IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT!! - This is the Yu-Gi-Oh! Yaoi portion of the Shipping List in order. Be forewarned. Some "pairings" will not be fluffy and cute. But they will all, hopefully, be believable. Rating's will vary.

Disclaimer: Yu-Gi-Oh! is the intellectual property of Kazuki Takahashi

Author's Notes: For Bloodshipping, I wanted to try my hand at horror. I don't often write horror but I'm satisfied with it. Last time, one person (thanks so much dragonlady222) made a guess at who Yami's boyfriend was. It was Jounouchi. My clue was kind of that Atemu thought he was a cool person and was really excited to have met him. If it had been Seto, I think he would have just been floored. That would have been funny to see. But the idea was not to focus on them. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviews and reads this! I'm so happy, we've almost hit 100 reviews! YAY! Ah-hem. Now then, on to this week's fic...

Rating: M (proceed with caution if you have a very weak stomach)


Yu-Gi-Oh! Shipping List #32: "Broken"

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Bloodshipping (Yami no Malik x Gozaburo)

Blood…

Marik knew instinctively upon finding the soul, struggling in the midst of the shadows, that this was a soul steeped in blood. Here was a soul who had lied and cheated and killed and stepped on everyone in his way like so many ants, a soul that had been owned by the shadows long before he had been consumed by them.

But this soul was different from him. This was a mortal soul separated long ago from a mortal body and that in itself made this soul inferior to him. To Marik, the shadow realm, horrific as it was - even to him - was home, but to this soul, the shadow realm was a personal hell, brought about by intentional misdeeds and personal weakness. And to the shadow realm, this soul was prey.

Marik moved in, like all creatures of the shadow, eager to feast on the soul's darkness because in the Shadow Realm, darkness was power and to Marik, power meant freedom.

Upon seeing him, the shapeless spirit was able to remember its form and shifted, becoming a middle-aged man with graying hair and hard hard eyes that regarded him as little more than one more threat. But Marik was so much more than just another threat.

"Tell me," Marik all but purred, circling his prey, never taking his eyes off of the spirit "have you a name?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "Is it no longer customary to give one's own name before inquiring on the name of another?" he challenged and Marik's smile slipped ever wider.

"Perhaps you do not know where it is you stand." he wondered aloud. "Or to whom you speak." The man followed his circular path with narrowed eyes and an iron jaw. "You are now lost in the shadows and here…here you are food. Does that scare you?" Marik wondered, not bothering to wait for an answer before he continued. "You may have had power in the world of the living, been feared or admired but here you are nothing and I am GOD. I am Ishtar, God of war and bloodshed and sacrifice…and pleasure." he whispered, his breath gracing the ridge of the man's ear.

The man pulled away, clearly disturbed but was perfectly able to maintain the unwavering coldness in his tone as he spoke. "You are not the first creature who has come to devour me, you will not be the last, but I have spent many years among monsters and I do not fear you and I will not be beaten by you."

Marik chuckled. "Such confidence. … But I am no ordinary monster." A slight pressure in the atmosphere allowed Marik to bring the man to his knees and he delighted in the enraged expression he received in return. Marik had to lean down now, to see the man eye to eye as he spoke, doing nothing to disguise the smugness in his voice. "Do you feel like telling me your name yet?"

"My name is Kaiba Gozaburo!" the man shouted in rage. "You cannot hold me here forever and when I am free you had better remember this: No One is beyond by reach and No One ever defies me twice."

Marik said nothing of that, only held his hand out in silence and in it materialized a wicked dagger.

"Did you know that a soul cannot bleed?" he asked of Kaiba Gozaburo and suddenly a grin that could only be described as insanity personified split his face as he pulled back the dagger. "But it can feel pain."

The howl of agony echoed out across the drifting shadows and endless void followed by a howl of laughter.

With every loss that Gozaburo would suffer: dignity, pride, vanity, control, and hope, Marik would gain power. The desperate emotions of those souls trapped in the Shadow Realm became a stimulant for those that drew them out, a kind of dark power. So Gozaburo would suffer until his soul could no longer sustain itself and his very existence dissipated into nothing.

Marik withdrew the dagger, taking pity that he could not enjoy the evidence of his deed pooled at their feet and splattered across his prey and himself.

"I hate the Shadow Realm." Marik said suddenly. "I'd rather have this power in the living world." The smile that had briefly flitted away suddenly returned full force. "And you're going to help me with that aren't you?" Gozaburo raised his gaze with weary hate and heavy breath. "Tell me what you fear." Marik's voice rumbled across Gozaburo's conscious and the defiant spirit within flared to life.

"I fear nothing." he spat venomously.

"…We'll see."

Marik's form dissipated, fading away into the shadows and the moment he was gone Gozaburo meant to escape, yet no matter how he struggled, he still could not rise and before him shapes began to take form, visions that from his position, he was forced to witness.

Gozaburo watched the scenes play out with a hardened heart and a steeled mind. His mother had died in childbirth, too weak even to complete so simple a task as that, his father had told him and he was lucky to not have been born with that handicap of gender himself or his father would not have wasted so much as a day on him. His father had been a strong and imposing man who had commanded respect from all before him and who did not tolerate failure. Compared to his father, he had gone easy on Seto and perhaps that had been his downfall after all. Like his father before him, Gozaburo had demanded no less from his own heir than the perfection he deserved but he had given Seto far too much freedom.

The visions of his father's beatings did not frighten him, they empowered him, and no sooner had he convinced himself of that than those visions ceased and were replaced with that of Seto kneeling before him. Seto chuckled and rage flared to life in Gozaburo's eyes.

"Poor old man." he taunted, clearly enjoying the encounter. "The world has forgotten all about you. They only remember me now, me and my gaming company." Gozaburo struggled against invisible restraints. "I have completely destroyed everything you spent your insignificant little life trying to build and I am more successful now, at seventeen, than you ever were." Gozaburo screamed in rage and Seto laughed. "How pathetic you are." Seto continued. "To have never discovered the secret in so many years. Pathetic little slave." Gozaburo's eyes widened as Seto vanished like so much smoke in the wind.

"At least you've still got me." Marik consoled, from behind the elder spirit causing Gozaburo to jump unintentionally. Marik chuckled and Gozaburo turned to look back over one bare shoulder, wanting nothing more than to distance himself from this creature but looking back he noticed that they were kneeling in sand, hot sand and overhead the sun beat against him unmercifully, burning exposed skin for he was wearing nothing more than a scrap of cloth at his waist.

As he sat, staring back at the dark-skinned monster, he could feel the sun slowly burning his pale skin, far faster than reality would ever allow. His body ached; he felt as if he were burning alive and to make it all worse, he could smell the stench of what could only have been his own skin burning. Lifting one arm, Gozaburo saw the skin blister and peel back, exposing raw muscle and veins that burst from the heat, blood exploding out from them. And Gozaburo screamed. Freed of his restraint, he flailed his arms wildly in panic.

"Would you like me to make it stop?" Marik asked, voice full of pity as he slid comforting arms around the older spirit, his touch easing the pain slightly. Gozaburo groaned in pain, perhaps waiting for death to save him the option of surrender. "There is no time here." Marik informed him, breath ghosting the shell of his ear. "This terrible suffering will only continue for all eternity. But I will be merciful."

"Y…e…e…sss."

Gozaburo could feel the creature's grin spread against his ear. "Beg me."

Marik removed his arms, the pain where they had rested slamming back into place causing another strangled scream as Gozaburo doubled over.

"YES!" he screamed. "Make it stop!PLEASE!!"

Marik returned instantly. "Poor little slave." he cooed, dragging his tongue along the other's cheek. Gozaburo shuddered and jerked away, his body intact once more. He stumbled back from Marik whose laughter seemed to be inside his head, filling his mind and drowning out his thoughts. "Run, little slave." Marik shouted, kicking sand toward him playfully. "And don't let me catch you." Gozaburo faltered, panting from the recent pain. "Make it to the edge of the sands and you'll be free! Any little girl can do it! Run!"

Gozaburo ran, stumbling over his own feet as he made his escape. After several minutes, he looked over his shoulder, to see if the monster was following him. Marik was not there but movement in the sand caught his eye; a whipping, twisting shape, winding toward him beneath the sand with blinding speed. Before he could even look away, the form shot up from the sand and struck out at him with the force of a lashing whip.

Gozaburo's mind only registered it as a snake as two-foot fangs lunged for his face. He tripped, falling back and the snake missed him, diving beneath the sands again. He scrambled to his feet, looking everywhere for signs of its return but instead of the snake, one by one, scorpions rose from the sands, surrounding him and swarming toward him.

He broke through them at a dead run but still they were climbing his legs. He couldn't shake them off. And as the first stinger buried itself deep in the muscle at the back of his leg, Gozaburo could feel the poison spreading like acid, eating at him from the inside out. One fleeting thought passed through his mind before the pain drove him to his knees; that a scorpion sting should not have done this. Gozaburo made the mistake of looking back at his leg. Pits were forming where the stingers had stabbed at him, liquefying flesh dripping from them. Gozaburo cried out as one of the scorpions slipped inside and reached out, tearing at his leg desperately.

"Make it stop!" he screamed. "Please! Make it stop! GOD!!!!!"

Marik watched nearby, a calm and silent part of the shadows surrounding him, as the spirit began to fade, and the eye of Ra began to glow softly on his forehead.


Post whatevers: Next up is Marik x Otogi, another rated M one, though for an entirely different reason. As always, if you liked, please review. Ja!