Yami was still stooped over in his bow, one hand properly tucked beneith his stomach, the other curled behind his back, his waiting cheek presented for Seto's blow that never came.

"Yami, stand up, Seto's not going to punch you!' Yugi stammered to Yami, who rose to peer at Kaiba. "You don't intend to hit me, sir?"

Kaiba's eyes swung from Yami to Yugi, then back again, several times, completely flummoxed, and at a loss as to what he was supposed to do now. He chose to retreat to his usual distancing sarcasm.

"I already did, you idiot. Wasn't one time enough?"

"That is for you to decide, sir." Yami's regal voice floated up from his lowered position on the floor, and Seto just shook his head.

"What'd be the point? You still haven't recovered from the last punch." With those cool words, Seto straightened his coat, and spun on his heel to

march out of the store, only to be halted by Yugi's queery of "Are you sure you're alright, Seto?"

Seto grunted and shook his head, not bothering himself to answer. But Yugi raised an eyebrow to hear the warning and concern in the parting snide remark. "I'd watch myself if I were you, Yugi. Your cousin is an unstable idiot."

With that,Seto glided out of the store.

Yugi rounded on Yami, jabbing a finger in his face and proceeded to scream at him, "Yami, I don't know what just got into you now, or what you did in ancient Egypt, but you don't hit people here, do you understand?! You could have really hurt Kaiba!"

Yami backed away from Yugi, his arms flung up in distancing defense, his eyes bulging, and his confusion leaving him completely speechless, and overwhelmed, the darkness clouding his vision, once again, his body tremoring in all the sickening familiarity that he was breaking again.

Yugi stopped his rant when he noticed that Yami was paying him no mind, but his fingers kept gliding over the scars, distractedly, and his body was coiling into its protective crouch against the pain.

"I don't understand." Yami's soft uncertain words were barely whispered, as he turned to Yugi, his brow furrowed, and his eyes filling with fear.

"That was not Seth?" The realization that a man could look exactly as his torturerer, but not be was too outlandish and sickening to believe, as Yami

ran troubled fingers through his hair, and struggled to calm the frantic thoughts that were flitting chaotically as butterflies through his now pounding

skull.

"Seth? Who is Seth, Yami?" Yami's trembling voice was so restrained with the rage, that Yugi stepped back a few feet. "Seth is the cursed son of a dog who did this to me, Yugi." With a grimace and a sudden motion of hands to his throat, Yami wretched off the buckle that held the necklace over his quaking throat, and flung it down, pulling back the collar so Yugi could see them again. Yugi could only look away at the raw hate and rage that was sending the sudden fire through Yami's helpless veins again.

"Yami, I know that it was a horrible thing to go through...but Seto is inocent in that...don't you see?" Yami stood, lost, and shattered at the core.

His sanctuary of peace was trickling away from him like rebellious water, his mind still screaming in terror at seeing the hated face towering over him, thesensation of a high-pitched anguishing roar echoing through his thoughts.

And rising over it all, was Yugi's visible fear as he tried to navigate his way through Yami's clearly troubled mindset.

It was too much for Yami to possibly deal with, while he was so trapped between the terror of his past so balantly thrown at him now.

It was too much to try to explain to Yugi, as the small boy clutched at him, and attempted to force him to look at him.

The whole thing was just too much.

With a resolute shake of his head, Yami reached to free his wrist from Yugi's grasp, and he manuvered Yugi out of his way, gently.

"Yami?! Where are you going? You can't leave!" Yugi watched helplessly as Yami turned to him, with a kind smile.

"Do not worry about me, Yugi. I will be alright, and I will return when I have some answers. I bid you farewell for the moment."

The bells chimed on the door, and Yugi did not even have time to answer as Yami stepped of the shop, and disappeared into the dark street.