Small Note

Sakura: I'm happy at all the reviews I have received. I knew people would be excited about the sequel, lets just hope this one is as good or better than Vampire City.

Chapter Two

CO-RULER

One person with many jobs

If anyone had asked Yuugi what he wanted to be when he grew up, he more than likely would have answered that he would either like to be a business man like his father had been before he died or an archaeologist like his grandfather. The dream of being an archaeologist had almost come true until one fateful day that changed his life forever. On the other hand if anyone told Yuugi he would one day be co-ruler to a city that held both vampires and humans he might have laughed at them.

It was not something a child grew up believing in. Sure some children had imaginations of being kings, queens, warriors, pirates, and so forth. Some may even think of themselves as vampires, but never in his life did Yuugi picture himself living the life of a vampire and ruling over a city with his soul mate.

It's amazing that one minute you're a human going to college enjoying life and then next you're turned into a vampire. Honestly Yuugi wasn't complaining, but twenty years later and he was still getting used to it. However in the depths of Yuugi's mind there was no way he would change what had happened.

"Your majesty, if you could spare a minute?" Ah yes that was one of the many things Yuugi still wasn't used to.

Yuugi turned his attention to one of the many palace workers. She was dressed in the typical workers' uniform of black slacks and a white button down shirt. The uniform for all palace workers was simple, but everyone had a different look to show what they did inside the palace. This worker had a silver pin pinned to the collar of her shirt in the shape of wings to show she was a messenger. Messengers were used throughout the entire palace by the palace royalty, council members, and other important people who lived within the palace walls. Their main mission was to pass around information back and forth between the council members and the royal family. The place was so big and everyone was so busy that it was hard to get anyone on a phone or see someone in person.

She held out a binder to Yuugi which he kindly took and opened to see a few reports. "Councilman Bakura asked me to give this to a member of the royal family or King Yami, so that King Yami may take a look over the monthly report for all the stations." She explained while looking down at Yuugi seeing his confused face.

Realization dawned on Yuugi's face as he closed the binder and had to fight down his blush. There were so many progress reports that went through Yami's office that Yuugi always seemed to lose what day something was supposed to come in. "Ah yes thank you, Yami has been waiting on Bakura to send these to him. I'll be sure they make it to him." Yuugi thanked her, before she bowed and bid him good day then hurried off for her next job.

As he tucked the binder under his arm, Yuugi continued his journey to the dining hall before his husband started to worry. He was supposed to be at breakfast over thirty minutes ago and even though Yuugi could take care of himself, Yami always worried when Yuugi was running late. It seemed that even after Yuugi became a vampire, Yami was still going to worry over him, but that was natural for a husband.

It just showed the Yami cared for him and after twenty years of marriage Yuugi was perfectly okay with an overprotective husband. At the thought of his husband, Yuugi hurried his pace dodging palace workers here and there until he finally made it to his destination.

The doors were wide open allowing Yuugi entry with no hassle and he made a bee line for the head of the table. All the children were present sitting around finishing up their meals, while Yami sat at the head of the table with his arms crossed and eyes closed. If anyone else in the palace would have come by they probably would have thought the proud King had fallen asleep at the breakfast table, but Yuugi knew better than that.

As soon as he was within distance, his wrist was caught and he was pulled down for a well-deserved morning kiss. The kiss only went on for what felt like a second because a groan quickly sounded from someone at the table. Once the two rulers broke apart, Yuugi turned to see Chan and Kotaro silently laughing to themselves, while he caught sight of Ethan scowling Taylor who was nursing the back of his head that Ethan mostly likely slapped. Jason just rolled his eyes at this family before turning his attention back to the young female beside him.

Nothing much was different with his family besides the new edition to the family in the form of Jason's new wife a black haired beauty named Raven. The female beside him had been the same girl he had fallen in love with way back before the war. However two years before the war started she had left for college in America and the two lost touch. Once she graduated, she ended up returning to the city she had grown up in and the two got back into touch and realized they still have feelings for each other. So after five years since the war and three of those five years dating, Raven made the choice to marry and be changed by Jason so they could have forever together. The young adult may have been twenty three when she was changed, but she still looked every bit of the fifteen year old girl that Jason fell for, which worked out since Jason still looked like his fifteen year old self from three hundred years ago. They were a perfect match and it made Yuugi and Yami happy that their son had found happiness like they had.

The only two that may never find out the joys of marriage and having a lover were Kotaro and Chan since they were forever trapped in the bodies of children, but it did not seem to upset the two given they were allowed the joy of always being the babies of the family.

Yuugi was happy to have all of them as his children no matter what and it was times like these that he wished his grandfather had been still alive to see all of this. Before his thoughts started to turn depressing, he took his place to Yami's left and placed the binder in front of Yami. "Bakura's messenger found me in the halls on the way here and asked me to give this to you."

Yami pushed the reports to the side for after breakfast as he kept his attention on his husband. "Funny, since Bakura knows I always have breakfast around this time. I'm sure he told his messenger that, so I wonder why she stopped you in the hallway."

"Well it was either she saw I was on my way there and she needed to hurry to do her next job or…" Yuugi gently tapped Yami's cheek with his hand. "You still scare some of the workers."

Yami sighed as he lean back in his seat and watched as Yuugi dug into his food. "You would think people would be used to me after twenty years. I thought losing the mask and bandages would help people be less fearful of me, but I think it made it worst." It was true that twenty years ago Yami finally lost the mask and threw away the bandages in favor of finally showing his face in the public. The change was supposed to be a good move, but sometimes Yami wondered if he would have been better off keeping the mask. There were people who still pretended not to stare when he walked by and some people were even scared to look him in the eye when talking to him. He tried to be a kind ruler to his people, so if anyone looked him in the face he wasn't going to punish them. Sometimes being the King had its downfall when it came to his people being scared of him.

Yuugi swallowed his bite and took a drink before offering his partner a comforting smile. "You're their King so I think no matter what you do they will always have some fear of you. A lot of people get nervous in front of people with power and are afraid of doing something to cause you to hate them," That smile then turned into a grin. "Besides it doesn't matter what others think. I think you always look handsome and sexy."

The laugh that escaped Yami was rich sounding and it would have made Yuugi's heart flutter if it still had a beat to it. A tan hand reached toward Yuugi's pale one as Yami linked their fingers together. "Just as you always look adorable my little one."

Yuugi stuck out his tongue at the nickname before going back to his food. He continued his meal as Yami held onto his one hand and he ate with the other one. The day was only beginning for the two and it was nearly time for them to get to work ruling over the city.

It had only been two hours after breakfast and the two rulers of Vampire City were swamped with paper work. It was piled up on Yami's desk, so Yami was looking over all the reports that had come in, while Yuugi was lounged on the couch using his laptop. Yami preferred paper over laptops, so everything was submitted to him by paper and normally Yuugi would later transfer it onto a laptop by his scanner. The office had been upgraded since Yuugi became co-ruler and Yami was still getting used to the changes, but he had to admit that some things ran more smoothly with Yuugi around.

"Honey, do you have the paper work for the new citizens?" Yami asked as he looked around his desk. They had three new families who were applying to get into the city. Two of the families wanted to come live with family that was already here, while one family was new and as most humans wanted to start their life over.

"Yeah, I was looking up housing for that one family. The mother is a single parent with two kids so I want to make sure we have a place for her." Yuugi said as he got up from the couch and approached the desk. He placed the laptop in front of Yami so he could see a map of the city. "We have plenty of housing in the human only area and a few houses in the human/vampire area. I've found a few houses with other children nearby, but I need your approval before we placed a house off the market." Often times when humans would come to the city they sometimes developed into larger families, so they would apply for a new house. So when new citizens came in Yami had to take a house off the market so that family would have a place to live.

Yami looked over the human area and saw one of the houses wasn't far from one of the human schools. They may not offer colleges for humans, but they did offer elementary, middle, and high school education for humans. Vampire children normally were home schooled by their parents since they were trapped in the body of a child, but Yami offered vampire children tutoring here in the palace where was run by Seth and Kisara until the child no longer wishes to be in school.

"I think this house might be good for them." Yami pointed to the place and made note of where it was. "I'll put in word that the house is no longer on the market, so they may move in if they wish. However make note of a few houses in the vampire/human area in case she wants to live over there."

Yuugi agreed and went back to his place and make the notes on the file that belonged to the family. He then gathered all the files he had and gave them back to Yami. "Anything else you wish me to help with?"

"I think I can cover most of this. A lot of it is monthly reports that just need me to look over, so you can go if you wish." Yami told him, since most of the stuff on his desk just needs his signature. "I'm sure you're dying to go check on the shop."

"I'm not dying to go check on the shop, but I do need to make sure Taylor opened it up today." After the war Taylor, Ethan, and Jason took care of the shop while Yuugi was getting used to being a vampire. Once it was safe to allow Yuugi back into the public, the newly turned vampire realized that he needed to be with Yami more and help the King rule the city then running a shop. The shop had become his passion, but he was married to the King and had new responsibilities to tend to.

There were times when Yami told him not to worry, because he had been ruling the city on his own for thousands of years, but to Yuugi it just didn't feel right. So after a lot of talk they all sat down as a family and figured out what to do without giving up on the shop. Taylor, Ethan, and Jason all agreed to take turns dealing with the shop during the week, so Yuugi could be with Yami. Taylor, Ethan, and Jason needed to get out of the palace more and have some form of a job even if their father gave them monthly allowances. Yuugi was allowed to visit and work in the shop still but he didn't have to be there all the time to run it. The shop was only opened during the week, so the three boys and Yuugi didn't have to worry about their weekend being all about working.

As Yuugi closed up his laptop and started to leave the room, Yami called him back to say one more thing. "You're wearing it aren't you?"

The younger vampire rolled his eyes and turned to face his husband. He pulled a locket out from under his shirt and showed it to him. "I never leave home without it dear, so don't worry." He blew Yami a kiss and smile at him. "I'll be back to pull you away from work for lunch."

"Love you too." Yami called out as Yuugi left the office closing the door behind him.

Yuugi took a quick trip to his and Yami's share bedroom to put away his laptop before heading to the front doors of the palace. As he passed by the main guards at the gate he waved at them while they bowed to him. There was no need to be in a hurry since he trusted the boys, so Yuugi calmly walked through town at a slower pace which never felt weird to him even after becoming a vampire. When he walked at a human pace he got to enjoy the sights and sounds of people and cars in the street. It was something he would never get tired of.

As he took his walk through the downtown area all the people would wave to him and bid him a good day. While Yuugi would just smile and wave back. Times like these always gave him time to think and that day his thoughts went down to his locket that was around his neck. Normally Yuugi would forget he was even wearing it until Yami would ask him if he was wearing it. Most of the time he wore it out from under his shirt, but that morning he put his shirt on after putting the necklace on and he forgot to pull it out from under.

The reason for Yami's worry was normal. The locket was no ordinary locket, but only he, Yami, the children, and the council knew about that. Five years after the war once the city was running smoothly again, Yami and Yuugi sat down to discuss what they were to do with the shadows still trapped in Yami's sword. They would grow restless with time and Yami did not wish to anger them more than they already were from the war. So a decision was made and Yuugi agreed to continue to play guardian. A new necklace was formed since his rose necklace had been broken, but this one was different. Yami got the best jeweler in town to make a locket about five inches big made out of pure gold in the shape of an upside down pyramid. In the center of the pyramid was the eye of Horus with a black jewel in the middle, which would house the shadows. The locket would open up and inside Yuugi had put a picture of him and his husband on their wedding day. After Yami got the necklace he pulled the shadows from their resting place and forced them into their new home.

Yuugi remembered watching Yami work his own magic to lock the shadows in the necklace and it hadn't been pretty since the shadows were not happy. However for some reason they calmed down once Yuugi put the necklace around his neck. Yami figured it was because Yuugi was so pure of heart that the shadows took a liking to him. Now Yuugi wasn't one to use magic, but he did allow Yami to teach him how to control the shadows since they would respond to him if he was upset or hurt. The last thing either of them needed was the shadows to lash out at someone who may have not meant to hurt or upset Yuugi.

There were times when the shadows were sometimes sweet to Yuugi. He remembered one time was after his dog died the one Yami had gotten him before the war. The dog had only been about eight years old before he ended up with cancer and died. That day had upset Yuugi so much that he was surprised and shocked when the shadows responded to him by take the shape of a dog in front of him. It helped ease the pain and it also helped Yuugi make the decision to not get another dog. He had family that would live on forever with him and he didn't want to get another dog for it to die later on.

Often times when Yuugi was feeling lonely and didn't have no one to keep him company he would let the shadows take on the shape of that dog just so he could remember the good times he had with his dog. He didn't do it all the time, because he knew the dangerous of letting the shadows have too much freedom, but they seemed to like him so he wasn't too worried.

As he was lost in his memories Yuugi nearly missed the shop until he was pulled from his thoughts by the call of his name. He turned to see Ethan outside the shop sweeping. "Daydreaming again?"

Yuugi blushed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "Yeah, it's just so peaceful and sunny outside I couldn't help but let my mind wander."

"Well Taylor is inside working the shop. I'm just here until Jason comes by so we can hang out together." Ethan explained as he opened the shop door for Yuugi.

"Oh I'm sure he is not happy about that," Yuugi let out a laugh as he walked in with Ethan. They found Taylor with his head on the desk and he looked to be asleep.

Ethan went up behind him and gave him a good whack upside the head, which cause Taylor to sit up quickly. "No sleeping on the job, the boss is here." He scowled while going upstairs to put the broom away.

Taylor grumbled under his breath about spouse abuse before turning to Yuugi with a grin. "Uh hey Yuugi, I wasn't sleeping on the job I promise."

"Yeah sure you weren't," Yuugi said with a chuckle. "I'm surprised you even remembered to open the shop today."

"I was the one who had to remind him," Ethan said as he came back downstairs. "I'll probably come back an hour before closing and you better be working." He kissed his partner before heading out the door to wait on Jason.

Yuugi lean against the desk. "So I take it the morning has been slow?"

"You have no idea! This place doesn't ever get any costumers until after lunch." The older vampire sighed and placed his head in his hands. "I swear we need to change the hours."

"There are those who are early birds, so I think our hours work just fine. It means we get done with the day quicker and have the whole afternoon to do whatever." Yuugi liked working during the day, but he could understand Taylor who had been lazy most of his life not wanting to be stuck in the shop half the day. "Do we have any messages?"

Taylor reached into a drawer on the desk and pulled out a folder. "There were a few calls from vampires who want an item looked at but they can't go out into the light. I figured we will set up an appointment to meet with them here or at their house later this week."

Yuugi nodded, it was natural that some vampires couldn't go into the light and then there were those who just didn't like the light. This was why they offered appointments with everyone if they couldn't come during work hours. Yuugi handled most of those, but Yami sometimes tagged along so he knew Yuugi was safe and Yami was pretty good at appraising things. They did everything they could to have business from everyone and that included even delivering items bought online from the shop. Since they opened up the shop to having a website the mail company had been getting many packages to be delivered.

"I'll take these back to the palace when I return to the palace to have lunch with Yami," Yuugi explained as he laid them to the side on the desk so he wouldn't forget them. "I know we just had breakfast, but do you need anything while I'm here?"

"I could seriously go for some coffee at the shop down the street. They make the best coffee blood drinks around." Taylor replied he really needed something to wake him up more.

Yuugi made note of the drink Taylor wanted, before he headed back out of the shop heading toward the coffee shop. It was just another normal day in his life as co-ruler of vampire city.

Sakura: Chapter two is finished! I'm glad this story is rolling along so well and I just hope I can make it as long as or longer than Vampire City. Few things I want to touch up on about this chapter. The dog Yuugi mentioned was talked about in chapter 17 of vampire city. He got it right before Yami proposed and Jiro attacked Yuugi in the shop. I forgot to mention the little dog again in vampire city and I figured he wouldn't be mentioned much in this story so I took him out.

I didn't want to add the millennium items in this story, so I decided to go with a locket in the shape of the millennium puzzle. Yuugi is once again the guardian of the shadows for Yami. Yuugi may be a vampire now, but Yami will always worry over his husband and the shadows add better protection.

If you have any more questions please do not be afraid to ask. I'll try to answer without giving the story away.

Yumi: Please Review!