*I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh or any of the characters. I do not make any money writing this story.*

Chihiro: Part II

Chapter One

~*~

How do I describe Pegasus J. Crawford to you? He is unlike anything, human or immortal, that I have ever seen before. There is something almost otherworldly about him, timelessly old as though he has lived for thousands of years, and yet he remains looking fresh and beautiful. The scent of his blood is so potent that I'm sure a vampire could sense him across oceans. He has incredible amber eyes that burn intensely like fire, and when he looks at you it feels as though he is penetrating your skin and looking underneath you, into your skin and your blood. I wondered how he took victims, by seduction or by force. Surely anyone being seduced by Pegasus wouldn't think of anything else except him and how his eyes penetrated them.

His name in itself told stories of eloquence and grace: Pegasus, the beautiful winged horse, so appropriate for him because of his long shimmering hair and perfect pristine skin, for the way he moved his arms and stood with such perfect posture. He dressed immaculately in the most beautiful salmon-red suit that fit him like a glove, and a massive ruby brooch pinned at his throat, as if to symbolize the most powerful thing in his body: his blood.

I cannot and will not deny to you, reader, that I was instantly infatuated with him.

Before there was Seto Kaiba, there was very little on this earth that I would have deemed "unimaginable". The adventure in my embrace and the knowledge of my strength were like elements of a fairy tale that became a reality to me, and the love and acceptance of my sire that I was experiencing was nothing less than a dream come perfectly true. But the appearance of Pegasus J. Crawford was about to turn my world, and everything that existed within it, completely upside down.

~*~

"You're brand new, aren't you Jounouchi?" Pegasus asked, his amber eyes glimmering. "Your blood is not old."

I smiled and shook my head. "Only six months old."

We had left the gallery at that point. I had paid for "Merciful Death" and nearly gave the man the address of the coven so they could deliver it, when I remembered that one of Yami's rules was never to reveal the location of the coven. So instead I told the clerk that I would come back for it the next evening, and gave him a little extra, which he seemed pretty damn happy about. As per Pegasus's request, I was given a fairly nice discount on the painting.

The first part of my story began with that beautiful painting. And now that the painting is mine, I am starting the second part of my story within the company of the artist.

We were walking down along the street. It was 8 o'clock in the evening, the restaurants around us were buzzing with the noise of dinnertime, and the shops were alight and busy. It was dark and drizzling softly, but we hardly minded the rain. I thought maybe Pegasus would mind it because of his hair, but so far I hadn't heard a word of protest out of him. He just smiled like everything around him was perfect just the way it was.

It was such a pleasure to walk with such an incredibly old vampire. His very presence, though slightly intimidating, was welcome and I felt protected and secure with him.

"I came to Domino in the summer," Pegasus was explaining as we walked along through the rain. "I was rather charmed by it. You can only live in Tokyo for so long before you becoming severely bored of the night life."

"You lived in Tokyo?" I asked enthusiastically, like it was a mysterious city in the sky.

"For hundreds of years."

By this time the drizzle was pouring down rain, so we decided to stop in a small, deserted coffee joint so we could sit and talk. It was a good thing too, because the rain on my Italian silk wasn't sure to be a good combination, not to mention Pegasus's suit, which probably cost him a small fortune.

Everything Pegasus did mesmerized me. The way he draped himself over the seat and sat with a smile on his face the entire time, and how flirtatious he was with the waitress who asked if we wanted anything. We ordered two cups of coffee, just so they wouldn't run us out, and the waitress was blushing full in the apples of her cheeks as she scurried away. She hadn't even looked at me.

It seemed as though he was drawing the attention of everyone in the place. People were glancing in our direction, though nobody said a thing. I wish I could read minds, find out what they were thinking.

"Tell me about 'Merciful Death'," I asked frantically. I could bear it no longer, the painting was now my prized possession and I was anxious to know everything about it. "You said it was a loose depiction of how you were turned. Is it true?"

Pegasus's expression faltered for a moment, I could see it in the twitch of his smile. For a moment I wondered if I had trespassed on territory I had no right to enter, but he smiled widely and adjusted himself in his seat. "Though I was not embraced by a literal demon, it sure felt like that to me at the time."

"What was it?" I asked. "And how old were you?"

Pegasus let out this charming bout of laughter, and heads turned from all inches in the room to see who owned the music laugh. I couldn't help but smile. "You are certainly curious, Jounouchi."

"I'm sorry…" I apologized. I hoped I wasn't getting too nosy. "I've loved your painting since the moment I clapped eyes on it. And now that you're here in person…and that you're…well, we come from the same place, I would just love to hear the story about it."

Pegasus paused as though he needed a moment to think, and then he nodded and gave me another warm smile. "I was 24-years-old. I was master to my house and yet I could not keep out the dangers that awaited me. The dreaded thing made its way inside through the terrace doors."

The French window in the corner of the painting, where the moon shone in…the demon had come through those doors, I knew it!

Pegasus looked down at the table for a moment as he spoke, his voice became softer so that no one else around us might overhear. "I was pleasantly asleep when the thing climbed atop me in the middle of the night. I woke to find it leering down in my face."

I frowned, horrified. The demon, as it was depicted in the painting, was a freaky looking thing. You wouldn't want to wake up and find it in your bedroom, much less on top of you when you were sleeping!

Pegasus continued in his low voice. "My beautiful mistress Cyndia was beside me, sleeping like an angel, and immediately I was worried the demon was going to hurt her. I moved to cover her with my body but the terrible thing clenched its hand around my throat, so I couldn't even scream."

He paused as the waitress came over with our cups of coffee, smiling as she set them down, leaning a bit too far down, if you catch my drift. Probably inviting Pegasus to have a good look down her neck line. But he promptly ignored her, too caught up in the tragedy of his story, that he didn't even make eye contact, and she skidded away looking disappointed and defeated.

When she disappeared behind the counter, I urged Pegasus to go on. "The horrible thing had strength in it like a dozen oxen," he continued. "It pulled me to the center of my bed and held me hostage in its arms. I was paralyzed, I couldn't move my legs or arms or anything. I couldn't scream, though I could see my beloved Cyndia lying there, sound asleep, while I fought for my life. The monster held me down so I was pinned to the bed by its body, and then it bit into me deep and fed from me."

Pegasus shuddered hard, as though thinking of it brought the entire ordeal back to him once again. "The monster was laughing as he did it, chortling in his throat as he took the human blood from me."

I thought back to the painting, and realized that the demon had a look on its face of certain satisfaction, as though it was pleased of the control over the situation, how it seemed to laugh at the viewer of the painting for ever doubting its power…

I shuddered hard. Compared to Pegasus, my embrace was a dream. To be embraced by the most beautiful vampire in all history was like a dream come true, despite the fact that he left me alone for a few days afterwards. But nevertheless he did return to me.

I can still remember everything about the perfection of my embrace; how Seto beckoned me to my bedroom, how he stripped me of all my clothes, how I was so convinced that he was going to kill me once and for all. He climbed over me, and kissed me, and ran his fingers through my hair, and everything was so dreamlike until he sank his teeth and then all was just a blissful blur. And then I woke up a vampire.

I got so caught up in the reminiscing of my own embrace that I had hardly noticed that Pegasus had maintained his composure. If the retelling of his horrid embrace had upset him, all traces of it had gone, at least from his face they did. He sat in his chair, smiling graciously as though no terrible subject had been discussed.

"I prattle on, Jounouchi." He said in his delightful tone of voice. "It is in the past, and that is where it shall remain. But tell me about yourself. I do not recognize the scent of your blood…who might your sire be?"

I saw no reason to hide it from him. "Kaiba Seto."

For an instant there seemed to be a sparkle in his eyes but as soon as I thought I had seen it, it was gone. His expression faltered for a moment and he frowned as though he were trying to think. "…Kaiba Seto?"

"Yeah. Do you know him?" I had a feeling that a guy this old probably knew tons of vampires in this area; it would only make sense if he knew Seto.

But Pegasus shook his head after a moment. I loved the way his hair sparkled in the light as he shook his head, like waves of ocean sparkling in the moonlight. "I'm afraid I don't…I've never heard of him."

I shrugged. Too bad, but what are you gonna do? I'm sure if I had mentioned Yami, he would have known instantly who he was. But the opportunity didn't arise.

We stayed in the coffee shop for as long as it stayed open. They closed at two in the morning, as to be expected, and they seemed to reluctantly shoo us out. Pegasus paid for the coffee, even though I felt I probably should have, and we walked outside together. But as it was getting late, I decided it was probably time to go home to mausoleum, back to my beautiful sire, and spend some time in his arms.

"I should go," I told Pegasus sheepishly when we had left the coffee shop.

"Yes, as should I." Pegasus said, as he pulled a watch from his pocket and looked at the time. He then turned and smiled grandly. "I certainly hope you enjoy the painting."

I couldn't help but grin like a stupid fan girl. "I will love it forever. I can't wait to tell all my friends that I met the artist-"

Pegasus's smile faltered immediately and he moved his arm forward and laid a hand on my shoulder. "About that, Jounouchi…"

I was taken aback when he touched me, but there was no way I was going to shake his hand off me. I stared at him in awe and he leaned closer to me.

"There are vampires in Domino that will react…rather unpleasantly if they knew I had arrived." He was speaking quietly as though he were afraid there were a bunch of them around us right now. "And you know as well as I do how quickly the news travels through the grapevine, and I would hate for any…unpleasantness to come crashing down around you and your sire."

I frowned. What was he talking about? What kind of vampires would do that that existed in Domino?

"So if you would," Pegasus said gently, and then gave me a small smile. "Keep our acquaintance quiet, at least for the time being, I would be forever in your gratitude."

I smiled, and nodded. "I understand. I won't tell anyone."

Pegasus gave me the grandest smile anyone has ever given me, and he withdrew his hand from my shoulder. And then he gave me a courteous nod. "Well then Jounouchi…until we meet again."

I nodded back, cheered by the presence of such a gentleman. "I was glad to have met ya."

"And I you." Pegasus said, in a deep voice, and for a single moment his eyes narrowed to me and his smile became deep.

And then he was gone. He moved with celerity so advanced that I was staring into his eyes a moment and the next he had disappeared entirely from view. I looked around frantically but could not sense him, nor hear him, nor see him.

I couldn't help but grin. Pegasus J. Crawford, the oldest, the most talented vampire I would probably ever meet in my life, had disappeared into the night. I turned on my heel as literally skipped down the street, wondering when the night would come that I would meet him again.

~*~

I arrived at the mausoleum an hour before sunrise. As I pushed my way inside Seto was nowhere to be seen. The fire in the fireplace was dying. So I secured the door and made my way up the steps.

The fire was still burning brightly when I came into the bedroom. Seto lay in bed naked, scarcely covered by the sheets, and the fire on his skin made him look more beautiful than I had ever seen him. His brown bangs fell down around his face gracefully, and he was so peaceful in sleep.

I stood there for a solid ten minutes just staring at him, awing at his untimely beauty, wondering how it was that I had been fortunate enough to have been embraced by such a magnificent creature. For all the bullshit that had happened in my mortal life, everything that made existence not even worth living…I was blessed to have been found by Kaiba Seto, and embraced under his blood that would bind us for all eternity. My emotions carried me away to the point where I was crying and hadn't realized it.

I took off all my clothes slowly, and slid into bed. I wrapped my arms around Seto as best I could and spooned into the curve of his back. But we were like this only a moment before he woke and turned himself to face me. It was then that he brought me into his arms, as close as our skin would allow. He said nothing, only surrendered back to sleep, and I was still in tears in his grasp. Resting my chin atop his shoulder, I closed my eyes and hugged myself to him closer, until I too surrendered into sleep.

~*~

The next night I woke early and Seto was gone. He'd gotten into a habit of doing that recently, taking off early to hunt or do whatever he needed to do, and returning about an hour or two later and not leaving for the rest of the night. Maybe he just really enjoyed the mausoleum, can't say I blamed him. The place was really comfortable for a homebody. Seto loved his books and the sofa in front of the fire was the perfect place to read, and where better to read then in a mausoleum in the middle of a cemetery.

I got dressed quickly and left the mausoleum. I decided to pay a visit to the coven and visit the twits, make sure they weren't too sore about what happened the other night, when I broke the chair and got all pissed off. It was a crisp, clear night. The weather was changing; it's strange how you realize these things based on how the air smells. There was hardly anyone out as I was going to the coven, it was weird. It felt as though the whole downtown area had just been completely deserted.

The twits were lounging in one of the many living rooms, draped over pieces of furniture like overly big pieces of clothing.

My presence wasn't immediately well welcomed, as was to be expected.

"Well, look who it is." Bakura said, putting down the magazine that he was thumbing through and standing up. "You off your period yet or are you still breaking chairs?"

I frowned. Obviously we had left off on a sour note. "Look-"

"Think we oughta teach him a lesson, Bakura?" Marik asked as he too stood up from his seat. "A lesson on how not to be such an asshole?"

"Guys, look I just came by to apologize." Wow, one does really not want to be on these guys' bad side. "I know I've been acting like a jerk-off. It's that girl, ever since that girl…"

I started thinking about Anzu, and tried to shake it away. I had made my peace, the worst thing would be to drag everything back and dwell on it all over again.

Marik and Bakura exchanged a quick glance. "That's something we wanted to talk to you about." Bakura said, crossing his arms. "You seemed unnaturally irked by that girl. Something you wanna tell us?"

I sighed heavily and shrugged out my shoulders. "She…she was in love with my old best friend, who turned out to be the biggest dick."

"Ohh, really?" Marik crooned, breaking his tough guy mode and biting down on his tongue playfully.

I couldn't help but laugh. It would have been pretty entertaining to see Marik and Otogi together, just to see the look on Otogi's face. He'd probably shit a brick if he ever laid eyes on Marik.

"Anyway…it's just hard to…go back, you know what I mean?" I looked at the two of them, and their expressions were softening considerably. I had a feeling that they had experienced the exact same thing that I had with Anzu. "But Seto and I talked about it, and I…I think I understand things a little more now. Anyway what I'm trying to say is I overreacted, and I'm sorry."

Bakura and Marik stared at me for a moment, and then they looked at each other as if wondering if they should really accept my apology or not. I was waiting for what seemed to be hours in agony. If I didn't have the twits to hang out with, honestly I'd be a little depressed. Annoying as they were, they were helluva lot of fun.

A moment later Marik hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me to his side, grinning like an idiot. "Fuck man, you've got nothing to be sorry about. We've all been there!"

I pushed Marik away from me and looked at the two of them grinning back at me. "Seriously? You guys aren't pissed?"

Bakura shrugged. "Maybe a little, cause you didn't feel you could talk to us about it. But I guess that's what sires are for, eh?"

"By the way, how did Kaiba react when you broke that fucking chair?" Marik asked with a roaring laugh. "Did his head swell up and burst like a balloon? Blood everywhere? No?"

I couldn't help but laugh, slightly irked but nonetheless laughing at the idea of Seto's head blowing up after finding the broken chair everywhere. I shook my head. "Nah, he was surprisingly cool about it. Must not have been too expensive."

"C'mon, let's hit the baths and blow this popsicle stand." Bakura said, pulling me towards the door. "This place is so boring when Yami's not around.

~*~

We went to one of the bathhouses in the gay district of Domino. Surprisingly I hadn't known about the gay district until I was a vampire. You'd figure half of the high school population would know these things about the city, and that eventually I would have found out from someone at school, but I guess not. The bathhouse was pretty grimy; it had all the steam rooms and change rooms and hot tubs, depending on your mood you could go and have a great hot bath or you could get laid by a really hot guy, or a couple of really hot guys.

We sat in a big pool, naked and surrounded by homosexual mortals who were pairing up and making out, or giving each other hand jobs, or soundly fucking each other. At first it shocked the shit out of me, cause I thought could they really do this in a public place? Then of course Marik, the know-it-all of all deviant behaviour, informed me that the bathhouse was built for that specific purpose.

"Hey Jou," Marik asked, once we were comfortably soaking in the water and listening to the sex noises all around us. "How often do you and Kaiba fuck?"

I'm sure my cheeks went bright red, because not only was it a personal question, but there was a heavily muscled pair making out like right next to Bakura, and it was distracting me. "Uhh…I'd say something like six times a week?"

As the words came out of my mouth I couldn't believe that it was actually true. We actually did have sex just about every night during the week. Marik and Bakura's jaws dropped right open.

"You've gotta be shittin' me!" Marik said with a laugh. "I had no idea Kaiba had it in him."

Bakura snorted and pointed to Marik. "I can. How often did you and your sire have sex once you were turned?"

Marik sat back and looked as though he were thinking about it real carefully. "I'd say…something like six times a day."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "What the fuck ever, man. That's what you get for letting yourself get led astray by a fucking teenager."

I looked at Marik pointedly. Here was something I hadn't heard before. "Your sire was a teenager?"

Marik grinned as though reminiscing. "Yeah, he'd just turned 16 when we he was turned. Granted when I met him, he was almost 200 years old." Then he nodded his head as if recalling the good old days. "Yeah, he had quite the body on him, one of those young bodies, the hottest shit I'd ever seen. We fucked hourly, if I recall."

"I don't doubt it." Bakura said. "No wonder you get so fucking depressed. You need another piece of young boy vampire pussy, get it all out of your system."

It surprised me that they were speaking so blatantly about…well, our vampirism. Surely anyone walking by who heard the words "sire" and "vampire" and "sex" would have stopped and taken a good look at us, maybe decided that there was something too beautiful about us to be human. But as I looked around, I saw that everything around us was just too preoccupied with what they were doing…or rather, who they were doing. It almost seemed like the perfect place to talk.

Nevertheless, I was so happy to soak in the hot water. The only thing I didn't really like about the mausoleum was the lack of a bathtub, or even a shower. I'm sure no water pipes are gonna go to a mausoleum in the middle of a deserted graveyard, but still it sucked not to have hot water around. It was great just to lie in the water, soak up all the warmth, and close my eyes as though everything was just damned peachy, which for the most part it pretty much was. Things were just damned peachy.

~*~

After the bathhouse, the twits and I split up for the rest of the night. They wanted to go to a bar in hopes of finding some hot mortal ass, and I said I had something to pick up, which I did.

I went to the art gallery, about ten minutes before it closed, and the same clerk was there from the night I bought the painting. At the sight of me he clasped his hands together and grinned like an idiot, joking that he thought perhaps I wasn't coming to pick it up, and then he laughed like a schmuck. I had to do everything in my power to keep from rolling my eyes or baring my fangs or doing something rude or stupid. I just wanted to get the painting and take it home.

So that's what I did. I picked up the painting and the clerk asked if I wanted help taking it out to my car, and I turned down the kind offer and left the store so he could close up. Once a fair ways from the gallery, I launched into celerity with the painting in my grip, and arrived at Chihiro in no time.

Seto wasn't back yet, so I couldn't ask his opinion on where we should put it. I debated where I would put it. I wanted to put it up in the bedroom, but I thought maybe it would be a little awkward to wake up in the middle of the night and see it hanging on the wall. It was probably better downstairs by the fire, where it would be seen better, and better appreciated. I couldn't wait until Seto came home and saw it; I hoped he would love it.

I found a spot for it in the bedroom; the light was going to hit it just right and it would look perfect. I unwrapped the paper that covered it. I lifted it up, smiling, for it truly was mine forever. This beautiful piece of art was mine forever.

I put it up using the little screws that came with it, and once I had it hung up I took a step back and admired where it hung. I was so pleased; once there was fire in the fireplace, it was going to look incredible!

After I hung the painting up, I laid down in bed and waited for Seto to come home. It was getting late, he was usually never gone this long, but I guess even he got cabin fever from time to time. Before long, I had fallen asleep in bed and didn't wake up for another two hours or so.

Seto was standing there when I woke up, staring at the painting. As I rubbed the sleepiness out of my eyes I suddenly realized what he was staring at and got up with a smile on my face. I came up beside him, thinking he was going to say how much he loved it.

But as soon as I stood next to him, his cold blue eyes turned to me and stared me down. My smile vanquished. He was really unhappy.

"Jou, what the hell is this?" Seto asked in a stern, displeased voice.

I looked at the painting and back to him. "I-I bought it the other night. Do you remember the night we met, and I was staring at a painting? It was this painting I was staring at."

I don't know if he remembered or not; all I know is that he looked pissed off. I looked at the painting again, wondering how on earth he could be so angry. It was a depiction of an embrace, it was about vampirism. What about it could have offended him?

Something sparkled in his eyes, a little twinge of hatred, and then it was gone. "Get rid of it."

I frowned. "What? Why?"

"It's an obscenity." Seto said, looking back at the painting and sneering.

"Seto I paid a lot of money for it, and I love it…" I looked at the painting again and smiled. "Isn't it just…haunting? I met the-"

I nearly blurted out that I had met Pegasus the other night, but then I remembered how he requested I not tell anyone about our meeting. I cleared my throat and shrugged it off, hoping Seto didn't notice. "I met with the clerk the other day, and I bought it."

Seto snorted in disgust and turned his back on the painting. I looked at him, completely confused. Why was he acting so strange?

He sighed heavily in annoyance. "If you love it, then it can stay. But put it somewhere else. I don't want to see it when I sleep, when I wake up, or when we're in bed together."

And then he sauntered down the steps, probably to get back to his reading. I stared at his back, hoping he would come back up and apologize for being such a dick. But he didn't.

What the fuck was his problem?

~*~

A/N: Welcome to Part II!

Next chapter: More arguing, I'm afraid.