Howl3, I'm starting to love you! xD. (I really like the 'Yami pretending to be innocent' thing, so I added it here ^ ^;). The Holy Water is a weapon against demons. Demons are the personification of the evil and wicked. Therefore, the Holy Water only works against evil monsters like them. Yami doesn't kill just for the hell (lol) of it, he was just trying to protect Seto and himself. He isn't evil, so, Holy Water doesn't work on him ;). You'll see how Seto reacts in this chap, but as promised, Gozaburo makes his first appearence here, in the very very end. :p

gracefulmiracle, Hi again! Hehehe, Pet!Yami is my favorite thing to write, exactly because of that reason. (I'm very glad that you guys are worried about Seto, because it was awfully traumatizing indeed!) And thank you!

liron-aria, Yay! A new person! :D. I'm glad that you like Psycho!Yami as well, since he won't be going away for quite a while! Seto and Mokie will have him for as long as they keep the Puzzle, so everything will (or should be) fine!

"Nii-sama..."

"No!"

"Nii-sama! Let us in!"

"NO!"

Mokuba sighed, touching his forehead on the closed door from the supply closet. His brother had been hidden inside it from nearly two hours, and refused to let him or Yami know what was wrong. Apparently Yami did something to the guy that was hunting him and Seto was frightened.

Stroking their ghostly pet's smoky hair, Mokie consoled:

"Easy, easy. Seto is just being stubborn like usual."

The spirit whimpered softly. His huge almond shaped eyes were facing the floor in sorrow as he miserably scratched the wooden door. He seemed depressed.

Biting his lip, the little boy tried again:

"C'mon, Seto! Yami can't have done something THAT bad!"

"NO! You have no idea of what it has done! Get away from it!" The blue-eyed boy yelled through the door. Seto shrank further against the wall, trying to get the horrible images out of his head.

"Nii-sama! How rude!" Mokuba exclaimed in shock. "Yami is our friend! We can't call him like that! And you're being mean! He didn't do anything wrong since we met and the first time he does you turn your back on him? Remember what daddy always used to say! "

"Daddy is- !"

Seto bit the words before they left his mouth. Mokie didn't know. He didn't know that when someone gets too hurt they fall flat in a sleep from which they can never wake up. Mokie didn't know that they were trapped in this orphanage. That their parents would never come back to get them.

"-in the hospital. I know, Nii-sama." Mokuba sighed. "This doesn't mean that we can disobey him though!"

The ghost began to scratch the door with more force, a loud wail being issued from his throat.

"No! G-Get away!"

"Nii-sama ..." The black-haired boy pleaded. "Don't you recognize this sound? It's the same sound he kept repeating throughout the day where he accidentally broke my arm..." (1)

"..."

"Nii-sama ... he's saying that he's sorry."

"..."

"I ... I don't care ... I need ... I need to be alone for a while ..."

Sighing, Mokie insisted one last time: "Just think about it Nii-san ... Yami can't have done something that bad for no reason. I'm sure that you aren't thinking enough..."

Pulling the depressed spirit by the arm, the small kid led him away from the door, still closed tightly, trying not to feel bad about the way the creature looked back miserably with pain dripping from his eyes.

Seto was still huddled against the wall of the supply closet, but he couldn't help but ruminate on what his brother had said.

"He can't have done something that bad for no reason ..."

Pressing his forehead against his knees, he shook his head repeatedly.

"S-Still ... he shoudn't have ... he couldn't have ..."

The guy was there to murder him. Yami was just defending himself.

"But still ..."

Would he feel better if the man had murdered Yami instead of being killed in front of his eyes?

...

"No..."

So why he felt so... like that? Yami never had been a threat to him or to his little brother, and only acted in self-defense. He had nothing to fear.

But...

"That ... That was so scary ..."

Mokuba sighed when Yami rejected his cookies again. Stroking the thick, black hair, he insisted:

"Come on, Yami! Big Brother can be pretty mean sometimes but he loves us, and won't be hiding for too long!"

With a gurgling sound, the ghost finally accepted the snack, chewing slowly. His eyes were still staring at the floor, and he didn't move by the walls or or made something float as usual for a while... but at least he was eating, that's a good sign.

The little boy climbed up on his brother's futon to pick up the bag that was under the covers. The orphanage staff had changed his, Seto's and the other boys' room after the incident, and now they didn't have bunk beds anymore. Most of the children in the orphanage including the other boys with whom the brothers shared a room were still trying to pry information from teachers, but the building was packed with dozens of cops and desperate detectives trying to figure out what happened, so the search wasn't being very fruitful. Adding a hysterical Meishin teacher and a crazy manager to the equation, the result was pure chaos.

With a sigh, Mokie pulled the puzzle out of the bag and handed it to his pet just as the golden eyed being drifted to his side.

"There." He said. Yami always seemed to be happier when it was closer to him. The bright smile on the spirit's face confirmed the smaller's theory. It was a great luck that the police decided to hand his brother's backpack back to him without confiscating it for being at the crime scene, if they lost the Puzzle, who knows what would Yami do. Patting his pet's head, Mokie grabbed a white cloth and began to clean the enormous creature's dirty jaw.

"Damn, you're even messier than Nii-sama!" The boy joked before making a face to the mixture of red and cookies on the fabric. "Ew." He muttered before throwing the rag out the window. Hopefully the police won't find it and use it as a proof or something.

When Yami turned to see the object falling outside, Mokie sighed at the sight of a huge golden cut on the ghost's belly. "Oh my God! We need to take care of that!" He cried, rushing to get the medicines that he and Seto always kept nearby in a small suitcase. They were always surprisingly useful.

"Gaah ...?" Was the soft response of the spirit when the boy began to wrap him with bandages. He and Seto always maintained a good amount of these around, just in case ... Mokie became quite adept at tinkering with this sort of thing since he and his brother moved to the orphanage. He wasn't very sure of how Yami's body would react to the disinfectant, and there was very little of it in the bottle for Mokuba even consider using it in such a big wound, so he skipped this step. He hopes that the spirit's wound doesn't require stitches or something ...

"Grrr ..." Yami muttered, uncomfortable with the restriction on his body. The black-haired orphan comforted him with kind words before they both prepared for sleep.

It already was very late.

Seto slowly came out from the supply closet, wandering the dark hallways. He had plenty of time to think and ruminate inside the place, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see Yami again ... it would bring out some bad memories.

But he couldn't stay in that closet forever ...

Stopping in the middle of the hallway, the blue-eyed boy realized he had no idea where his new room was. Surely the orphanage staff had changed the location, but as he had locked himself in that closet, he didn't know where to go now.

Wherever it was, he hoped it to be very far from his old room. Trembling, he continued to walk, no fixed goal, only to distract himself from his own thoughts.

A gooey sound made him jump and turn around suddenly, a shiver going up his spine.

Yami was there, eyes down and dejected as he avoided looking Seto in the eyes. His lower body was being dragged limply on the floor, as if the spirit was too tired to lift it. A soft sound was emitted from his throat again as his face lowered even further toward the ground.

Yet another apology.

Seto wasn't sure what to do or what he should say. His time in the closet was great for him to examine the recent disturbing events that were taking place in the orphanage and connect the dots.

"It was you, wasn't it? Who killed all those people."

The ghost's entire body shuddered strongly and he slowly raised his head, nodding miserably confirmation.

Seto bit his lip, trying to keep bitter tears from filling his eyes.

"H-How could you ?! They ... they didn't ..." The boy swallowed his words, realizing that he was losing focus. Yami flinched at Seto's tone.

"And to think that I let you sleep in the same bed as me and my brother ... Gosh, I feel so dirty ..." The child brought his arms to his head, ruffling his chocolaty hair in disgust.

The spirit dropped a sad lament and tried to approach but Seto took several steps back, making Yami whimper again.

"You ... I can't believe you did ... I-I can't ..." The boy panted a few times, wiping his eyes. "Why ...? Why did you do this ...? I though ... I though you were different than the other ghosts ..."

Yami let out a gurgling sound, almost like a genuine cry, but Seto covered his ears.

"No ... I don't want to hear any more ... just stay away from me and my brother, that's all I'll ask of you. Don't come near us again." Swallowing hard, he turned his back.

"Murderer."

Ignoring the heartbreaking cry behind him, Seto ran through the halls.

He didn't get very far.

The silent sigh that the child uttered was muffled by a thick black tentacle curled around his mouth. Seto quickly felt his body being surrounded by a warm goo, and fought desperately to free himself before Yami's huge dark hand involved his scalp.

This time, instead of feeling something departing, he felt something entering.

Mokie crying because an older boy had stolen his lunch and he was starving since morning.

Mokie huddled in the corner of the supply closet, murmuring his brother's name as he trembled in fear of the dead rats that the janitor threw at him through the window for shits and laughs.

Seto hiding his bruised face in shame after being slapped by the teacher for no apparent reason, making the other children laugh.

Seto being launched by a blond man with green eyes, fear filling his eyes as he dived for what should have been his death ...

The blue-eyed boy gritted his teeth as a deep, seething hatred settled in his heart. All he wanted to do was punish these evildoers ... they would get everything that they did to his partners multiplied tenfold because they are unworthy ... they are evil ... they deserve to die... they deserve to burn ...

Seto shook his head several times to get rid of the thoughts, panting. These feelings weren't his. These memories... these thoughts weren't his.

"What ... what did you do? ' The boy murmured, feeling his head slightly pulsing while the ghost came out of him. Yami just looked at him with eyes full of golden tears.

"T-Those were ... your thoughts? Did ... did you show what you were thinking to me?"

The spirit nodded slightly, looking away as a thick, golden tear ran down his face slowly. Seto hesitated before wipping it, making Yami look at him.

"You... you killed all those people... because they had hurt us?"

Yami nodded again.

"I ..." Seto didn't know what to say. "Thank you... I guess, but don't ever do that again. No one deserves to die, no matter what they have done. I'm... flattered that you wanted to protect me and Mokie but... I don't think that'll ever be able to look at you in the same way again... I can't even imagine what you did to these people, and... please just don't do that ever again. Promise me."

The boy held his little finger with a completely straight face, making Yami hesitate before engaging all the child's hand with his own finger. A small smile spread on Seto's face. "I can't forgive you for what you have done... ever, but I'll pretend I don't know it. I'll give you another chance, don't waste it."

The spirit's body suddenly returned to normal, the black peaks on his head back to defy gravity. A big golden smile spread across his face as he curled around the brown-haired boy again, purring and nearly crushing the smaller in his animation.

"Y-Yami! I said to you stop trying to kill people!" Seto joked with some humor, even if he was still terrified of the situation. His best friend was a murderer. That was... a little disconcerting, even though he was only trying to protect him and his little brother.

But he couldn't deny that it was nice to know he had someone who would literally kill to protect him.

Holding the spirit's sticky skin with all of his strength, the blue-eyed boy let Yami carry him to his new room, which wasn't far from there, fascinated by the sight of the scene moving around him as his supernatural pet wafted through the halls. It was almost like if he was in his Dad's helicopter again... but a lot warmer. It was a nice feeling...

When they reached the room, Yami immediately hid in his little brother's futon. He seemed to know that Seto wasn't ready to have the same relationship with him as before and wouldn't be so soon. Yami was actually much smarter than he looked.

The blue-eyed boy saw that everyone else was already sleeping quietly, so he decided to follow suit, curling up in the thin blankets as best as he could.

Hours passed. In the middle of the night, the spirit began to hear a faint cry from the left bed. Turning his head in a way that a human ever could, he saw Seto huddled in his blankets, dropping desperate whispers about his parents and his little brother. Beads of sweat rolled down his flushed face as he moved quietly in bed. Yami wondered since when the infant had learned to be so silent.

Slowly, to not wake Mokie, the ghost came out from under the covers and floated to Seto, coiling around him with his warm body. The sudden heat woke the boy, but he was too tired to complain. In addition, the cold always gave him nightmares. Tucking his face in the spirit's soft chest, he left the rhythmic pulse and the hot air gusts in his hair drag him right back to sleep.

"Aibou ..."

The loving tone made Seto's eyes jump open. He rose slightly, but the ghost was still tightly wrapped around him, his golden eyes unfocused as he drifted in what should be some kind of sleep. Confused, the boy layed back down, wondering if the disturbing events of the recent days were making him hear things.

Months passed. The Domino media finally got over the horrifying murders and began to focus more on increasing the Christmas sales.

It was a long and painful process. After Kyandoru's death, the whole country went crazy. There were visits of scientists, exorcists, police, detectives and people who Seto had no idea of what they were doing there and honestly didn't want to know. The days became monotonous and tiresome with all the reporters interrogating him the other orphans. Yami had to hide on the outside, in one of the courtyard trees all day long, so he and Mokie arranged a bit of food and some blankets on the top of the tree, before they tied the Puzzle to one of the branches to calm Yami down. None of them wanted to find out what the ghost would do if he considered all these visitors as a threat.

In early December, visits decreased. Seto knew that soon, thanks to this CEO's visit, all of the searchlights were bound to return to the orphanage again, but he didn't care.

They wouldn't be there for too long anyway.

"Yes ..." Seto whispered when he finally thought of a strategy that ... well, could work. He hated cheating in games, but apparently he didn't have a choice this time.(2) The old man would visit them in the morning, and he simply... had no other choice.

Stroking Yami's hair, who was sleeping with his head on his lap, the boy took his pencil to his mouth, biting it. In front of his eyes there was a scribbled paper with all the strategies that 'Gozaburo' guy had and gleanings of chessboards.

With a sigh, he turned off the light of his torch and put it together with the papers in his backpack. He almost never separated himself from it since the day he completed the Puzzle. Yami didn't like being away from the artefact for some reason, and it didn't hurt to keep the pyramid around to let his spirit happy.

Pushing the bag into a corner, the boy snuggled in his bed, pulling Yami closer. The ghost opened his eyes for a moment before curling around the child, warming him. Seto inspired the soothing smell of smoke and dust, a faint smile appearing on his face.

Everything will be alright. He knows it will.

In the next day, Seto was awakened suddenly.

Yami's body was very spiky, his narrowed eyes staring at something through the wall. A loud, bubbling growl vibrated against Seto's side. The spirit was definitely ready to fight.

With his sapphire eyes wide, the smaller shook the other's shoulder lightly. "Shhh, what's wrong?" He couldn't help but be scared. The last time Yami was like this ... didn't go very well. The ghost looked at him, his golden eyes becoming soft in a matter of seconds. It was almost as if he was about to speak when the covers were suddenly plucked from off them.

With a stifled sigh, Seto instinctively tried to keep Yami in bed.

But the spirit didn't react.

Nor did the trembling boy who stared wide-eyed at him.

There was an uncomfortable silence. Seto didn't know what to say, Yami was as hard as a rock and the blue-eyed boy's chamber fellow didn't seem to be about to move very soon as well.

"Ga-Ga-Gh-GH-GHOST !"

"Shhhhhh" Seto desperately shook his arms. Yami growled loudly in threat.

"D-Don't 'Shhhh' me! T-There's- There's A GHOST IN YOUR BED !"

"I know!"

"Y-You know ?!"

"Yes I know! Mokie also knows but literally everyone else in this building DOESN'T know so you HAVE to stop screaming !"

Shaking his head desperately, the other boy ran to the door. "I ha-have to tell someone! This thing is brainwashing you for sure !"

"No! Isono !" Seto screamed when the black haired teen was about to open the door.

It was locked. With a menacing and deep growl, Yami lunged at the young man. The cry of both boys filled the room.

Before Seto could regret having forgiven the spirit, Yami rolled off his victim, revealing an unconscious, but unharmed, Isono.

A big sigh of relief escaped from the child's lips. He brought his hand to his chest before saying: "Holy cheese Yami. Don't ever do that again I thought que you were about to-.."

The ghost pulled the unconscious youth under the bunk, where he hid, curling up.

"Seto" A shrill voice complained, and the boy was immediately reminded that he should have been in the classroom for the visit a long time ago. Horrified, he jumped out of the bunk and ran out of the room, not bothering to get dressed or even take the puzzle with him.

Golden eyes blinked innocently as his best friend ran out of the room.

Seto ran through the empty halls of the orphanage, his heart pounding in his chest as the realization that today was the day and he was late weighed on his mind.

"Seto !" The woman who performed the adoptions rebuked in a whisper when he arrived, panting. "Look at you! You're all messy! Our visitor is here!"

The boy looked down in shame, muttering "I'm sorry Mrs-"

"Don't 'I'm sorry' me! Go get ready! Now !"

Nodding quickly, Seto stole a look at the half-open door, his eyes widening when he saw his brother staring at the man whose picture he had seen in several sets of books.

Gozaburo.

Ooooh, cliffhanger. Again. * sigh *. Don't trust me. (I bet I tricked some people with this title...hehehe.)

At least I didn't take longer to write it than I thought I would!

(1) Yami is a strong, huge ghost. Seto and Mokie are small little kids. I can see Yami accidentaly hurting them if he isn't careful ^. ^;

(2) In the manga, Seto cheated to win against Gozaburo. ;)

I want to thank everyone who followed, faved, and reviewed from the depth of my heart. Thank you ! I didn't think people would like a story so weird like this one, but I'm very glad they did! xD