"You know what?" Yugi suddenly asked from his spot on the floor. He was sitting cross-legged, looking out at the sleeping town through the holes in the balcony railing. Atem, who was standing next to him, leaning against the railing, looked away from the setting sun and at Yugi. "It's kind of funny…" Yugi continued.
"Funny?" Atem asked, raising an eyebrow slightly.
"Not ha-ha funny," Yugi amended. "I mean…well, before I met you, I would always think, 'What is Saguaro doing? Is he drunk? Is he happy? Will I get hurt again tonight?'" He stopped and shook his head, trying to keep up a good mood. "But when you're around…I feel safe. I find that I don't think about him so much." Yugi sighed. "But I know he's not going to give up. He'll search for me until he finds me."
Atem stopped leaning on the balcony and sat next to Yugi. His dark feathers brushed up against Yugi's white wing, and Yugi gave a slight smile to himself, enjoying the feel of the said feathers and Atem's body heat. Atem also stared out at the town grimly. "I'll murder him if I see him again," He finally said, his tone hard. At that statement, Yugi reached over and pressed his index finger against a dark spot near Atem's ankle, where Saguaro had grabbed him. Atem sucked in air at the pain.
"See?" Yugi asked, and pulling his finger away with a knowing look. "This is what he does, Atem. Don't be stupid - or a hero. He'll kill you, too."
Atem pulled his leg up so he could rub his ankle.
"Then I'll have to make sure he doesn't get the chance."
Yugi shot him a look, but didn't reply. A door slammed down the hall, causing them both to drop the conversation and turn around to stare at Atem's closed door. With a sigh, Atem stood up.
"Kaiba's probably pissed off again. I'll see what's wrong. Stay here." Atem reached over and ran his hand through Yugi's hair as he stepped away. Because his back was turned, he didn't see how Yugi hung his head to hide his red face from the gesture. And because Yugi hid his face, he didn't see how Atem clenched and then relaxed his hand as it tingled from touching him.
Atem closed his door behind him and walked down the hall, stopping at Kaiba's door. Bakura was already there, looking like he'd just seen something that amused him greatly. Atem shot him a look and, without knocking, walked into the room.
"Oh, my…" He said, surprised to see Kaiba sitting behind his desk with his head in his hands. "What happened with you, princess?"
"Fuck." Was Kaiba's reply. Bakura jumped onto the small dark blue couch against the wall and started to laugh. Atem looked from Kaiba to him.
"He won't tell you, your highness." Bakura said in a sickening sweet tone.
"I'm going to pee on everything you love," Atem warned, and Bakura's grin only grew.
"Good thing I don't love anything," he replied.
"Oh, god. Fuck." Kaiba said again, drawing their attention back to him.
"Are you ok?" Atem asked. "Bottling up something? Want to cry on my manly bosom?"
Kaiba looked up at him. "I will punch you into the sun."
"Kaiba is so scary!" Bakura whined, reaching over to grab Atem and hug him like you would with a teddy bear. "Make him stop, 'Temy!"
"I'm going to bite you." Atem threatened. Bakura let go of Atem and laughed.
"If you bite me you better start taking off your fucking clothes. Just sayin'."
"If you ever say something like that to me again I will kill you in your sleep," Atem replied. "Just sayin'."
"Both of you just shut up," Kaiba snapped.
"So, are you going to tell me what happened, or do I have to go all king-of-the-angels on your ass?"
"Well…" Kaiba rubbed his forehead. "I followed Bakura and Marik to the human world. They smelt human scent and thought if someone could break the law, they could, too."
Atem shot a dark look to Bakura, who was suddenly looking at the ceiling all innocent like. "I'll deal with you later."
Kaiba shook his head. "Out of us four living here, I always thought it would be Marik to fuck things up. But it was actually you, then Bakura, and then Marik. Oh, god. I broke the law, too!" Kaiba looked at Atem. "What in the hell is wrong with us?"
"Wait, wait, wait." Bakura looked from Kaiba to Atem in disbelief. "Atem? Broke the law? But he's the king!"
"No freaking duh." Kaiba said that at the same time Atem muttered, "I never wanted to be."
"No…" Understanding came across Bakura's face, and he slowly got to his feet. "No way…so that human scent…was because of you? So there is a human here?"
It was quite for a second, then Kaiba said, "No." Which wasn't technically a lie.
"No?" Someone asked, and they all looked to the doorway to see Marik standing there, only half of his body visible. "Then what's this?" he then stepped in, pulling a smaller figure behind him. Atem immediately grabbed Yugi's arm and yanked him away from Marik, lips curved into a snarl. Marik held up his hands and took a step back.
"Hey, I didn't do anything to him. Relax." Marik rolled his eyes. "And you really need to learn to stop lying, sire. There are punishments for being bad." He let his tongue creep out between his lips. "And I'd be glad to be the one to give the punishment, you know."
"He's not lying," Yugi said, pushing Atem's hand away and stepping forward. "Because I'm not really a human anymore."
"Oh, good." Bakura rolled his eyes. "Would you like to elaborate, please? Not all of us were blessed with your superior knowledge."
Yugi's eyes narrowed, but he ignored the sarcasm. "I was dying, and Atem saved my life by giving me angel powers. I'm half angel."
"Great." Bakura groaned. "Atem fell in love with a smart-ass midget."
Yugi turned red and suddenly decided that his fingers were very interesting.
"No…it's not…like that. He saved my life. I mean…"
"Oh, Bakura?" Atem asked, pasting on a cute smile.
"Yes?" Bakura asked with a smile just as fake.
"Would you mind coming over here so I can tie you up, swing you around, and send you flying?"
"Doesn't sound like a fun thing to do, so no." Bakura answered.
Atem looked to Marik. "Would you get me a harpoon, then?"
"Oh, no…you can't do that, Atem." Marik said seriously. "You'll leave physical evidence using a harpoon."
Bakura smirked. "Aren't you forgetting someone...?" He trailed off suggestively, his eyes snapping back to Yugi.
Atem shot him one last dirty look and then relaxed.
"Yugi, this is Marik and Bakura. Don't get to close to them. They're psychotic."
"And proud," Marik said, giving an awfully creepy look (that involved widening his eyes and letting his tongue hang out of his mouth) at Atem.
"God. I've been kicked out of the conversation." Kaiba said suddenly.
"That's because you're no fun," Bakura answered.
"My point is, since I'm not in the conversation anymore, would you all shut the fuck up and get the fuck out?" Kaiba snapped. Atem just shrugged and pulled Yugi out the door with him.
As they left, they heard Bakura and Marik both say "No."