The Challenge of Life or Death

By MissLadyMinxx

Warning:This fic contains yaoi, vampires, werewolves, blood, gore, possibly lemons in the future and religious statements.

If you feel uncomfortable or easily offended in any way reading this story, please DO NOT READ!

News of Heartbreak: 05

Yugi awoke to the sound of chirping birds outside his window; the sun's rays gleamed through the windows. He arose from his bed and stretched as his eyes scanned around his morning lit room. It didn't take long for him to realize that he was the only one in the room. Where was his new 'guest'?

"Yami?" Yugi called out to him, but no answer. It was just like every typical morning. He began to doubt if last night was even real, or if it was, like an early Halloween hoax his close friends made up. Yugi glanced at the clock. It read a taunting 6:30 am. Sighing, Yugi decided he might as well get dressed. He went to his closet and pulled out his clothes for the day and walked into his bathroom. After several minutes, Yugi emerged fully dressed.

"What's the purpose of you being up so early?" a deep, yet soothing voice questioned behind him. Yugi slightly leapt into the air like a startled kitten as an 'eep' escaped his mouth. He swiftly turned to see Yami in his room, standing near an open window.

'So much for the idea of this being a dream or a prank…' Yugi thought to himself. "School." He then spoke to him. Yugi wondered where he went off to, but looking at Yami's cold stature, he dared not ask him. He picked up a large black backpack from the ground and began to stuff books in it. "You'll have to stay here while I'm away."

"What? Did you not remember what I told you yesterday?" Yami said, glaring at the small boy.

"Well, you can't go to school with me. It's hard enough how am I going to explain that a stranger is living with me." Yugi said as he packed the last of his school supplies.

Yami was silent; already frustrated about living here with the one of the things he despises most.

"Look…" Yugi spoke, feeling the frustration from him. "Just stay here. I'll be fine, okay?" Yami still seemed to be still a bit apprehensive, but Yugi figured that he would calm down after he left.

"Here." Yugi said, walking toward him. He flicked on the switch to the monitor and the screen sprang to life. Yami just raised an eyebrow as he stared at the screen.

"Just watch some TV. Play some video games. I should be home around 5." Yugi said as he walked towards the bedroom door.

Yami grunted in reply. "You must arrive back before sundown."

Yugi left the room, shutting the door behind him. As he walked down the hall, Yugi found himself amazed at how well he himself was handling the current situation. Normal people would be all in a tizzy, but Yugi somehow managed to keep his cool. He had half expected himself to collapse in fright.

Yami growled impatiently and sat on Yugi's bed, already bored as hell. The 21st century was already too complex for him and he didn't care for technology it had to offer. And besides…

Yami began to click through all channels with the remote.

…there was hardly anything worth watching anyway.

Surprisingly, Yugi had missed the bus again. The trees swayed around him as the nippy end-of-the-fall wind shook their golden red leaves from their branches. A few leaves fell on Yugi's shoulders and head. He brushed them off lazily and continued to walk. The sun had just completely emerged from its slumber and was now casting a golden morning light on Domino's park. The boulevard that Yugi walked down was deserted, expect for the occasional squirrel.

Suddenly, Yugi could hear loud, quick footsteps approaching him and a hasty voice shatter the early morning silence.

"Hey, Yugi, wait up!"

Yugi spun around the see Jounouchi come running up to him. Yugi turned around. After a few moments a firm hand landed on his shoulder.

"What's the matter? Why didn't ya wait?"

Yugi sighed tiredly and looked over his shoulder to see Jou's towering form looming over him. "Sorry, Jou. I've got a lot on my mind right now."

"Um, listen, Yugi." Jou said, rubbing his head, "I was wondering if you could help me study for the math quiz on Friday. I can't afford getting any more D's, you know? My dad's gonna kill me."

Yugi smiled. "Sure."

"Thanks, Yug. You're a lifesaver." Jou said, rubbing his neck as he laughed.

And so it continued this way the whole walk to school, Yugi and Jou talking and laughing together.

Yami's POV

I sighed, skimming through one of Yugi's…"manga" books as it said on the back. Another useless attempt at escaping boredom was now lying on the floor beside all the others. The large square contraption beside me read the numbers 4:45. Then I remembered that Yugi said he would be home by 5. That meant that I only had 15 more minutes left before Yugi returned home.

This was degrading for me. Living with a human, a chosen one, and protecting him? Pitiful. The only obstacle in my way from killing this chosen one was that he was the key and cannot be harmed or killed. Humans are disgraceful beings that need to be destroyed not protected. They were all the same to me. Besides…not once were my pleas for help took into consideration as they murdered the only two people that I loved from my life.

I growled as I got up off the floor for the first time in 3 hours. I could feel my joints give a little crack. I sighed as I moved about to rid myself of the stiffness that had conquered my body.

After I was nice and loose I began to pick up the books scattered across the floor just to ease the boredom. Suddenly, my ears picked up the sound of…purring? I looked at the open window, and my eye twitched as the black and white furred creature jumped into the bedroom and approached me. I wasn't fond of cats that much. They are so annoying. I flinched as the creature rubbed against me. I pushed the cat away from me but it came right back. "Go away!" I shouted as I bared my fangs. But it only looked at me, clueless at the treat. I was beginning to grow agitated more and more by the sight of this thing. I took the creature by the tail and within seconds, it was thrown out of the window.

"Stupid creature…" I muttered.

Yugi sprinted home, his backpack thumping against his back. It was almost 5 and didn't' want to be late. Who knew what Yami would do if he was late? And besides, he didn't want his grandfather discovering Yami before he could come up with an excuse. In the back of his mind, he was more worried what Yami would do to his grandfather.

Yugi dashed into his house, discarding his backpack by the door. "Grandpa?" He called out; nothing but silence. He still wasn't home?

"Yugi?"

An 'eek' escaped Yugi's mouth. He quickly turned to see Jou at the door. "Jou! What are you doing here?" Yugi asked nervously.

"I thought this would be a good time to help me study for my math test, since you said you weren't busy this evening, remember?"

Yugi cursed to himself. He forgot.

He gasps. Yami! "Oh, y-yeah, just sit down and…I'll be right back."

Jou watched his little friend run up the stairs as if his life depended on it. He was confused by Yugi's sudden nervous behavior.

As Yugi dashed up the stairs and turned the corner of the hallway, he saw that his bedroom door was open. Sheer panic rushed through his veins and he slowly walked forward and into his room. "Oh, no…"

Meanwhile, Jou was sitting on the couch in the living room, unpacking his homework and textbooks. Suddenly, Yami walked out of the kitchen after curiously raiding the fridge and suspiciously glared at the messy blonde haired-boy that was sitting on the couch. A sheer lust of massacre filled his crimson eyes. Jou could hear footsteps approaching behind him. He quickly turned to see the young man that looked a lot like Yugi. There was a short yelp from the blonde followed by, "Who the hell are you!"

Yugi heard the shouting from the living room. That could only have meant that Jou has met his 'roommate'. As he ran down the stairs and into the living room, the sight that greeted him was quite hilarious to be honest. The proud and frightening Yami standing there just staring at the defensive blonde with an eyebrow rose while Jou was waving a baseball bat about.

"Jou!" Yugi shouted. "Don't hurt him!" he then shouted to Yami. Fortunately, he interrupted the conflict before Yami could do anything to Jou.

Jou spun around to see his best friend standing in the doorway, a strange look on his face.

"Who is this, Yugi?" Jou asked, pointing the tip of the bat at Yami.

Yami glared angrily at Jou on the account of the bat being in his face. He snatched the bat from Jou's hands and broke it in half like it was nothing but a toothpick. Jou witnessed the whole thing.

"What the…?" Jou said with a questionable look on his face.

"Uh...he's…umm…" Yugi stuttered. He quickly tried to come up with a fib before things got even more out of control. "He's…my cousin! He has to stay with me for a while."

"Cousin?" Jou asked, looking thoroughly puzzled.

"Yeah." Yugi said with a nervous grin.

"Well…okay…huh...he looks a lot like you. Weird." Jou chuckled.

Yami's crimson eyes narrowed in anger at the blonde. Weird?

Jou held out a hand to Yami. "Sorry about that, pal. Hey, I'm Jounouchi."

Yami stared at Jou's hand for a minute and then looked at Jou. "I don't ever recall me being your…'pal'." Yami snarled, refusing the friendly handshake. "You're just very fortunate that your body is still intact."

"What the hell is your problem?" Jou shouted, clinching his fist.

"Well, I better go get him suited." Yugi nervously said, pushing the annoyed Yami away from his angry friend. Jou gave one last leery look as Yami and Yugi walked out of the room. For some reason he got a strange and eerie feeling when Yami entered the room. Something wasn't right.

"Whoa, that was close." Yugi said, collapsing on the bed.

"What is he doing here?" Yami growled.

"He's a good friend of mine. He came over for tutoring, that's all. Please don't hurt him!" Yugi pleaded.

Yami remained silent as his attention was focused outside the window. He watched as the sun began to set. He could sense a sudden change in the atmosphere and the scent in the air was unusual. "You are not to leave the house tonight, understand?" he said with a stern tone in his voice.

"Fine. I guess I'm being held hostage by you as well." Yugi muttered as he rolled his eyes. "I'm going to check on Jou…" he said as he left the room.

Yugi made is way down the stairs and into the spacious living room where Jou sat watching television. "Jou, ready to study now?" he said to the messy blonde haired teen.

"Yugi!" Jou nervously shouted as he shot up from the couch and stood in front of the television. "Um, let's go study at the library, okay?" Jou gently tried to pull Yugi out of the living room and near the front door.

"Right here is fine. What's the matter with you…?" Yugi was silenced by the sound of the news from the TV. As he looked at the screen, he noticed the reporter standing near the building where his grandfather works. The police and emergency vehicles were at the scene.

Jou sadly watched, unable to keep Yugi's attention away from the breaking news. "Yugi…" Jou spoke softly.

Yugi continued to stare at the screen as he grabbed the remote from the table in front of him and increased the volume.

"The city of Domino was come to a horrified halt after the discovery of the body of 75-year-old Sugoroku Mutou was found in a dumpster of an alley near the Domino Science Lab..."

Yugi's amethyst eyes widened with shock. The time seemed to have stopped in place and everything became silent. The only sound he heard was the sound of the remote as it fell from his limp hand. He felt his heart skip several beats and began to feel sick at the pit of his stomach. His legs suddenly felt drained as he nearly collapsed onto the floor.

"N-no…No!" Yugi spoke with utter grief and disbelief as his voice began to break.

"Investigators say he was pushed out of the 18th floor of this building and then his body was dumped in a dumpster of this alley. More of this investigation is shrouded in mystery and the motive of this terrible crime is unclear. Whether this terrible crime was either a murder or suicide, the investigators are unsure. No fingerprints were found-"

The television fell silent as the screen went black. After turning off the TV, Jou tightly hugged Yugi, desperately trying to comfort his friend. "Yugi...I'm so sorry. I didn't want you to find out this way." He sorrowfully whispered.

Yugi was silent for a while, his shocked blank violet orbs in a daze with tears running down his cheeks. Why did this happen? How could someone you cherish the most be taken away from you so effortlessly? How can the heart truly mend after being inflicted with the same grief twice?

To Be Continued…