Finally! I conquered this Ra awful chapter! And to think, I only had 100 cups of coffee, about a thousand candy bars, a bottle of vodka (Smirnoff – don't worry I shared it with my imaginary fanfiction spirit guide Yugi while 'we' wrote this) and a lot of soda – to get this done. The good news is, I am in fact alive and well…the bad news is that you're all not happy I took this long to update.

Okay, so let me start by apologising, because I know that this has been the longest it has taken me to update, but I have unfortunately been going through a very tough time. First of all, I had to go on a three week practical training course and a certain college professor is totally out to get me…frickinglesbianbitch! (Insert smiley face) So yeah, that was one hectic period that just did not go smoothly whatsoever for me, and then to top it all off my relationship with my boyfriend has sadly come to an end, and thus so has my ability to relate to anything about love and romance, which is why I had to take some time to gather myself before I could start writing again…about love.

On that note, thanks to all my awesome reviewers who took the time to comment on the last chapter, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, you guys all rock, and are such a huge help in helping me find the motivation to continue with Perfect Strangers on the worst of days. That is why you guys are all so extremely important to me. However, I'd also like to thank all my other readers. Especially those of you who I know personally…yeah, you talk to me about my own story all the time and not even realise I'm the writer (sticks a tongue out at you). And so the paranoia begins…And Ilovemanicures, you're still my rock babe!

And Cindy, sorry about the lack of history in this chapter, but I promise that I'm planning on writing a special segment in a future chapter that will be historically based, just for you.

I'd also like to publicly welcome Sakuruyamuni, thank you so much for reviewing last time. And, one of my private messengers, Axalover11, who I will still not give away a plot secret to, I don't care how cute your puppy dog eyes are…still love you though.

And finally I'd like to announce that everyone can now use the review tab, even if you don't have an account. So Amy my dear, you can now finally, publicly complain about been 'eaten' by your second favourite character. (Yeah I used one of my friends…without permission)

Also introducing a new Reviewer character by CokaCookieCola, named Shananay.

Rating: Nothing too graphic…rate that as you will.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-gi-oh, but I love the guy that did.

AN: To answer Peaches question, Perfect Strangers is kind of like life, you have a basic idea of what is should be in the beginning, but then it grows and develops with several add-ons and plot twists that leads it along a slightly different path…keeps things interesting.

And lastly…this is the longest chapter in Fanfiction history! And also the most important one in my opinion.

XXX

Chapter 21

(3000 years ago – Ancient Egypt)

His chamber was deathly quiet, save for the strangely comforting, spitting sound that the fire lit torches made, as their flames danced in undisturbed rhythm, creating a warm glow to the exotically decorated room that was lavished with the finest furnishings in all of Egypt, both of foreign and local produce. It was here that the great Pharaoh Akunumkanon escaped to whenever the burdening responsibilities of the throne would allow him to - his retreat from being the living god of his people…the only room that was completely off limits to almost everyone within the palace walls, allowing him the time and peace he so rightfully deserved, when he didn't wish to be social.

In his human days, he was regarded as quite a handsome man, with a rare eye colour that his sons would later inherit as well, like he had inherited them from his beautiful mother. He was also incredibly tall, that back then had towered over and intimidated his much shorter Egyptian subjects, which had been a characteristic of his father, and as such as all Egyptians, sported a dark honey tan that glistened like fine gold beneath the eye of Ra, and despite his firmness and strength, had a rather kind and gentle way about him. His people regarded him with much praise and healthy respect, marvelling at his peaceful ways of ruling his kingdom, and were without any doubt that he was a god in a human body. They loved him…

He slumped down before an altar that had been carved and made entirely of gold and priceless jewels, which he had dedicated to his favourite god, the almighty sun god Ra; the same god which had abandoned him to a terrible fate. The incense he had burnt in his last attempt to gain Ra's attention was too sweet and invasive for his chest to handle, and he gave in to a hysterical coughing fit, which resulted in a fast paced gush of blood to spill from his lips and splutter across the palm of his hand…the bright ruby essence of the gods' mockery.

He glared at the blood on his hand, as anger welled up from within him.

Outside the enormous palace walls, there was a great sense of unease amongst his people, all seeming to sense the ominous oncoming of something terrible heading their way, though none could pin-point on exactly what it was, as their pharaoh had yet to issue out a public statement to them on anything that warranted their concern. It felt as if the dry air of their kingdom was heavy and suffocating, and some were even unfortunate enough to suffer an unusual prickling sensation at the back of their necks. According to the reports he received, the people were edgy and skittish, which remarkably seemed to limit the crime rate in his kingdom, as his guards often returned without incident from the market places.

Ironically, this did not comfort the pharaoh, and in fact did the complete opposite. It was the eye before the storm, and everyone seemed to know it.

A war was coming.

The solid doors of his chamber gently opened and closed behind a cloaked figure that cautiously strolled in, and waited patiently for the pharaoh to acknowledge his presence, while respectfully bowed on his left knee, head down.

"Rise Aknadin, I have no need for formalities here," Akunumkanon said tiredly, his tone on the verge of annoyance, but pain was definitely prominent within his voice.

"Forgive my intrusion, my Pharaoh, but the time is nearing and I thought you would best be, prepared," his younger brother reported calmly, in a voice that was too coldly confident to settle the royal's nerves.

He wiped the corner of his mouth, and used a rag beside the altar, to wipe the blood from his hand, as he turned to regard Aknadin with a sombre gaze. "Is that so?" he asked softly in the voice of a broken man that had lost all the he held dear…well almost everything.

Aknadin's gaze softened as he regarded his older brother's slumped shoulders, as well as the blood he had been trying to remove from his hand, and sighed. "Pharaoh…Brother, this is the only way…"

Akunumkanon growled stiffly under his breath and glared at Aknadin's calmness for a minute, before shutting his eyes and sighed tiredly. Did the man feel nothing for what they were about to perform and sacrifice?

"The sacrifice is great…but the rewards we shall reap from it; shall be even greater," he promised with quiet enthusiasm.

The Egyptian monarch felt a warning chill run up his spine, but chose to ignore it as he walked over to the other side of the room where he took a seat on the foot of his bed, staring at the floor in defeat. "How can we be completely sure of this?"

"Tis faith brother-" Aknadin tried.

"Twas faith that we had in the Egyptian gods too, but that did not stop them from spitting us in the eye. This is darkness that we are now choosing to relay our faiths on!" he growled unhappily as he massaged his temples.

"Forgive my brash words, brother, but what have the gods of light offered you and I for our undivided loyalty?" Aknadin argued in a quiet, almost unspoken voice.

"Those are brash words!" he growled through clenched teeth. "Do not forget, brother, that it has been the fortune of the gods that we were born to live in the luxury of the palace, with power granted at our very finger tips, with wives and women that contain the unworldly beauty, which the leaders of all the other nations of the world envy, and…" His voice hitched in his throat as his final thought on the matter crossed his mind.

"I know I speak out of term brother, but those same gods, despite your dedication to them, are taking back the blessings they bestowed upon us. We have both lost our wives to the valley of death, and very soon the rebellion that Isis predicted will take Egypt from us, and place a new pharaoh on the throne," Aknadin once again reminded his brother, even though they had talked about all of this before.

"But what of our-" Akunumkanon began, but felt a slight quiver of the ground beneath him as the beginning of their dark age was drawing near.

"As I said brother on many occasion, the sacrifice will be great…but 'tis the only way," came Aknadin's cool response.

The pharaoh sighed and shook his head as he rose from the bed, and squared his shoulders. "Then let's begin before it is too late."

Aknadin bowed his head in silent acknowledgement, before pulling a sharp and uniquely styled dagger from his cloak, and handed it gingerly to his older brother. "Since you are Pharaoh, 'tis your honour to lead us along this path…"

Akunumkanon wondered about that for a moment, before carefully taking the weapon from his brother, and twirled it around in his grip, while admiring its alien beauty. The sacrifice would be great, but the rewards promised to them, was to be even greater...so he decided he would lead them into darkness.

(Three years ago – before Yugi's transformation)

There was a lot Tea didn't know about Yami, that much was very clear, since Yami himself hardly knew the truth about his true nature and capabilities…but Yugi did. Golden boy, her knight in shining armour, Mr. Righteousness…had a very dark and very dangerous streak within him. One might have described his older twin more as passive aggressive, where he used words more than physical force to solve most conflicts, and used logical thinking that wasn't always crutched or blinded by anger…but there were times, rare times of course, where he'd black out and strike back.

This was Yami's scariest form, and one that had earned him a great amount of respect from their kind; this was him in his vampire form, where hardly any humanity burned within his soul, and although Yugi had known he'd come face to face with this particular version of his brother at some point in his life, he had not been prepared enough for it…

It was a few months before their fateful sixteenth birthday, just a few minutes short of dawn when most vampires made their way back to their sleeping quarters, when Yugi stumbled into the dining hall seeming clumsy and out-of-it, as though he'd spent the evening stoning it up in some dark and dingy corner of the tomb, before grabbing onto the doorframe beside him and leaned up against it for support. At first Yami was relieved to see him, as he always was when Yugi eventually showed up, having grown somewhat used to his brother's occasional disappearing acts, which had become more and more frequent with time, but the moment he took in Yugi's ragged appearance and bloodshot eyes, his over-protective brother's instincts went into overdrive.

Yami never knew where Yugi disappeared off to, or what he did when he was there, yet alone why he felt the need to go off by himself in the first place, but the moment he sensed something had happened to Yugi, which had to have been the only logical conclusion at play here, he instantly regretted ever allowing Yugi out of his sight.

He shoved his weight back against the chair he was seated in, and jumped out of it while it sailed across the room and smashed against the wall, before stalking over to where Yugi stood with a deeply concerned expression as he fully observed his younger twin. "What happened?" he asked sternly, his tone seeming more fatherly than brotherly. Yugi briefly glanced away to avoid his older twin's eyes, which immediately alarmed him. "Yugi, tell me what happened!"

Now that Yami had been able to get a good look at Yugi, he noticed that Yugi seemed paler than normal, with a light coat of sweat on the surface on his skin that shone in the torches dim firelight. "N-nothing…" Yugi stammered as he seemed to blink his eyes into focus and immediately shook his head. "I uh, just need something to eat."

He made a move to walk forward, but Yami reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder before gently pushing him back against the wall. "Do you take me for an idiot?" he hissed, before glaring into his twin's eyes, "You cannot lie to me Yugi, you know that."

Yugi grinned at Yami, whose expression immediately softened, before dramatically glancing around them as though to make sure they were alone, and leaned in to whisper, "I'd tell you Yami, but trust me, you really wouldn't want to know."

Yami sighed with dread, before narrowing his eyes into a mid wince, and then fully closed them to massage his temples. "Oh Ra of Egypt, Yugi, what the hell did you do this time?" His brother was right; he actually didn't want to know what he had been up to.

Yugi winked sinisterly, before making his way over to the serving table that displayed several dishes of normal human food, especially prepared for them, and picked up an apple. "Hmm…so many options," he commented as his eyes scanned the table, picking out the roasted lamb in the centre of the table, as well a moulded strawberry dessert and several colourful tartlets, amongst other things that formed typical traditional meals.

"Are you okay though?" Yami asked still concerned about his brother's unhealthy appearance, hardly interested in the food, as his body betrayed his mind into begging his attention onto something that contained more iron and flowed more smoothly down his throat, something that he desperately craved for but refused to indulge in. "At least tell me that."

Yugi's eyes lit up with innocent human warmth, before giving Yami a brotherly smile, "Of course I'm okay brother, why wouldn't I be?"

It was a valid question, but Yami's intuition begged him to pay more attention to what was not been said. He always knew when there was something wrong, it was how he had always managed to get to Yugi when he was in danger, or figure out what may have been bothering him when he couldn't read his mind. For the last couple of months, he had had that feeling, when Yugi casually walked off on his own and didn't return for most of the night, always seeming flushed and skittish when he returned. Trying to confront Yugi about it though, was a skill that Yami had wondered if he would ever acquire before he turned sixty.

They usually told each other everything, but sometimes, which Yami grudgingly had come to accept and acknowledge, they needed some space with their private doings.

After all, Yami wasn't exactly on the eager side of telling Yugi that he had spent most of their quiet evenings in their room with one of the slave girls he had grown somewhat attached to. Despite their generally open relationship with each other, girls were strangely not something they spoke about, since it always seemed to somehow lead to the awkward topic of sex, which they shared very different opinions on back then, and Yugi didn't have much of a filter on his thoughts, and could get quite distasteful after a while. This girl however, was almost like a special kind of secret, a small one if anything, and Yami liked to keep it that way. It wasn't like he poured his entire heart out to her or told her anything that he hadn't already told Yugi; he just liked her being in her company and hearing her voice.

Her name had then been Jayne, a pretty American girl, whom the vampires had stolen off a black market, sex trade shipment that had landed in Egypt a week before, and for some strange reason kept her completely separated from the rest of the slaves and forbid any of the vampires to even touch her. Yami himself, hadn't been completely allowed near her, but as long as he didn't leave marks on her body and only risked seeing her when the vampires were all out hunting or taking slaves to their private quarters, there was no problem. At first she had been too terrified to do anything but stare at the ground and quiver in his presence, which he found totally understandable, given that she had endured a terrifying ordeal, which just seemed to worsen as time progressed.

Initially, his attraction to her had been mostly hormone based, since her chest sported a pair of nicely sized, plump breasts, which was well proportioned with her slim frame that was almost frail looking, and her long hair ran smoothly over her shoulders in a shade of platinum blonde which contrasted her dark honey tan beautifully. Her hazel eyes were the last thing he found physically attractive, as they sometimes switched colour shades with gold or emerald, and were fun to watch from time to time, as he could clearly identify every emotion that went through them. She was a shy, timid girl, who was apparently home schooled her whole sheltered life, and was already a college student at the age of fifteen. That made her smart, something among many others that they shared in common. He taught her how to speak Egyptian, and in return she taught him how to speak the basics of the Russian language.

He had been her first kiss, and the only thing she had ever had close to a boyfriend, but that was as far as things went between them.

It never occurred to him that by not sharing this with Yugi, it would drive a wedge between them, later in life.

"You just don't seem yourself lately," Yami responded quietly, voicing some of his concerns which had been bothering him lately.

"I could say the same about you," Yugi responded, sounding more, sure of himself, than what Yami had.

"I've been acting differently?" Yami asked in surprise.

Yugi nodded as he stuffed his plate with sweet, unhealthy food. "Yeah, you seem more relaxed."

Yami felt a slight burn on his cheeks, but shook it away immediately. "I don't know what you're talking about."

Yugi raised a brow at his brother's odd behaviour, before temporarily getting distracted by a 'terrifying' fact, "-The hell? Where's the cake?"

Yami rolled his eyes. Ra, Yugi had the attention span of a toddler sometimes. "Where are your vegetables? All I see on your plate is candy-"

"No ways man there can't just not be cake…that's impossible! I mean am I not seeing it, or is it seriously not there?" Yugi sounded panicked, as his gaze darted around the table top, looking for his beloved chocolate cake that he would never find set on the table again, as the baker had an unfortunate demise that evening.

Yami allowed his eyelids to drop halfway down in a bored-like, pitying narrowed gaze. There was no hope for him. "So…I uh, seem more relaxed?" he started eventually, wondering if that was the symptom of spending a lot of time with a girl, especially one that was as easy to spend it with as Jayne was.

However, before their conversation could go any further, there was a loud bang as the dining chamber's heavy wooden door, which only a vampire could move easily, swung open and hit the side of the wall with enough force, to make it vibrate. Five enormous vampires stormed into the room, two of them dragging a pair of young women with them while they struggled against their capturers. Yami frowned disapprovingly at them, whereas Yugi paused at what he was doing to watch, feeling sick to his stomach.

The vampires noticed the two young royals, and grinned at them before giving in to low, dark chuckles. The two vampires that each had a girl captive, dragged their squirming bodies over to the large, solid table, and roughly flung them on to the surface of it, one landing on her back right in front of Yami. He reflexively reached out his arm so that the back of her head didn't collide with the table, which only earned an even louder chuckle from the vampires. The oldest, and biggest of the vampires, called Asim, who mocked the very meaning of his Egyptian name which meant 'protector,' walked forward and regarded Yami with cruel amusement. "Good evening Prince Atem, I saw you were dining on that pitiful human garbage before we arrived, perhaps his majesty would care to share a hearty meal with us?"

"Did you really show such brutality towards women when you still breathed?" Yami asked angrily, as he heard the girls whimpering and crying in the background, able to smell and sense their terror and torment.

Asim only smiled, though his eyes remained cruel and cold, before he reached down and stroked the woman inappropriately, who jolted at his touch as though he had burned her. "The only thing a woman is good for, your Highness, is to satisfy the needs of men. And she will definitely satisfy my needs, before I drain her-"

A glass bowl shattering over Asim's head briefly stopped the vampire from speaking, as lettuce and tomato dribbled down his face and over his shoulders. "Yeah Asim," Yugi retorted sounding somewhat irritated, "And the only thing you're good for is reminding mothers why they should smother their sons in their sleep, you fat egotistical bastard."

Yami was in no mood to rectify Yugi on the use of curse words while in the presence of women, as it seemed fitting at that moment. He watched intensely as Asim calmly – a little too calmly – brushed off the salad's contents and shattered glass from his tall and butch muscular form, and turned to regard Yugi's much shorter and slimmer built one. Yugi had a brief glimpse of the murderous glare in his eyes, before Asim threw a solid punch in his direction, smashing him squarely in the jaw and sent him flying across the room.

No body ever made a fool out of him, even the princes, especially in front of his prey. Asim did not like to look weak, or stupid in front of anybody, and the only rule of the tomb was that they were forbidden to kill the princes, harming them severely however, if they brought it on themselves was somewhat condoned by the king, therefore Asim had no hindering thought about what he was going to do to Yugi.

However, before he could take so much as a step near Yugi, Yami appeared in front of him, his scarlet eyes angry and fangs lightly visible at the corners of his mouth. "Take one more step towards him, and I'll take you out myself," Yami threatened darkly, his fists clenched at his sides, and body tensed in preparation to fight.

Asim paused for a moment, as he sensed the aggression that rolled off Yami in dark waves. He'd heard that Yami wasn't really physically strong, but his ability to read his opponents minds made him a decent enough fighter to hold his own very well, and most often managed to fend off his attackers, but never managed to properly beat them. It was a sad state to be in, especially if you were a royal and had to earn the respect of your father's subjects. Asim smirked at the young, inexperienced and inferior half breed before him, before growling out a loud obnoxious laugh. His threat was that of a mouse who would challenge a tiger.

Yugi rolled onto his stomach before pushing himself up, and glanced over to his brother who was visibly tense, and gasped quietly as he saw the darkening of his aura. It was happening!

Without much warning, Asim threw a skilled punch at Yami, who easily dodged it and moved to the side, where he threw a punch of his own to the side of Asim's face. From then on, things became quite a blur for the young teenagers, as Yugi quickly dove in and defended Yami from the side, as another large vampire decided to jump in and join the mix. There was a lot of commotion and noise, with furniture and cutlery flung all over the room, as well as the occasionally yelps of pain and roars of frustration that awoke some vampires from their sleep, Seto included.

Yami wasn't holding up his best, due to a lack of blood in his system after having put off drinking it for almost two months, and Yugi was more focussed on keeping the fight away from the girls, who were cowered in the corner of the room, than on his own well being. Before long, Yugi lost his gripping and fell to the mercy of one of the vampires, who by then lacked thought behind his actions and went in for the kill.

The sound of flesh ripping startled Yami out of his battle mode haze, as he caught sight of Yugi on his knees with a pained expression on his face, his hand applied to his neck, as blood seeped through his fingers…that was all it took for the eldest of the twins to snap. What took place next was the starting point, of what would be an interesting twist in the twin's lives. Yami lost control.

His eyes were no longer their deep crimson colour, but almost turned orange as they brightened with anger. Asim, who hand been tackling him at the time, was thrown across the room, as though he had weighed next to nothing, and within seconds Yami was on the vampire who had dared to harm his younger brother, and violently ripped its arm right out of its socket while tugging it backwards as he pulled him away from Yugi, who was still badly injured and bleeding heavily. The vampire shrieked in pain, and tried to shove Yami off him, but Yami retaliated and pulled his arm further back, earning a loud snap that echoed through every corner of the room, before the sound of ripping flesh and liquid splattering, broke through everyone's haze, bringing them back into focus.

The vampire howled in agony, as he used his free arm to clutch at his shoulder, trying to feel around for his arm which was no longer attached to his body. Yami flung the useless limb aside and immediately spun around to grab another vampire by the throat as he had tried to take the young prince by surprise, and kneed him in the gut.

Yugi watched with eyes as wide as saucers as Yami violently began tearing the second vampire apart in an almost cruel way, before turning his attention onto the other two vampires who had overstepped what Yami must have considered, in his battle-haze, his comfort zone. Blood splattered and pooled around them, and Yugi's breath hitched when he caught its delicious scent, which he had painfully hungered for, for so long. He fought to keep control of his instincts, especially when he knew how easily they could slip while his body fought to heal the fatal rip across his throat, and tried to get his mind to focus on something else, such as getting back into the fight.

A loud crash startled his attention to the vampires' group's fearsome leader, as Asim rushed at Yami with a loud roar of rage. Yami turned and hissed menacingly at Asim, before grabbing the fist that the man had aimed at him, and swinging him into the wall, causing it to crack.

Meanwhile, the one-armed vampire, who was still bleeding quite badly as his body was slow at healing, began to make his way over to the screaming girls, no doubt planning to speed up his recovery on their life's essence. Yugi jumped up and staggered over, while still keeping pressure on his neck, and hurried over to stand in the vampire's way, glaring at him.

The vampire hissed in annoyance and made a swipe at Yugi, who clumsily dodged the attack and kicked the vampire's legs out from beneath him, before backing up until he stood directly in front of the girls, with his back faced to them, shielding them from any potential danger…including his rabid brother.

It had become too hard to properly concentrate, with the delicious aroma of blood surrounding them, which was enough to cause their instincts to spike out of control, but Yugi was determined to protect the humans at all costs. However, before the one armed vampire and Yugi could go head to head, a pair of hands snaked their way around the sides of his head from behind him, and twisted it right around. There was a loud unnatural shriek that squirted out the vampire's mouth, before the sound of fleshy ripping, which forced everyone's attention to the centre of the room, where Yami held the vampire's head in his hands before throwing it across the room, and turned on Asim, who immediately backed away, but Yami wasn't going to let him get away…

(5 frightening minutes later)

The battle was declared over, when the five mutilated corpses of the vampires were spread in several chunky pieces, across the room, and Yami, drained of energy, collapsed chest forward against the wall with his hands pushed up at his sides, to hold his body up, while breathing heavily. His eyes were slowly dimming down to their normal scarlet shade, as he became aware of the bruising and aching of his muscles once his body began to relax, which brought him back into the world of reality from which he had temporarily escaped.

He was confused for a moment, unable to account for exactly why he was covered in someone else's blood, or why he felt as though he had been run over by a truck, but hazy memories of his violent encounter with the five vampires soon returned to him. It was also then that he remembered Yugi's fatal injury. He took in a deep, steadying breath, and hesitantly glanced away from the wall to regard his younger twin, wary because he knew that he'd see blood, which he was starting to crave.

"Yu-Yugi..?" his gaze immediately met with Yugi's wide and wary ones, as he sat, leant up against a pillar, somewhat a few feet away from him, with one knee arched close to his chest and still applying pressure to his neck, as the wound seemed to have difficulty in healing.

"Yeah?" Yugi muttered weakly, though he was able to manage a small smile.

"You…alright?" Yami inquired, in between breaths.

"I've been better…think I got off on just a scratch though," he chuckled, gulping slightly as a small ripple of pain exploded through his body.

Yami risked a glance around the room, and tried to piece together what had happened, and why he could hardly remember any of it. "Wh-what the hell happened?"

Yugi bit his lip slightly in worry, as his fears about Yami's state of mind were confirmed…he had blacked out. It was best however, that Yami didn't learn of this, until the time was right.

"Well…" he began weakly, "I just wanted a piece of cake…and then all hell broke loose."

(Present Day – with Yugi)

Yugi pulled into the makeshift driveway in front of Yami's apartment building and quickly hopped out of it, before dashing at vampires speed up the long stairwell and quickly shoved his way through the apartment's front door. He needed to make this quick, before he really did arrive late on his date with Razz (who would probably kill him), and knowing Lamia, he needed at least a half an hour beforehand to make it all happen. "Lamia?" he called as he hurried up the hallway and turned the corner that lead to the small living room.

"Kitchen!" Lamia called back.

Yugi quickly walked over to the kitchen, where he found Lamia crouched down on her hinges, scooping chunks of cat food into several little dishes, which were surrounded by cats of all shapes and sizes. "What the hell?" he gasped out of surprise.

Lamia looked up at him, and glared slightly at the use of the word 'hell' but let it go with a roll of her eyes.

"Are you snacking on Yami's cats?" Yugi inquired curiously, as he leant up against the door frame, his hands in his jacket's pockets, taking a brief moment to lightly blow a blonde bang out of his eyes.

Lamia made a slight growling sound in her throat, before glaring up at him. "I'm a man-eater, not a psycho, I'm just feeding them. It gets a little lonely up here, all by myself."

Not a psycho? Yeah right!

"Fascinating…Yami asked me, to ask you, for a favour," Yugi muttered, as Lamia gracefully stood up in one flawless motion, allowing her long white hair to swish beautifully to her sides.

"For you or for Yami?" she asked without looking at him, as she threw the empty cans into the trashcan that was tucked beside the end counter, out of sight.

"Well let's see," Yugi said, as he sarcastically mocked a thoughtful pose, "Uh Yami, asked me, to ask you, for a-"

"Well if Yami's the one who asked, then sure, what does he need?" Lamia answered softly.

Yugi blinked, before taking in a deep breath. Of course she would automatically jump to do anything for Yami if he asked her to, so why was he even surprised by it? "He's girlfriend is staying with him, and she needs her stuff, which he won't allow me to get myself, for some unknown reason, so he wants you to get it for her."

"That's understandable," she commented while nodding her head. "I can do that, no problem."

Yugi raised an eyebrow at the 'understandable' part, wondering what kind of logic that both Yami and Lamia found in all this that he didn't, but decided that debating it just wasn't worth it in the long run. "Much appreciated, will you meet up with me later then?"

Lamia looked up at him with a raised, questioning eyebrow, "Why can't we just go now and get it over with?"

"I have a date, at eight," he reminded her coldly, as he shoved his body off the doorframe. "Do you want me to pick you up when I'm done, or what?"

Lamia's expression darkened for a minute, and there seemed to be something on the tip of her tongue, but she lightly shut her eyes and turned away from him, keeping her true thoughts silent. "And if your date lasts longer than you planned?" she inquired softly in a neutral tone.

Yugi smirked, since he was sincerely hoping it would, "I'll call you."

Lamia's brows lowered slightly; before she bit the inner flesh of her lip and nodded in acknowledgement of everything she had been told. "I…I'll meet you there…it's that building where we…"

"Met for the first time? Yeah," Yugi responded, before stepping out into the hallway, ready to leave.

Lamia grinned without humour, "Yeah…where we first met…right."

"See ya," Yugi said as he took his leave from her, and rushed out of the apartment in a barely visible black mass, somewhat glad that for once, things had sort of run smoothly for him, but Lamia found herself clenching onto the counter top a little too tightly, until eventually she felt her fingers slide through the crappy, cheap wood, sending wood splinters flying around her hand and blood spill from the lip she was biting.

(Three years ago)

It was a bittersweet ending to the chapter of his human life Yugi figured, as he sat with his back pressed up firmly against the tomb's outer wall, staring up at the clear blue sky with half lidded eyes, and winced slightly when his body rippled with inner pain. The sun, which despite its harshness towards his kind, had shown him and his brother much more mercy in its grand and beautiful way, so it was only fitting that he would spend the last few minutes of his human life, basking in its fatherly warmth, while contemplating and regretting his life.

Sixteen today…

He found himself smiling weakly at the thought, as it was like a sick joke in a way. Most sixteen year olds were supposed to be pure and innocent on the day of their birthday. Isn't that why they were always teased 'sweet sixteen and never been kissed' before they blew out the candles on their birthday cakes? And here Yugi was…having already done it all, except, fall head over heels in love…and now he realised he never would. Life was over for him.

Another sharp ache in his chest had him gasping and clawing fistfuls of sand into his hands, as an irony taste hit his taste buds, and he struggled to steady his breathing again, while his heart rapidly thudded against his ribcage. Yami would come up at any minute to check on him, and scold him about his latest prank, and Yugi knew he needed to shape up and put on a brave face quickly, to play his role on the chessboard efficiently.

It was the only way.

(Present Day – First Date)

The redbird hotel wasn't anything like Yugi had expected it to be, as he followed the instructions carefully on Yami's Ferrari's GPS, and came to a stop in front of a rather tall building with an old, Gothic charm to it, temporarily wondering if he had the right address, before the GPS's annoying futuristic, computer sounding voice announced, 'You have arrived.'

It had to have been one of the oldest buildings in Domino City, probably one of the first ones to be built, which was not at all like the flashy modern hotels like the 'Hilton,' he had envisioned beforehand. He climbed out the car slowly, with his gaze trailing upwards to pass over all six floors until he reached the roof, in which he could clearly see the moon brightly hanging over, in a starless night sky.

His nerves were a little shaky, and he still felt strangely hyper with each step towards the entrance, briefly looking over his appearance using his mind's eye, while drawing up a mental checklist that he was quickly filling out. In his hand he held a white rose, which the consultant had fragranced with an expensive, delicious smelling perfume, before he left the store, and he hoped and prayed to Ra that it was the right colour for the occasion. He was vaguely aware that each different coloured rose, had a special meaning of sorts, such as red meant love, what white meant…he had no idea, but it was pretty, it didn't mean love, and it now smelt really good. That was good enough for him.

He hurried up the stone steps and was immediately greeted by the doorman, who with a wide, bright smile, opened the door for him and tipped his red hat in greeting, "Evening sir."

"Uh…hey," Yugi responded with a small nod as he regarded the middle aged man who was dressed in a smart, red suit with gold tufts at the shoulders, and polished brass buttons. "Thanks," he said politely as he made his way into the reception area, which was decorated in a way that seemed both old style and modern.

Velvety Victorian Love seats, with rich red fabric and dark wooden framings, made up the waiting area around an unused and ornamental fireplace, which was lined with wax candles, to give the humans light, thanks to the strange and sudden power outage that had left the entire town in darkness. On the far side of the room however, stood a massive sized reception desk, made from solid and heavy looking wood, and behind it sat a cute looking female who immediately looked up upon his entrance.

Her smile was bright and professional, which lit up her whole face as she regarded him, while he made his way over to her, flashing her, an equally charming smile. "Good evening sir, are you checking in with us this evening?" she asked him politely, the smile never leaving her lips. Yugi was surprised to find that the computer in front of her was online and working, obviously powered by a generator.

"No," he answered in a smooth voice, "I'm here for-"

"I'm surprised you actually showed," a voice came from behind him, as a figure slowly got up from one of the Victorian seats which had been blocked from his line of vision, "And on time too."

Yugi grinned as he turned to face Razz, who he almost had to do a double take on as she looked absolutely amazing in the dim glow of candle light. His mouth suddenly felt dry, as his eyes took in the sight of her figure hugging black dress that held all her curves in place, and ended just above her knees, made of what looked like expensive silk. Her hair also looked so soft and glossy that Yugi was tempted to run his fingers through it, and her eyes seemed to change to a slight amber colour, in the dim light.

She was beautiful.

She straightened her posture while keeping her eyes on him, before bowing slightly in greeting with her arms folded over her lap area, hands loosely held together, and then straightened up again after a few, slow seconds. "I'm full of surprises," he managed to say without breaking his calm and collected façade, "And, I'm reliable." He walked over to her, almost stumbling on one shaky step brought on by his nerves, but managed to make his way over to her without incident and held up the rose for her to take. "For you…"

Razz glanced at the rose with a raised eyebrow and seemed almost wary of it, before she slowly took it from him with a questioning look. "Uh…thanks."

Yugi grinned and swiftly gestured to the next room, which he assumed and somewhat hoped that the restaurant was located in. "Shall we?"

Razz continued to observe him with a critical gaze, before nodding and moved forward to lead the way. Yugi made sure to open the door for her, and allowed her to walk through it first, trying to remember everything Yami had taught him in the past about 'manners' as having them, had always seemed to work in his older twin's favour. However, he was momentarily taken aback by the grandness of the enormous room, as it glowed beneath the warming light of hundreds of wax candles, all beautifully placed upon the tables and showpieces of the dining hall. It was also, far from empty as several couples filled the available seats, their voices hushed in whispers, while a pianist played softly in the background, which created quite a romantic setting.

A waiter appeared before them immediately, dressed in yet another red suit, and grandly gestured them to their seats, which was located in the middle of the floor. Yugi first pulled out a seat for Razz, before offering her an inviting smirk as he gestured for her to sit in it, but she stubbornly ignored him and took the other seat instead. Yugi rolled his eyes as she took her seat, and imitated her movements by taking his seat as well, soon meeting her eyes in what appeared to be an 'almost' stare down, while the waiter greeted them and handed them their menus.

"I shall return when you're ready to order," he said, before slowly walking off, leaving him and Razz to deal with each other, alone.

Yugi's grin widened at her scowling expression, "You look-"

"Let me guess," Razz interrupted with a growl, "Absolutely beautiful, can't take your eyes off me, bullshit?"

Yugi chuckled lightly, unable to hide his grin, "Wow, see that? Our connection is so deep you can even read my mind."

Razz rolled her eyes and plucked up her menu in what looked like a death hold, "Let's just get this over with."

Yugi glanced down at the brown leathered covered menu and slowly picked it up before flipping it open and raising his gaze to meet hers, which was oddly studying him. "Just so you know, I really do think you look beautiful tonight, because for one second, I can actually picture you with a smile on your face - in that dress."

Her angry façade faltered for a second, before the walls went right back up around her. "Thanks…you look, I suppose decent, too."

Well…it was a start.

"Can we eat dessert first?" Yugi muttered, as he glanced over all the suggestions of the menu, finding nothing that his body would quite agree on.

Razz sighed in annoyance before simply answering, "No."

"Okay…" Yugi started, before glancing up and down between his menu and the stunning girl in front of him. "So…how has your day been?"

"Interesting…" Razz began, before making a small effort to be polite towards him. "How has yours been?"

Yugi thought for a moment before deciding to give her a simple answer, "Different."

Razz nodded without looking at him as she read her menu.

"The Redbird's a nice place," Yugi began, trying to get some conversation going on between them. "I didn't expect it to be all…old."

"I'm guessing you prefer modern architecture?" Razz asked nonchalantly, still without meeting his gaze.

"Not exactly, I like it, but olds good…feels homey," Yugi responded with a small ironic smile.

Razz briefly lifted her gaze to his with a small amount of surprise in her eyes, as well as curiosity, before she lowered them back down to her menu. "It has an interesting history too," she began, before turning a page. "The hotel, as well as the building on its east side, used to be one building, which made up the first psychiatric hospital in Domino City until it burnt down in the late 1800's. It was then separated and made into an inn, though the correct term for it would have been a brothel."

She was testing him this time, to see what comment he'd make on the brothel part, but Yugi decided to show some class in this discussion. "What happened to the patients?"

"Apparently most of them burnt to death in the fire. They claim that this place is apparently haunted," she said, without much feeling behind her words.

"Do you think it is?" Yugi asked curiously.

Razz gave him a look, before shrugging her shoulders. "I think it makes a good story for tourists."

"What, you don't believe it?" Yugi inquired.

"I don't believe in ghosts," she stated simply, before seeming to finally decide what she wanted to order. "It's all make-believe crap, to scare children. If you're going to start believing in something as ridiculous as spirits, then you're opening the door to believing in all sorts of other creepy crawlies. Next you'll be asking me if I believe in werewolves or vampires."

"Uh…" Yugi's jaw twitched slightly, before he stiffly nodded his head, "Yeah that's a valid point." She so had a lot to learn…

"What about you Yugi?" Razz said in an extremely challenging tone as she rested further back against her chair, giving him a devious smirk, "Do you believe in ghosts?"

Yugi thought for a minute on how he should respond, before breaking eye contact to read his menu. "I do actually."

Razz giggled lightly under her breath, before asking, "And what about vampires? Do you believe in those too?"

Once again Yugi felt the side of his jaw twitch, "Yeah those too…I'm related to several of them." He looked up and gave Razz an amused grin, who against all odd returned it, before rolling her eyes, taking it all as a joke.

"Have you decided what you want to order yet?" Razz asked him.

"Uh…nope, what do you recommend for a guy that generally drinks blood?" Yugi responded.

Razz once again shook her head, believing that he was just trying to be funny. "That he needs some serious help and that there are places where he can get it."

Now that wasn't very nice. "Well then I should be just fine here shouldn't I? Considering we're dining in Domino's former mental institution," Yugi retorted before giving her a smug wink.

Razz grinned lightly and shook her head as she gave his menu a thoughtful glance. "What kinds of food do you generally like?"

Yugi shrugged, "No idea, usually sweet things…" Once Yugi caught the disapproving look Razz gave him, he said the first thing that came to his mind, "Chicken." And as an after thought quickly added, "And simple dishes, nothing too extravagant," even as a human, Yugi had issues with fancy food as it simply didn't come across as appetizing to him, but as a vampire, he had to be especially wary of such foods, as his body was highly likely to disagree with them.

"Hmm," Razz hummed quietly as her eyes scanned the book. "Try the chicken chorizo."

Yugi had never seen or heard of this dish before, so he just went along with it, placing his trust with her decision completely, and nodded his head, "Sounds good to me."

The waiter suddenly appeared at their sides again as though on cue, and gave them a friendly smile, seeming to focus his attention mainly on Razz, which didn't go unnoticed by her vampire date. "Greetings yet again, are you ready to give me your selection?" Yugi glanced the waiter up and down with a critical eye, as he took in the guy's average height, wavy brown hair that seemed to have lighter streaks running through the strands, light blue eyes and a very light tan. He was about their age and probably considered attractive to the opposite sex…not exactly the kind of guy he needed to have hanging around them while on their date.

"For starters, I think I'll just have the shrimp," Razz glanced up at their waiter, seeming to notice something about the way he was looking at her, and frowned slightly before looking over at Yugi expectantly.

"Oh, right…um, yeah I'll have that too…the shrimp thing," he added, while he tried to remember what shrimp was, having never had it before in his entire existence. They were those weird, worm-fish things right?

"And for the main course, I'll just have my usual, and if I could please get an apple cider instead this time, with it," Razz ordered, concluding her side of the order, while gently handing the leather bound booklet back to him, with a small 'familiar' smile…and it suddenly occurred to Yugi that Razz must have been served by him quite a lot.

"Of course, no problem," the waiter all too happily insisted, while taking the book from her, and turned to face Yugi with a completely different vibe. "And you sir?"

The nerve of this human…

Yugi grinned somewhat menacingly at him, checking off all the ways in which the guy could simply just 'vanish' off the face of the Earth, before responding. "I'll have the chicken chorizo, thanks."

The waiter nodded his head in acknowledgement as he picked up the menu from the table, "And to drink?"

Your blood will be just fine jackass! "Water will do; thanks."

With that, he left them alone once again, in which Yugi took no time in taking advantage of. "He certainly likes you."

Razz rolled her eyes, "Oh please."

"No, seriously, I was beginning to feel like a third wheel here with the intensity between you two," Yugi insisted.

Razz shot him a look. "I believe you are required to take me out on at least five dates before you're entitled to jealously."

Yugi's grin widened, "That was what I was hoping for-"

"It's not going to happen," she quickly cut him off, practically slamming the door on any further ideas on the possibility of a second date in the future.

Yugi sighed dramatically in defeat. "All my hopes and dreams are shattered, how will I go on with my life now?"

"Send me a postcard when you figure it out," Razz retorted dryly.

"You know Razz…" Yugi began with a mischievous glint in his eyes. "You'd almost swear you didn't actually like me."

Razz shot him a look, which Yugi would only later be able to identify as the 'Razz look,' which was something that he suspected most human men would be terrified of, but he found it instead to be quite a turn-on. "Believe me…I don't."

"Most people don't, until they get to know me…then it's generally not a matter of not liking me, it's generally a matter of loathing me to a point in which a cold chill runs up my spine whenever I cross their minds," Yugi stated with an amused grin.

"I think I've already passed that point," Razz responded, though there was a smile fighting through the tight line of her lips.

"Nope!" Yugi immediately corrected her, "You've already decided that you don't like me, you can't use 'loathe' yet until our date is over."

Razz rolled her eyes. "Fine, then let me get to know you."

Success! She wanted to get to know him now.

"Don't mind if I do. Perhaps an introduction is in order first?" Yugi suggested through a charming smile.

"By all means," Razz responded sarcastically.

"I am Yugi…" he paused for a moment as he mentally cringed at the last name he was about to introduce himself with, "El-Hashem."

Razz shot him a confused look, "Yugi El-Hashem?"

Yugi nodded, "Yeah, let's just leave it at that in its shorter and more, pronounceable version."

She observed him further with a curious gaze, before finally caving in to her curiosity, "Where are you from?"

Yugi smiled softly, "Isn't it obvious? Egypt."

Razz's eyes widened in surprise and disbelief, "You are seriously from Egypt?"

"Born and raised," Yugi confirmed with a small nod, before relaxing back into his chair, as he watched Razz momentarily let her guard down.

"I just…" she began, still seeming extremely surprised by what he had told her. "Well I mean…I thought…your name's Yugi."

Yugi grinned and nodded his head in understanding, "My mom was from Japan…and my father's Egyptian."

Razz smiled a little, "Do you lean more towards your mother's side then? I mean your features are very…"

"Yeah I know, but I don't have much claim to my Japanese roots besides the blood," Yugi sighed, before returning her smile with a charming one of his own, hoping that this particular topic would come to an end soon.

"Why's that?" Razz asked softly, not seeming to realize how awkward it was for him to go into.

"Um…" Yugi nervously glanced away. "I don't know anything about that side of the family."

"Didn't your mom ever talk about them?" Razz, unknowing of his dilemma, continued to press.

"Uh no…" he lowered his gaze uncomfortably to stare at the white table cloth.

"Was there a family feud or something like that?"

She would have made an amazing reporter, he'd give her that. "No…no, it wasn't that," Yugi said without looking at her, while he fiddled with one of the many forks placed beside him. She watched him curiously as she noticed his discomfort, wondering what was bothering him as he seemed to be putting walls up to guard his emotions from her.

"She just didn't talk about them?" she eventually suggested after a moment of awkward silence.

"She…uh, she never got the chance," Yugi answered eventually, before giving her a small reassuring smile that seemed a bit off.

"Oh," Razz exclaimed softly as realization quickly set in. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Yugi shook his head, "Don't be, I never knew her."

Razz wasn't entirely convinced by his macho act and softened her gaze, "How did she-"

"I…uh," Yugi quickly interrupted her trail of thought, as he quickly brightened his mood, getting back into his cocky character, "Just realized that I've been hogging all our conversation time, now it's your turn."

Razz frowned slightly in thought as she regarded the quick change in Yugi's attitude, before shrugging it off and shook her head. "I think my origin is pretty obvious."

"I'm not so sure about that, I mean your name isn't exactly an obvious indicator. What is Razz short for anyway?" Yugi asked curiously, as it was something he had always wondered about.

Razz grinned, "Razz isn't my real name, dork, its' a nickname, short for Raspberry. When I was somewhat younger, I had a favourite show called Tokyo Mew-Mew Power, which was about a group of these super hero girls that fought against aliens, using their powers, which they got from the DNA of certain rare animals, but they each seemed to also have a certain flavour allocated to them, like the leader's character design seemed to revolve around strawberries. Growing up, I saw my brothers as the aliens, and they saw me as a Mew-Mew, so that's how I became Raspberry, because apparently I turn red when I get angry, and eventually we shortened it down to Razz. The name just stuck, and I've been called it ever since."

Yugi had lost focus somewhere in between something about aliens and something about animals and girls, and just nodded his head when she finished, like he had understood everything she had said. The main thing was that he had an idea on where her nickname had stemmed from, and surely that mattered more?

"My real name is Akiko," she confessed, before concluding her introduction, "Nak- uh, sorry, Akiko Nakamura."

"Akiko is a very pretty name," Yugi commented with a small smile.

"I still prefer Razz, it sounds tougher," she responded through a smirk.

"If you don't mind me asking, but aren't you supposed to put your last name first, before your birth-name? I mean, I think that's what I learnt on my online Japanese tutorial," Yugi asked suddenly.

Razz glanced up at him in surprise, "You learnt to speak Japanese over the internet?"

Yugi gave her a wink, "I learnt a lot over the 'all knowing and mighty' internet…but yeah I did, with the help of several fluent gaming buddies I used to play online with."

She nodded her head slowly before rolling her eyes at the gaming part and answered his question, "Yes you do, but this isn't Japan, and I've grown used to saying it the other way so as to not confuse people."

"Just checking," Yugi stated, before giving her another curious look. "So…you have brothers?"

Razz nodded, "And sisters."

Yugi raised his eyebrows in surprise, "Do you come from a big family by any chance?"

She nodded yet again. "What about you?"

Yugi thought for a moment as he weighed his options. "I uh…yeah actually, I do come from a large family."

"Brothers and sisters?" Razz inquired with genuine curiosity.

Once again Yugi took a second to think about it, before hesitantly nodding his head, "Yeah."

Razz smiled softly, "I have three brothers and two sisters." Yugi was fascinated to see the odd emotion of longing in her dark, downcast eyes as she thought about her siblings back home. "Two of my brothers are older than me, and then I have a younger sister and little brother…my second sister and I however, are twins."

Yugi's eyes widened in surprise, "You're a twin?"

Razz grinned sheepishly and nodded, "Yeah, an identical twin."

"Wow…you must be the hot one though right?" he commented flirtatiously, which she rolled her eyes at.

"No, we looked exactly the same…for a while anyway," Razz responded, before rolling her eyes, "Though our personalities were totally different."

Yugi couldn't believe it. What were the chances that he'd meet up with another twin, and that Razz would in fact be one? "That's interesting, and totally unexpected. What's her name?"

Razz's smile suddenly turned warm at the thought of her twin, "Hana...she's…" she suddenly seemed thoughtful with her gaze trained solely on the table. Yugi took a moment to marvel at the sight of warm vulnerability Razz was slowly allowing him to see, and realized he was slowly but surely getting to her. She looked up at Yugi as though she had read his mind, and he could practically see the solid metal walls go up and cutting him off, before giving him a small, dismissive smile. "Never mind the rest. Tell me about your family."

Yugi gulped nervously, before glancing around the room, "I uh…what's there to talk about?"

"Well you sound like you come from a very interesting one," Razz responded, before inconspicuously raising her eyebrow as she took in his somewhat skittish reaction.

"You have no idea…" Yugi mumbled under his breath, before meeting her gaze sheepishly. "They're not really, worth talking about."

"And why's that?" Razz asked curiously, as she caught sight of Yugi's eyebrow twitching.

Yugi nervously glanced to the side, "Damn, where is that water, I'm parched!"

"You're not trying to avoid the question are you?" Razz asked him through a small smirk, as she watched him almost squirm in his seat.

"Of course I am," Yugi muttered in response, before rubbing the back of his neck. "But seriously, does it really take ten minutes to open a bottle of still water, and cider?"

Razz rolled her beautiful dark brown eyes, which Yugi couldn't help but marvel at, and sighed. "In case you haven't noticed, we are not the only ones dining here tonight, try being patient, it's a good skill to invest your time in."

"Now you just sound like my brother… I'm the kind of guy who when I want something, I want it now," Yugi expressed, before folding his arms in front of him, and leaned back against his chair.

"Is this the same brother that I've only caught a glimpse of?" Razz asked him.

Yugi faltered slightly as he registered her question, before nodding, "Yeah, that's my brother Yami."

"You two look alike," she commented. "Or at least that's the impression I'm under for the time being, because I didn't get enough of a chance to make any comparisons."

Yugi rolled his eyes, "We look similar…what more do you need to see?"

Razz seemed deep in thought for a moment at his words, and Yugi caught sight of a slight grin that she was fighting to keep off her lips, but she eventually managed to keep it well under control. "Yeah, I guess that's true too. So are you two just visiting the states then, or do you actually live here?"

Yugi was momentarily surprised by her question, but quickly gathered himself. "Well…my brother is probably planning on living here, I don't know about me just yet, for now I'm only just visiting."

"Well, do you like it here?"

Yugi thought about it for a moment, before shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.

"Is it because you'd miss your family?" she tried once again, seeming to linger on the one topic he did not want to discuss with her.

"No," he answered immediately, seeming slightly uncomfortable under her curious gaze.

She smiled slightly and glanced down at the white cotton table cloth thoughtfully, before sighing. "My family and I lived in a small household in the country side, far away from the big cities, in like a kind of farming community. The only times we ever came into contact with the city's big bright and intimidating lights, was when the martial arts tournaments were hosted in them. My parents…were very strict and traditional people, with very old fashioned personalities. My father…" Razz seemed to mentally groan before flinching, "Has the title of Hanshi…do you know what that is?"

Yugi nodded, "Highest awarding title in martial arts I think?"

Razz smiled, "Yeah, I'm impressed, but it's also because he's over sixty years old."

Yugi gulped slightly in surprise. "Sixty!"

Razz chuckled, "He married late."

Yugi swallowed the surprise back down his throat and nodded his head as he absorbed the information she had given him, before smiling in awe, "Wow, that's quite an honourable title, you must be proud of him."

A haunted look briefly flashed in her eyes, before she gave him a strangely sad smile. "Any daughter would be, I suppose…but my father can be quite cold and cruel towards us, or at other times…indifferent. He's also mostly there for my brothers and them alone."

Yugi suddenly understood where her independent nature came from, as well as her superior fighting skills, going on the assumption that she had to compete for her father's affections, who Yugi also assumed must have held much lower expectations for his daughters than he did his sons. Didn't some of this, all sound extremely familiar?

"My mother is a delicate, light hearted woman, who I am absolutely nothing alike. She's a kind of herbal healer, and has the attitude of one as well. She's too weak spirited for my father, and is easily intimidated by him, which is why there were so many fall outs in our family… I'm telling you this, because I want you to know that I know what it's like, to not want to return home," Razz said in a softened voice with her gaze lowered, not seeming to realise how open she was being with him.

Yugi knew that there was so much more to her story that she was keeping in the dark; he could see it in her eyes. There was way more to these so called 'fallouts' that her family endured, than just a difference in opinions and the occasional quarrel that most families had amongst themselves. The hard, 'I'll tear you apart' look in her eyes that he had always found so attractive, was testament of it…your eyes didn't just get that way, and her die hard personality, wasn't something she just picked up. Razz had a lot of skeletons and baggage in her closet.

"Are you going to return home Razz?" he asked absentmindedly.

She smiled somewhat morbidly, before giving him a smirk, "I just realized that I've been hogging all our conversation time, I believe it's your turn now."

Using his own words against him – damn she was good.

Yugi chuckled nervously, before fiddling with one of his knives. "I can't really talk about my family."

Razz raised an eyebrow, "Why not?"

He sighed under his breath, "Besides my brother…they're all…uh, dead."

Razz gulped in horror, "Oh Kami, Yugi I'm sorry again, I shouldn't have pushed…"

'What do you know, she has a heart,' Yugi thought with light sarcasm. "It's okay Razz, really…if anything 'death' just makes them seem…to stick around longer," he mumbled, before chuckling at his own private, sick joke.

"So you believe their souls are still here on earth, watching over you? Is that where believing in ghosts some from?" She really seemed to be making an effort to try and understand him, with an open mind, he realized, as he took in her concentrative frown and focussed gaze.

"Uh…yeah, something like that," Yugi responded vaguely.

"You know, all this is reminding me of this manga that my brothers used to read, which even I eventually got hooked on, but it was such a long time ago," Razz said thoughtfully as she gazed up at the ceiling.

Yugi stupidly looked up at the ceiling as well, as though he'd also somehow find the answers she seemed to be looking for written up there, before quickly glancing back down, his eyes accidentally catching sight of her cleavage. "Oh really?" Yugi asked intrigued by something completely different, "What was the storyline about?"

"It was about this boy who had an Egyptian artefact, which was possessed by the 3000 year old spirit of a former pharaoh that took over his body whenever he was in danger or needed to win a game, and the special bond they shared with each other as well as their friends, while been challenged by several villains and rivals," Razz told him, though her line of thought seemed completely random.

Yugi gazed at her thoughtfully for a moment, "You know that sounds so freakishly familiar-"

"Your water, sir," the waiter announced, as he placed a giant glass of water in front of Yugi, offering him a wide yet strangely off smile, before turning his attention to Razz, as he placed her cider in front of her, giving her a more, genuine one. "We have just received a fresh order of shrimp, which will be served to you shortly. In the mean time, can I get you anything else?" He directed the question more at Razz than Yugi, who swallowed a sip of his water grudgingly while giving the waiter a narrowed glare. There were plenty of dark alleys in Domino City…

"No thanks, I'm okay. Yugi?" she looked over to him as he immediately straightened his expression into an overly cheerful one.

"Perfectly fine," he muttered in a strained voice.

The waiter nodded, and slowly backed away from the table, but not without giving Razz a final, charming smile…one that Yugi was seriously contemplating on removing, permanently, from his pretty boy face. His dark, crimson gaze followed the retreating waiter menacingly, before he heard Razz clear her throat. "Something wrong?" she asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Not at all, I was just temporarily stalking him from a distance," Yugi muttered in response before taking a small sip of his water, and lightly set the glass back down. "Where were we?"

"Stalking him? What are you some kind of animal?" Razz asked him sarcastically.

Yugi opened his mouth to give her one of his infamous dirty retorts, but quickly remembered where he was and whom he was with, before grinning. "Ah, you're doing that girl thing where you test and rate my responses."

Razz narrowed her gaze in confusion. "I'm doing what?"

"Well, you know…" Yugi took in her genuine confusion and decided now would be a good time to shut up, "You know what, never mind. Just pretend I never said anything. And as for the answer to your question, no I'm not some kind of animal…just a creature of sorts."

"A creature?" Razz repeated, with a raised eyebrow. "Really?"

"Uh huh…just a creature," Yugi said with a nod. 'And an animal in the bedroom!' he thought with secret smugness.

Razz shook her head, before sighing, "You Yugi are a really interesting basket case."

"It runs in the family," Yugi retorted with a wink, "It'll make our relationship so much more fun and exciting, don't you think?"

Razz narrowed her gaze at him, "There is no relationship, and there isn't going to be one either."

Yugi smirked, "Don't say that just yet, the date's not over for another couple of hours; you might just change your mind."

Razz gave him a look that clearly exclaimed her difference of opinion, but instead of voicing it she simply took a sip of her apple cider, while challenging him with her eyes. The bet was on…and Yugi was going to do everything within his power to win it at all costs. That didn't mean, however, that Razz was going to make it easy for him. "I'm extremely hard to impress."

Yugi chuckled, "Oh yeah, I knew that from the first time I met you, but if anything…I'm welcoming the challenge."

Razz lightly traced the outer surface of her glass with the tip of her index finger, as a small menacing smile curled onto her lips. "So you're one of those."

In Yami's speech earlier that evening, he hadn't mentioned anything about what to do or how to behave when a girl called a guy 'one of those' after a critical observation, so Yugi had no idea how to properly react to it. He also had no idea what she meant by it either, so he said the only thing he could, "Uh, is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

Razz shrugged her shoulders, her grin seeming to grow more, evil, by every passing second. "Tell me…what was the hardest challenge you've had to overcome?"

"Uh…in what aspect?" Yugi asked dumbly, his mind still reeling at what 'one of those' meant.

"In any and every aspect," Razz responded, seeming to be enjoying herself a little too much at his expense.

Yugi thought for a moment as he twirled his glass around, carefully, so as to not spill its contents. There were so many he could think of, but none that he was 'legally' allowed to tell her about. Finally one in particular crossed his mind. "I uh…don't know if it counts yet."

Razz glanced at him somewhat intrigued, as he began to nervously fidget under her gaze. "Repairing the relationship with my brother…getting him to at least sort of trust me again. Definitely the hardest challenge I've ever taken on, and probably ever will. Much harder than getting you to like me, trust me."

Razz scoffed at what sounded to her like a cocky statement, "I highly doubt that."

Yugi smirked without much humour, "Trust me, you don't know my brother. When he holds a grudge…" His voice broke off on a heavy note that implicated the rest without needing to be said.

"What happened between you two?" Razz inquired curiously, as she took another sip of her drink.

Yugi briefly glanced to the side thoughtfully, before lowering his gaze. "I did a lot of really bad things to him."

Razz frowned slightly, "Things like?"

Yugi caught himself in time, before he actually spilt all the emotions and feelings he had always been so guarded about, to a girl he barely knew or even really cared about, briefly wondering how or why he had even been so open with her up until now, until he finally realized how badly he had wanted to talk to someone. Razz, however…was not going to be that person, and he instead just shook his head, and forced a smile. "It's not a good topic for a first date…if you consider maybe going out with me on a second one; I might consider actually telling you."

Razz blinked her eyes with dramatic slowness, before flashing him a dangerous smirk and leaned back against her chair. It wasn't a moment later that the waiter brought them their shrimp, and with one look at the strange things that were hanging over the side of his odd shaped glass, Yugi felt the overwhelming need to bolt out the nearest exit. What the fuck were they trying to feed him?

"So you've never eaten shrimp before Yugi?" Razz asked him, after she had thanked the waiter and picked her first shrimp.

There was no way in hell any of those things were going down his throat!

"Nope…" Yugi muttered as he hesitantly picked one up, and observed it a little closer, almost gagging as its odd fishy smell hit his nostrils. The thing looked like a pink fat worm with a moustache. However, after feeling Razz's expectant gaze on him, Yugi hesitantly put it into his mouth and slowly crunched it between his teeth. "Hmm…it's not so bad," Yugi commented after a while, before dipping the rest of its headless body into the sauce that they came with.

"I hope you're not allergic to it," Razz answered as an after thought. "I mean especially if you've never eaten one before."

Yugi contemplated that for a moment, before shaking his head, "Nope, the shrimp seems to be agreeing with me."

Razz chuckled lightly, before moving on to her second. Yugi looked up at her and gave her a curious smile, "Are you allergic to anything?"

She regarded him for a second, before chuckling, "Yeah…to weakness and fear. What about you? Have you got any strange allergies I should be aware of?"

Yugi twirled a shrimp around in its saucy bath as he thought about answering her, before eventually meeting her gaze, "The sun."

Razz scoffed before rolling her eyes, momentarily assuming he was joking, before she realized the earnest look in his eyes, and widened her own with surprise, "You're serious?"

Yugi nodded.

Razz's lips parted slightly as she blinked, "You're seriously allergic to the sun?"

Yugi gave her a small smile as he nodded again, "Haven't you wondered why I'm so pale?"

Razz bit her lip guiltily as she nodded her head, "Yeah I have, but I figured you took after your mom...what happens when you go out into the sun?"

He gave her an amused, joking-like smirk, "Burst into flames."

Razz rolled her eyes, "Are you being serious or are you just fooling around?"

Yugi grinned, before quickly finishing another shrimp, and taking a drink from his glass of water. "I have a really bad reaction to sunlight, my skin…kind of…uh, blisters quite badly into these big red…scorching 'hives,' which sometimes bleed, within minutes of UV exposure."

"Oh Kami, that's horrible, what's this condition called?" Razz seemed genuinely concerned.

Luckily, Yugi always came prepared for this question, even though he had never been asked it before. Thank Ra, "Solar urticaria."

"So…do you like, stay indoors all day?" Razz asked him curiously. Now that she thought about it more, she did remember wondering why his apartment was so dark that time she had accidentally come across it.

"Yeah, pretty much," Yugi replied with a simple shrug of his shoulders. "How about your allergies, what happens to you when you're exposed to fear and weakness?"

Razz gave him a small, almost guilty smile, "I kind of feel bad about making a joke about allergies, when you actually have one that's that bad."

Yugi waved it off with a reassuring smile, "It's not as bad as you think; I was a night person since the night I was born, so I hardly notice the difference…until it burns." He picked up his last shrimp, before raising his gaze to meet hers, with a small smile on his lips. "Thanks for introducing me to shrimp; it's really not that bad."

Razz smiled at him as she nodded her head in acknowledgement, before suddenly seeming to realize that she was letting her guard down around him, as her eyes immediately hardened yet again, and her stubborn streak reared to the surface. "Just so we're clear, I'm not feeling sorry for you just because you can't walk around in the sun, if you want sympathy, find-"

"Find a bimbo that gives a crap," Yugi finished for her with an amused grin, which brought fourth the memory of their first meeting to both their minds. For a while they just gazed into each other's eyes, and it seemed to Yugi that Razz may have noticed something about his for the first time, as her heart seemed to jolt slightly in its beat, before she smirked and hardened her gaze.

"That's right. Like I said earlier, I'm hard to impress…or even interest for that matter," she finished, before taking a long sip of her drink, while staring at him.

Yugi shook his head as his own smirk widened, by the end of the night, he would have her. "Impress you huh?" He glanced around the table, looking for something in particular, causing his date to raise a delicate eyebrow while she watched him curiously.

"What are you looking for?" she couldn't help but ask, but he only grinned at her, before continuing his search.

Before he could find it however, the waiter returned, bringing with him their meals. Yugi paused for a moment to watch the guy who had taken too much of an interest in Razz for his liking, and wasn't surprised to see him checking her out yet again, not seeming to try and hide it either. He placed Razz's food in front of her first, before giving Yugi's his, and once again Yugi found himself asking, what the fuck were these people, trying to feed him.

It looked like a human had met with a blender at some point, consisting of some kind of pasta that looked like skinned fingers, with some freaky looking pink things in the mix, and thick red sauce that held it all together. He did not want to eat it. "Uh…what's this?" he managed to voice.

The waiter looked at him, with a slightly cocked eyebrow. "Chicken chorizo…"

Right…

"You sure man?" Yugi inquired, while eyeing the meal as though it was about to jump off its plate and grab him. "Not the last guy that complained to the chef?"

Razz giggled softly from her seat, and fought to hide the smile on her lips.

"No sir…its chicken chorizo," the waiter muttered back in a dead panned way, "Is there a problem?"

Yugi hesitantly shook his head, "I guess not…" Only there was a problem; this fricken hotel was serving their guests to their guests!

The waiter nodded, before flashing Razz one last smile, and walked off, seeming to have a cocky edge to each of his steps. Yugi had never wanted to punch a guy as badly as he wanted to smash that particular one. He nervously picked out the fork that was suited for the meal, and began lightly, nudging one of the pink things, trying to figure out what it was.

"I'm guessing you've never had this dish before either?" Razz commented with an amused grin.

Yugi chuckled lightly under his breath, before realizing he hadn't yet found what he had been looking for.

"It helps actually tasting the food instead of moving it around," Razz advised, still holding on to her amused grin.

Yugi sighed in defeat, as he bravely gathered a forkful of the weird meal he was forced to eat and took a small bite. It wasn't as bad as what he thought it would be, but he could still feel his stomach churning at the unnatural diet it was being forced to digest, "Hmm…not bad."

Razz smiled, before turning to her own meal, which Yugi found himself a bit curious about. "What's that?"

"This?" she asked, as she gathered up some of it on her fork, "This is salmon."

"Do you like sea food by any chance?" Yugi asked.

She grinned, before nodding, and took a delicate bite, sighing in content and clearly finding her meal far more delicious than he was finding his. Yugi glanced up and suddenly noticed a cute waitress serving a table nearby to them, with tall silky legs that seemed to stretch on forever, and black hair neatly tied into two buns with chopsticks holding them in place. She energetically served the couple's food, flashing them each a friendly smile, before sexily swaying her hips as she made her way back to the kitchen using a route that would bring her right past their own table, giving Yugi an idea.

Just as she was about to pass them, he politely stopped her, "Um excuse me?"

The waitress, who was a few years older than them, and clearly of Chinese decent, immediately paused to regard Yugi with wide curious eyes that immediately sparkled with interest when she took in his appealing looks. Razz glanced between him and the waitress with a raised eyebrow, before eyeing him suspiciously, as he adjusted himself so that he could face her properly. "Do you know where I can get some string from?"

Both girls thought that he was using this as an excuse to chat her up, with Razz taking a slow, but rather violent bite of her salmon as she all but glared in his direction, whereas the waitress simply smirked at him flirtatiously. "String?" she said to be sure.

"Yeah, I need quite a long piece; do you know where I can get one quickly?" Yugi asked her, aware that he was been glared at from across the table.

"Does it have to be a certain type or colour?" she asked, seeming to still think that this was just a strange way of him flirting with her.

"Nope, just needs to be long," Yugi responded with a small smile.

The waitress nodded her head, flashing him a wide, dazzling smile, before answering, "I can get you some. I'll be right back." She winked at him, before walking off, and Yugi quickly turned to regard a stiffly chewing Razz.

"Prepare to be impressed," he whispered, before giving her a wink.

Razz swallowed stiffly, before raising an eyebrow at him, her glare boring into his eyes like burning coals. "Impressed by what exactly?"

Yugi smirked, "Something that'll amaze you, and blow you away."

The waitress quickly returned, bringing with her a decent length's worth of white string from the kitchen and smiled as she handed it to Yugi, giving him a slightly curious look as she watched him straighten it out. Razz on the other hand, looked at him as though he'd just lost his mind. "Yugi…what are you doing?"

"I'm going to show you a magic trick," he announced, before making himself comfortable in his seat.

"Oooh, I love magic tricks," the waitress purred with wide animated eyes.

Razz first shot a 'back off' look to the waitress, and Yugi briefly worried about the knife that she had clutched a little too tightly in her right hand, before she shot him a curious look of her own, "A magic trick?"

Yugi held the string up horizontally, with an amused glint in his eyes. "This…" he stated dramatically, "Is an ordinary piece of string."

"I can see that dumbass," Razz muttered under her breath, before sighing as she leaned back against her seat, while the waitress just watched on in quiet curiosity. Three other couples that were seated in nearby tables were also suddenly intrigued by Yugi's performance and glanced over to him.

Yugi chuckled; completely unaware of the additional attention he was gaining, as he expertly manoeuvred the string between his fingers, and then straightened out the ends that were dangling from his hand. He showed Razz his hand, before picking up a knife and cutting the part of the string that was wrapped around his middle knuckle, leaving the string in what seemed to be in two pieces, which dangled from the sides of his palm. "As you can see, it's in two pieces now, but I shall remedy that…" he announced mysteriously, as he tied the two pieces together over his knuckle, and then straightened it out once again, showing a long piece of string with an evident knot tied in its centre. He then closed it into the palm of his hand, and held it out towards Razz, "If you'll please blow onto it, for the magic to work?"

Razz gave him a look that had him quickly reclaiming his hand, before she used the knife that was still held quite tightly in her hand, to remove it for him, and grinned at her nervously. "I'll do it!" the waitress sang cutely, before bending down slightly and lightly blowing a gust of cool air over his closed hand, giving him a small wink when he looked at her in surprise.

"Uh…thanks," Yugi responded, unable to help but flash a charming smile to the pretty girl, who was so obviously crushing on him, before remembering that he had a show to put on and used his left hand to dramatically pull the string out of his right hand, once again straightening it out so that everyone could see it. Razz's lips parted open in surprise, whereas the waitress gasped in awed delight, as the string was completely whole without a knot, as though it had never been cut and put back together.

"How did you do that?" the waitress asked, completely taken aback.

Yugi grinned at her, "It's all magic." He turned his gaze to Razz and smiled at her, before raising an eyebrow expectantly. "Impressed?"

Razz scoffed, before scooping up another bite's worth of salmon, "Not really."

The waitress glanced over at Razz in bewilderment before blinking at her, and then turned to focus her gaze on Yugi, "I think it's amazing!"

Smaller minds were generally easier to impress…

"Thank you," Yugi responded politely, "And thanks for getting me the string too."

The waitress smiled at him, before extending her hand, "It's was no problem, and I'm Vivian by the way. Vivian Wong."

Yugi, unable to display bad manners, took her hand gently in greeting, "I'm Yugi."

Razz watched the exchange and felt a bit annoyed by it, "I hope Yugi's trick wasn't distracting you from your job or anything."

Vivian turned and looked at her as though she had only seen Razz for the first time, before giving her a small challenging smirk. "Not at all, but I'll take my leave now, hope I wasn't interrupting." As she left, Yugi was very careful not to take any notice of it, especially since he'd seen the non-verbal challenge that females seemed to have whenever confronting each other, and remembered something Yami had said about not showing an interest in anyone else but her tonight…though he was somewhat surprised he could get a territorial reaction out of Razz, even though he had not intended for it.

He quickly resumed eating, even though he felt like he was eating with long teeth, and knew his body wasn't agreeing with any of it. "So were you really not impressed by my trick? I'm much better with cards."

Razz was taking a long sip of her cider at the time, while watching Vivian leave, before placing her glass back down with an audible, but not too loud, thud. "Impress me with intelligence Yugi, not cheap carnival tricks."

Yugi smirked, "Okay, I'll give ten interesting facts that you probably don't know about, how does that sound?"

Razz raised her gaze to his and nodded, "Fine, show me what you got."

Yugi straightened up in his chair and nodded, "Okay. Did you know that Earth is the only planet where fire can burn? There's no oxygen in anywhere else in the galaxy."

Razz grinned, "As a matter of fact I did know that. Fire is my element, so I'll give you double points if you can impress me with a fact about it that I don't already know."

Yugi smirked once again, before picking up his teaspoon, and holding it over the small flickering flame of the candle set in the middle of their table. Razz watched him curiously for a few seconds, before giving him a look as though he had lost his mind. "What are you-?"

"Watch what happens in the teaspoon…most people have the concept that fire is water's complete opposite, but I'm going to show you that fire, can actually make water," Yugi explained softly, his eyes almost glowing with excitement. This was one of his favourite ironic facts.

After a minute of watching closely, Razz secretly marvelled, as the teaspoon began to fill with a slight trace of water, and quickly figured out the mechanics behind it that was making it possible, but was still warmly affected by it, even though it seemed like it should have been common sense. Perhaps it had something to do with Yugi's words; that fire can make its complete opposite.

Yugi grinned as he moved the spoon away from the flame and quickly continued where he left off. "Second interesting fact…China has more English speakers than the US."

Razz stared at him for a second, before nodding her head slowly, "I did not know that…"

Yugi chuckled, before taking a moment to think about all the facts that she probably didn't know, since Razz seemed like quite a smart girl, and was probably more, suited for someone like Yami anyway. "Ah! I bet you didn't know that a dentist invented the electric chair?"

Razz shook her head, before giving him an amused grin, "Though it seems quite fitting." They both chuckled over that for another minute, before Yugi thought of another one.

"Did you also know that the outside of your eye is called the cornea?" Yugi asked, mentally cheering when Razz once again shook her head. "Then another fact that you might find interesting is that the cornea cells are the only cells in your body that don't need to get their oxygen through the blood, and instead get the oxygen they need from the air."

"Where did you learn that?" Razz asked with interest, as she took another bite out of her salmon.

"Biology," He answered her with a cheerful grin. "I usually only absorbed the really interesting and weird stuff…like that your hair is made out of the same material as your fingernails. And my personal favourite, did you know that humans and dolphins are the only animal species that have sex for pleasure?" Yugi paused as he registered what he had just said, and slowly closed his eyes, before mentally cursing himself. "Though that was probably inappropriate to bring up," he mumbled under his breath before scratching the back of his head. "I'm Sorry."

Yami would have had a fit.

Razz chuckled at his discomfort, before adding, "The world's youngest parents were 8 and 9 years old, and they lived in China."

Yugi gasped in surprise, "You're kidding?"

Razz shook her head, "Nope, they're world record holders."

Horny little fuckers…"Well I'll be damned…if I wasn't already," Yugi added, before relaxing in his seat again. "Well since we seemed to land on this particular topic, did you know that Fred and Wilma Flintstone were the first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV?"

Razz seemed confused for a moment, "Who?"

Yugi's eyes widened as he gasped in horror, "Oh hell no, Razz you've got to know who the Flintstone's were!"

Razz shook her head, "I've never heard of them."

Dear Ra, who the hell didn't know who the Flintstone's were? Yugi wiped his hand down his face before cradling his chin, and rubbed it, "Okay…you will by the end of tonight, trust me. And since I know of a TV show that you should know, since you are an inhabitant of planet Earth, I do believe my score is now high enough to win your approval?" He would have shown her a clip he had of them on his cellphone, but it was a pornographic clip of Wilma blowing Fred, until she was eventually exploded right out of the clip by his 'super sperm,' which he somehow doubted would entertain Razz.

Razz gave him a long hard look, "Just because you're general knowledge is good, doesn't mean you're vastly intelligent."

This girl was a tough customer.

"I can speak all versions of the Egyptian language from the ancient past to the present day Egyptian Arabic, fluently, including Ancient Syrian, Nubian and Hebrew. My French isn't too bad either, and I can also read and write in hieroglyphics, and tell you about Egypt's ancient history - including its neighbouring kingdoms that it often dealt with - better than Google can…and I majored in science at school. How's that, smart enough?" Yugi smirked smugly, as he took in Razz's evident surprise.

"Okay…that does impress me," she chuckled nervously as she shook her head with disbelief. "So what, are you like really into languages or something?"

Yugi shrugged his shoulders, "Not really, we just had a really strict father…"

Razz nodded her head in understanding, "I know the feeling. Okay Yugi, I'll admit that I'm officially curious about you."

Yugi raised an eyebrow, "Only curious?"

Razz just grinned, "Yeah, just curious…what other kinds of special talents do you have?"

Yugi's brow furrowed slightly as he took in her words, "Special talents huh?" He leaned back against his seat and thought about it for a minute, before deciding on some that were safe to tell her about, "Ah yes…well, I'm quite good at games, especially strategic ones, and I'm also quite an expert with yo-yos, I can do all the tricks and stuff…and I have an odd way of been able to take an entire song and completely change its lyrics around at the spur of the moment to suit a particular occasion or how I feel at the time, or something…"

"Wow, those are interesting," Razz responded with genuine awe. "I'm curious about the song one."

"I'm not that good," Yugi stated.

"But can you really make up a whole new song?"

Yugi nodded, before becoming extremely wary of the menacing shine in her eyes. "Would you make one up for me, right here and now?" she asked him, sweetly…too sweetly.

Oh dear Ra no…

"Uh…I can't really…well I mean I can sing, but I'm not like pop star quality-" he tried to explain, but Razz seemed to feed on his nervous fear, which he probably should have predicted ahead of time.

"Use Justin Bieber's 'Baby' as your inspiration," Razz challenged him, before folding her arms expectantly over her chest.

Yugi pretended to glance around the room warily before meeting her gaze, "Uh…I don't think it'll be appropriate for me to stick my hand down my pants and squeeze…a certain part of my anatomy…tight enough to reach the same pitch in his voice when he sings."

She wanted to laugh, he could see it, but she skilfully managed to keep a straight face. "He's actually got a very nice voice, which is one of the reasons why he's making millions and you're not. He's got a lot of singing talent."

"Oh please, he's a little stick-figure from Canada with a likeable face that in dire need of a haircut!" Yugi debated with a roll of his eyes.

"Aside from the Canada part, look whose talking," Razz commented dryly.

Yugi raised an eyebrow, before smirking, "I have a likable face?"

Razz glared at him for a moment, before glancing over to the side, "Dream on." Although she was trying to hide it, Yugi didn't fail to notice the fine tinge of pink that stained her cheeks.

"What's one of your favourite songs that's, not by Justin Bieber, who I cannot believe you are actually a fan of," Yugi said as he rolled his eyes.

"I'm not a fan, I'm just not a Bieber-hater…what do you not like about anyway him?"

Where the hell should he start? "It's a guy thing…now what's your favourite song?" he responded after a few thoughtful seconds, deciding to rather play it safe.

"I don't really have many - oh wait – I know, 'Just the way you are,' by Bruno Mars…that wasn't a bad song," Razz suggested thoughtfully.

Yugi thought about it for a moment, wondering if he had ever come across it on the radio, since it wasn't anything he was likely to listen to of his own personal free will, and tried to piece the song together as well as the tune it played by. "Her eyes, her eyes make the stars seem like they ain't shining? Something like that?"

Razz nodded, "Yeah that's the one."

Yugi nodded thoughtfully as he pieced the rest of the song together, before a smile crept to his lips, "Yeah, I can use this one. I'll make it about you." He winked at her before composing himself, secretly feeling a little insecure about doing this for someone else while sober. "Just to remind you once again, I'm not a singer, so I'm just going to…you know…word it."

Razz grinned and leaned back in her seat, "That's okay, just show me what you got."

Easy for her to say… Yugi thought, before clearing his throat, as he glanced around the room nervously. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this, right here and now…

(Song item…Just the way you are, Yugi's remix.)

Oh, her eyes, her eyes

Make the souls of hell, seem like they ain't burnin

Her hair, her hair

She can't go anywhere without heads turnin

She's so beautiful

And no one else can compare (yeahh)

I know, I know

When I compliment her, she thinks bite me

And it's so, its so

Obvious, but it's something I've gotta make her see

That everything about her is okay

So this is what I've gotta say

When I see your face

I feel like I've been to a whole new worldly place

One that's amazing

Just the way you are

And when you smile

…I'm only scared for a while

'Cause girl you scare me and amaze me

Just the way you are

Her lips, her lips

I could kiss them all day, but she'd kill me

Her laugh, her laugh

Makes me nervous, but it's so sexy

I could stare at her all day

Wondering if she'd ever look my way

Oh you know, you know, you know

You're that one fish in the sea

Amongst millions of others that you outshine with ease

You're everything they ever could hope to be

You've got the whole world down on to its knees

So I'll say

When I see your face

I feel like I've been to a whole new worldly place

One that's amazing

Just the way you are

And when you smile

…I'm only scared for a while

'Cause girl you scare me and amaze me

Just the way you are

The way you are

The way you are

Girl you're amazing

Just the way you are

When I see your face

You send me to a whole new worldly place

And I can't believe how amazing

You really, truly are

And when you smile

You awaken something; I haven't felt for a while

'Cause girl you scare me and amaze me

Just the way you are…

(Give him a round of applause ladies and gentlemen back home!)

Razz hid her blushing face in her hands, before laughing into them while shaking her head. Razz laughed and hid her face, before shaking her head. Yugi soon joined in her laughter, before finishing the last of his water to help clear his throat again. "So…what did you think? Do I have potential?" he grinned, before chuckling again.

Razz shook her head while still grinning widely, "I think…that, that …was the fastest I have ever seen someone bullshit their way through an entire song…you're good, I'll give you that."

Yugi secretly grinned in triumph; he was slowly but surely 'getting' to her. This dating thing wasn't so hard.

"Now that I've proven what mine are…what are your special talents?"

Razz thought for a moment, before grinning evilly at him, "My aiming is extraordinary, it's one of my best skills, so anything like archery or throwing darts is like my natural field of expertise…and I can also hit targets from a very long distance away…"

Yugi observed her nervously as he weighed her words and realized how potentially dangerous that made her, "That's both scary and impressive…remind me to never get on your bad side."

Razz gave him an exasperated look, "I have…several times…but you've always chosen to ignore me."

Yugi chuckled, "What can I say? I like facing danger!"

"Mmm," Razz hummed lowly as she arranged her cutlery to mark that she was finished with her meal.

"Oh thank Ra, dessert time!" Yugi mumbled excitedly as he did the same with his cutlery, glad to finally be done with the crappy meal.

Seto's cobalt blue eyes narrowed into annoyed slits as he watched Yugi's date play out from the balconied area above the dining hall, which was also used to seat guests that were dining in the hotel for the evening if the place was packed or if their guests wanted privacy, such as he often insisted on having. It was by chance that he and Ishizu had picked this particular hotel to dine at especially when he had simply wanted to remain 'home' and ironically continue his search for one of the twins, until his female companion had simply put her foot down and demanded he accompany her. Now it seemed that the odds were in his favour.

He had been one of the quiet observers who had made up Yugi's tiny audience when he performed that horrible little magic trick that he had been obsessed over ever since he was a child, and was far from impressed for three reasons. One; Yugi was supposed to be on a mission, not gallivanting around on a date with some random human…and why exactly was he on one anyway? Two; he was doing a terrible job of courting her and it actually pained Seto to see him make the dumbest of mistakes; and three, he rarely ever enjoyed having Yugi anywhere near his presence.

"Lord Seto…is that-?" Ishizu had begun to ask, but he immediately held up his hand up to silence her.

"This is the one that's fully turned," he answered her, without taking his eyes off Yugi.

Ishizu chewed her bottom lip slightly as she glanced between him and Yugi, and then quickly scanned the floor. There were too many innocent people in the room for a confrontation to break out between two deadly vampires. "I guess…I can provide a distraction-"

"There's no need Ishizu, I'm not going to confront him here, this suit is far too expensive," Seto explained, before pulling away from the railing and turned to face her. She was breathtakingly stunning tonight, especially while basked in the soft glow of candlelight, which as usual, brought out and defied all her striking Egyptian features, but Seto remained indifferent to it. For once, she had actually dressed up for the outing, sporting a much shorter navy, V-necked dress that hugged her curves, as well as expensive black stilettos…clearly expressing her freedom to wear what she wanted, since her 'modest' father had kept quite a strict restriction on the types of clothes she was allowed to wear back in Egypt. Seto on the other hand, couldn't have cared any less. "Shall we?" he gestured to their table.

Ishizu shot a questioning look between him and Yugi, "What about-?"

"He won't be a problem, and he's a little too preoccupied at present…the fool," Seto scoffed, before marching over to their table and politely pulled out a seat for Ishizu, who unlike Razz had earlier, actually accepted.

"Thank you," she responded lowly through a small smile, as she watched Seto take his own seat directly in front of her, and yanked up his menu somewhat roughly.

"My pleasure…" he muttered back, before sighing in annoyance, "Do I have to order? I find absolutely nothing in this menu appetizing."

Ishizu rolled her eyes at him, tiredly, "Sire, you have not yet, even read past the first page."

Seto muttered something unintelligible under his breath before growling, "I don't need to, I already know that I'm not going to like anything on the next page either."

Ishizu shot him a distained look, "Well it is your own fault that we do not have power at the mansion for me to prepare something for myself, and unfortunately there are very few places open at this time of the evening, with a generator."

Seto growled in response, before grudgingly flipping to the next page, "And as I've explained more than once tonight, it was not intentional."

"Sire…" Ishizu began, as though she was scolding a stubborn child, "You smashed an axe through the pool's control panel, which not only cut the power out at the mansion, but also cut the entire of Domino City's power as well."

"It was annoying me, and none of the switches were turning it off," Seto replied without feeling any remorse for his destructive actions.

"It doesn't work if you flick them on and off before the pump can actually register-"

"Well my method worked best of all," Seto retorted in a deadpan voice that usually drove Ishizu crazy, but after spending the day with him, which was always an extremely stressful endurance, she simply had no more energy other than to shake her head and sigh, unable to be at all concerned about the law suit that was bound to head their way if she couldn't get the damage he had caused, fixed, before they returned home.

"I think we should have some wine," she groaned, before picking out the meal that she wanted.

"Alright," he answered without looking up.

"And get someone to spike mine," she muttered dryly, attempting to make a joke with him.

"I'm sure that can be arranged…in fact I wouldn't be surprised if the chef himself is selling Ecstasy from the kitchen's back door," Seto responded with his usual cynical attitude. It had become quite clear, since his arrival, that Seto did not like Domino City…in fact he seemed to detest everything about it and suspected everyone who lived in it, to be either a drug addict, murderer, con artist, rapist, you name anything bad – the locals of Domino City were it.

"Sire…" Ishizu groaned, wanting nothing more than to bang her head on the table.

A waitress suddenly appeared at their side, giving each of them a wide friendly smile, though her eyes seemed to narrow in on Seto as though he were a prized piece of meat. Ishizu had been keeping a close watch on this one ever since she had led them to their seats, while swaying her hips seductively as though to beg Seto's eyes to watch her, and shot him several flirtatious looks when taking down their order, which of course were all unrequited from his side. He just wanted to get this meal over with, with as little pain and nausea, as possible.

He had surprised her immensely however, as when he had sensed another vampire in the building; he had acted quickly, ordering Ishizu to stay in her seat, while he inspected the threat to make sure it was safe, hence the reason he had found himself at the balcony, discovering his cousin. His regard for her safety was an odd revelation, as she had always thought of him as someone who found his servants disposable and easily replaceable…

"Are you ready to order now?" their waitress inquired in a friendly, yet somehow seductive at the same time, tone.

Seto refused to speak, and just gestured for Ishizu to order for him, before turning his bored glare to the other side of the room, where he witnessed several other couples dining quietly. He could hear his cousin's voice as well as Razz's, as they spoke, and was almost horrified when he heard the unusual pattern of the girl's heartbeat, which was an indication of sexual attraction…had she no taste or self-esteem?

"I see you've caught the attention of yet another woman," Ishizu commented through an uncontrollable grin, when they were once again left alone to private discussion. "That makes her your eighth admirer this evening, and if my assumptions are correct about her level of willingness, she is probably going to be the easiest to court."

Seto scoffed, "Please, I don't have time for courting women."

Ishizu grinned, "I wasn't aware that a man existed without the 'time' for simple pleasures and thrills…especially if it is easy to obtain."

"Well mark this day then," Seto remarked after taking a deep breath, still in his deadpan persona.

"And besides, Sire, there's surely enough time-"

"There isn't," Seto immediately cut her off, before grinding his teeth together, "Nor do I have any desire to make time for them. I have just travelled across the Ra damn globe, to this Ra forsaken little town that's a camel spit's worth, short of a slum, living in a place where the idea of quiet is almost impossible, and all because, my all high and mighty uncle, spawned that bastard and his twin rat, and made them my problem…"

Ishizu watched him for a moment, barely managing to keep a straight face. "Do you feel better now Sire?"

Seto stared at her for second, before answering a simple, "No."

The waitress quickly returned, bringing them their wine, and reassured them that their meals would arrive to them soon, before smiling at Seto, who hardly even acknowledged her existence, and strolled off. Seto took charge and uncorked the bottle, before allowing it to breathe for several minutes.

Ishizu watched his graceful movements, while taking note of several charming aspects about both the way he carried himself as well as his appearance, all of which made it quite easy to understand why so many women fell for him so easily. However, in spite of all the attention he received, he lived a very lonely lifestyle, which she found quite sad. "Master Seto?"

Seto raised both his eyebrows at her expectantly as he waited for her to continue. "Surely you can't enjoy being alone all the time…when will you-"

Seto's eyes hardened immediately, and she decided to stop right there…remembering her place.

Ishizu nodded her understanding with downcast eyes, as Seto poured her some wine. "I'm to be engaged soon…" she announced in a low voice that was barely above a whisper.

Seto didn't look surprised and continued pouring his own wine. "I know."

Ishizu's eyes widened slightly, but her gaze was still focussed on the tabletop. "Will you be choosing my suitor?"

"No," he answered immediately.

"So it is my father then…I'm surprised he waited this long."

"I told him to wait," Seto informed her, still seeming bored and indifferent, and was clearly unaware of her unease, having absolutely no idea of how cruel she found it to be forced into marriage with who she knew would be a complete stranger as her parents had, and her grandparents had before them.

"Why?" she inquired absentmindedly, while she continued to stare at the white tablecloth.

"I have my reasons."

As though that, constituted for a reasonable answer to all her questions. Ishizu pouted slightly, but decided to let it go, even though she found it all quite strange. Seto, being her family's ruthless vampire master for many generations, had always been the one to pair the members of her family together with a suitable partner, as he had from the day the first of the Ishtar family was born, but he had always treated her differently. She was the first girl of her family to be allowed out in public and attend school, much to her father's reluctance, but it was something that Seto had insisted on. Even more surprising, was that when Ishizu was ready to graduate, she had mustered up enough courage to request permission to attend college from Seto personally, and he had granted it without a second's worth of hesitation, and even allowed her to go to one overseas, provided she returned to her duties to him, the moment she was done.

She wouldn't dare think that he actually cared all that much for her, as even with the odd amount of additional attention he bestowed on her, he still shunned her with his cold indifference from time to time that he did with all his slaves. It still made her wonder though…

Deciding that she'd rather not spoil her entire evening with such serious and complicated thoughts, Ishizu decided to move on to a topic that Seto might have been more willing to talk about. "How do you plan to take Prince Atem back to Egypt, once you have captured him?" she inquired, as she thought about all the different types of powerful sedatives she could suggest to him, including the commercial ones that she could easily get her hands on.

"I don't," he answered simply.

Ishizu blinked and frowned, "Wh-"

"I'm here to make sure..." Seto began, as he twirled his wineglass around with dramatic slowness, his expression indifferent, but his eyes filled with a darkened emotion, "That Atem never steps foot in Egypt again."

Yugi happily dug into his chocolate sundae, his body seeming to finally be satisfied with his odd choice of 'feeding' that evening, while Razz watched him with a disbelieving, raised eyebrow. It was the sweetest looking treat she had ever seen in her entire life, and just the thought of how many calories it contained had her cringing in girly horror, as thick, dark and rich scented chocolate smothered the ice-cream from top to bottom, so much that he had to dig to find the actual cold vanilla dessert, along with crispy nutty pieces that were sprinkled along its surface… He seemed to be really enjoying it though.

"I hope you're not one of those people who get super hyper if you've eaten too much sugar…" she stated, eyeing him warily.

Yugi grinned up at her, "I hope so too, but we shall both see how I cope together."

Razz was about to give him a witty response, but a woman she had never seen before, suddenly appeared beside them, giving Yugi a really hard, glaring stare. Yugi side glanced at her first, before lifting his gaze to meet hers, and widened his eyes in surprise. Oh Ra had to be fucking kidding him… The woman's face hadn't changed in the slightest, and neither had her patronizing scowl that marked her aging face, and her blue eyes still held the same bitterness he had seen in them the first time she had approached him like this. 'Oh come on…not now!'

"I see you're still encouraging the slaughter of innocent cows," she spat pointedly, as she gave him a distasteful look like he was the scum of the earth.

Razz watched the odd exchange, unsure of what to do or how to react to it; the killing of what?

"And I see you're still an old miserable bitch," Yugi commented cheerily, with a fake grin, "Like my jacket babe? I assume you must if you've come all the way over here just to comment on it."

Razz widened her eyes in horror, and harshly kicked Yugi under the table, and was surprised when he hardly even acknowledged that he felt it, stunning her momentarily.

"Do you not have a conscience? How do you live with yourself, knowing that you are wearing the produce of another creature's pain and suffering?"

"Oh he didn't suffer as much as I am listening to your voice," Yugi muttered dryly before scooping another spoonful of ice-cream into his mouth, which seemed to be of more chocolate sauce than anything else.

"The nerve, you should be ashamed of yourself!" the woman rasped angrily.

"Have a cow, why don't you?" Yugi mumbled lowly under his breath, while the woman stormed off to probably preach to someone who was eating meat, softly adding 'bitch' just as she left his side line of vision.

Razz whipped her gaze around, trying to piece together what happened. "…the hell?"

Yugi snorted a chuckle, before meeting her gaze. "Yeah, random I know…she doesn't like me much, and no, I have no idea who she is."

Razz blinked in disbelief, "And you met up with her before, how exactly?"

"Walked up to me like she just did now, but at another restaurant and voiced her thoughts on my choice of style," Yugi explained, before spooning another bite of ice-cream into his mouth.

"Do you attract weirdness?" Razz questioned.

Yugi thought for a moment before nodding his head slowly, "Yeah."

Razz grinned, before relaxing in her seat again, actually surprised that she had so far enjoyed most of her date with him. "What's the craziest situation you've ever been in?"

Yugi hummed as he thought about it, "That's like asking me to tell you about each outfit I've worn since the beginning of this year."

Razz raised an eyebrow, "That many huh, okay, well pick the one that you remember most."

Yugi grinned, "Have you ever been to a hard rock concert?"

Razz slowly shook her head.

"That's probably a good thing. Now when I say a hard rock concert, I'm talking about one of the most brutal and violent environments around, where nearly everyone is either wasted or stoned out of their mind and ravelled up to kick some ass. The one I went to this one time was definitely the wildest I had ever been to, I mean you had fist fights breaking out every ten minutes, which created mass hysteria and suddenly everyone was climbing into each other and breaking stuff, until the cops had to be called in. That was one of the craziest situations I've ever been in." Yugi wisely chose to leave the part out about the wild orgy he'd participated in with the eight of the band's groupies backstage.

"Well…I suppose if you can survive that, you can survive anything," Razz commented with wide eyes.

"Have you ever been to a concert?" Yugi asked her.

Once again Razz shook her head.

Yugi widened his eyes in surprise, "Have you at least seen a band play live?"

Razz shook her head yet again, "No."

Yugi once again dragged his hand down his face, and stared at Razz incredulously, before lightly slamming his hand down on the table in determination. "Okay, that's it…I'm going to show you the pretty stage lights tonight."

"W-what?" Razz stuttered, as Yugi gestured for the waiter to come over to them.

"We're going somewhere," he told her, as the waiter hurried over to them. "Can we have the bill? Thanks man."

"Where?" she asked him suspiciously as the waiter hurried off.

"You'll see," Yugi assured her.

Razz narrowed her gaze at him, "How do I know that you're not some kind of serial killer that's luring me off to some dingy spot where no one can hear or find me? This is Domino City after all."

Why did Domino City have such a bad reputation?

He smirked at her ignorance of not knowing how close to the mark she really was. "Well…I've made it a habit not to kill anymore, especially since there are so few pretty girls in the world these days, and I don't think it can afford to lose you so…I think you can trust me." For now…

Razz rolled her eyes. "Ha-ha-ha," she worded sarcastically, just as the waiter arrived, still seeming to be too interested in her for Yugi's liking.

Yugi stared at him for a moment, before deciding on something and reached for the bill at the same time Razz did. They had a brief stare off, before Yugi managed to slip it out her grip and shook his head at her stubborn reaction. Seriously, what was wrong with women today? However, just before he handed the check book back to the waiter, he wrote a message down at the back of the bill, addressed to the waiter, and gave him a wide grin as he took it, then turned back to Razz. "Come on, let's go."

"Do you really see me as the type of girl to just go into something blindly?" Razz inquired as she folded her arms across her chest stubbornly.

"Is that a trick question?" Yugi responded, before inspiration struck him, "Unless you're trying to hint that we stay here and hangout in your room?"

Razz blinked, "How cheap do you think I am?" She suddenly seemed very, VERY, offended.

Oh crap, wrong move! Wrong move! Yugi's mind spun into overdrive, (while Seto painfully felt like slapping some sense into him in the back of the head) until auto pilot seemed to kick in and his lips moved without his command, "That's what I thought, so let me take you out to have a great time, like I promised I would."

Razz regarded him suspiciously for a while, before hesitantly nodding her head, "Okay…but on one condition."

Yugi mentally breathed a sigh of relief, though his confident façade hadn't faltered in the least. "Sure, name it."

"Nowhere shady…you got it?" Razz demanded in a stern tone.

"Trust me, there'll be plenty of light where we're going," Yugi attempted at a joke…and failed.

"You're not funny Yugi," Razz retorted, before getting up from her seat, which Yugi immediately imitated.

"I have my moments…" Yugi responded softly, as he followed her out the room, quickly opening the door for her just before she could reach the handle. She sighed in annoyance before turning to glare at him.

"You know…you never struck me as a gentleman," she commented irritably.

Yugi smiled and followed her through the doorway, before closing the door softly behind them, "I was, believe it or not, brought up right. It's just that my elders encouraged me to be a dick instead."

As they were about to leave the foyer, a small group of four, breezed in through the front doors, completely ignoring the poor doorman who had tried greeting them in the same warm and hospitable way that he had greeted Yugi. The first thing Yugi noticed about them, was that there was only one brunette amongst them, and the other three were all blondes, the second thing he noticed was that they were all hot, and the third thing he noticed was that the main blonde of the pack, was staring right at him with a surprised look in her eyes. Her lips parted as though she was about to actually speak to him, but Yugi didn't feel like sticking around and pretending to remember her, knowing that it would be rude to his date, so instead, he boldly reached for Razz's hand and gently clutched it in his, before nodding a sort of greeting to the girls and guided Razz out the hotel, before they could stop him.

The girl's lips curled up into a delighted and almost smug grin as she watched the pair leave through the front doors, and almost felt like jumping up and down while squealing in celebration, when her brunette friend caught her attention. "Uh, Serena, what's the hold up?"

"Nothing Ash…I just noticed something very interesting," she replied through an excited grin.

"You mean that hot guy?" Ashley purred, "I know right!"

"Sexiness like that shouldn't be legal to flaunt in public," her second friend Monica Morrell mewled as her eyes ogled his retreating figure.

"That's just bad boy delicious in its finest dessert girls," the last of her friends Marcie Millar commented.

Serna stared after him thoughtfully, and realized that he hadn't shown her any recognition, which bothered her a little bit, but she figured that perhaps with the dim light he hadn't been able to make out her features all that well, so she decided not to dwell on it, after all, who'd ever forget a face as beautiful as hers? "I wouldn't mind having a bite…" she mewled softly, before running the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip and then bit it gently.

"Now, now Serena, you're a taken girl remember," Ashley reminded her friend as she draped an arm over her shoulder, which was more to steady herself from falling over than to show her any affection.

"Yeah Serena, give us a chance to snag a hottie," Marcie whined.

"Did you see that social reject he was with?" Monica inquired as she quickly sent a text message to someone on her flashy bedazzled phone. "She seriously needs a manicure and a new hairstyle that isn't done at Goth Central."

"Totally," Marcie agreed as she opened a text message on her own phone, "OMG Monica, you're such a slut!"

"Totally!" Monica agreed as the pair hip bumped each other, before fixing their hair.

With the way her friends were behaving, it was easy to tell that they had been drinking plenty before arriving, but Serena wasn't too bothered by it, knowing that there was nothing the city could do to her if they were caught. She was Domino City's princess after all.

"Come on girls, we're supposed to be talking 'wedding' here," Ashley reminded them as she ushered them into the dining hall, before looking back at Serena over her shoulder. "Are you coming Serena?"

Serena slowly turned around and began walking towards her best friend with an evil smirk on her face. "Do you remember that hot foreign guy I was telling you about?" she whispered lowly, so that their other friends - who were so busy and engrossed with the content on their cellphones to notice - wouldn't hear.

"Oh!" Ashley exclaimed as she remembered, "The one that's apparently going out 'Slutèa' and drives a Ferrari?"

Serena smirked as she heard Ashley use Tea's old nickname in school, and nodded. "That was him; I knew I recognized his car outside."

Ashley gasped, "OMG shut up! He's totally hot!"

Serena rolled her eyes playfully, "Well duh, I told you didn't I? And you know what the best part is?"

Ashley played dumb and shook her head.

"Either he and Tea broke up or-" Serena moved in closer, and lightly whispered, "He's dating her on the side!"

Ashley giggled, "He's totally 'dating' her on the side! She's got no class, and he's all class – and badass!"

Serena and Ashley reached out and clutched each other's hands before performing a mini crouch as though they were about to hop, before straightening up, grinning at each other brightly. "He's going to be mine!" Serena declared, before swishing her long blonde hair over her shoulder, "I knew that whole thing between him and Tea was just a show put on to play hard to get."

Ashley's smile faltered for a minute, before she jerked her chin slightly to the right, "Wait a second…what about Shane?"

Serna rolled her eyes. "What about him?" she said in a slight sing-song voice, before grinning at her friend conspiringly.

Ashley smirked, "Uh…You're like totally getting married to him?"

Serena laughed cruelly, before putting her arm around her friend's shoulder and guided her towards the dining halls' entrance way. "What Shane doesn't know, won't hurt him," she whispered in her friend's ear, whose smirk only widened.

Ashley nodded her head in approval, though Serena failed to notice the calculating glint within her friend's dark brown eyes. If Serena's secret happened to somehow slip…Shane would be all hers for the taking. 'Keep laughing and having a good time Serena, because that ring's going to soon be mine, you devious little slut,' she thought secretly, before smiling to keep up appearances.

While the foursome were led to their table, the waiter which had served Yugi and Razz looked the bill over and was annoyed when he discovered only a one dollar tip. He irritably grabbed the bill, and read the note Yugi had left him, before grinding his teeth together in annoyance. His words were, 'Here's my tip for you man – in future, don't ogle over a guy's date when he's going to be the one who decides your tip at the end of it…sucker!'

Yugi led Razz to Yami's Ferrari, and smirked when he heard her light gasp of surprise. "Is that…" she began wondrously, "Is that seriously a 2009 Ferrari California?"

"Feel like travelling in style?" Yugi inquired as he dug into his jacket's pocket and pulled out the vehicle's keys, before pressing the button that automatically unlocked it.

Razz stopped following Yugi abruptly, and stared at him with wide questioningly eyes. "Seriously? This is seriously your car?"

Yugi contemplated on actually accepting ownership on Yami's vehicle, since she would probably never find out, but for some reason he found it quite hard to lie to her. "Nope, this one belongs to my brother, I'm borrowing it for the evening…since mine met a tragic end last night."

Razz's brows rose right up to her hairline, "Oh, what happened to your car then?"

"Car bomb," Yugi responded, unable to mask the bitterness in his voice, though he did try.

Razz glanced between the expensive shiny convertible and Yugi, before finally settling on him. "Are you guys like part of the mafia or something?"

Yugi chuckled, "Sure can resemble one sometimes."

Razz gave him a wary glance, before walking up to the vehicle and checked it out. "Oh man, what a beauty."

"Like it?" Yugi asked with a hint of amusement as he watched the slight changes in her expressions as she took in the car's stylish curves.

"What's not to like? That's a V8 engine under the hood – can't wait to hear this thing roar – and with its 7-speed dual clutch transmission as well as its multi-link rear suspension, this is pretty much Ferrari's ultimate car!" Razz enthused, seeming suddenly excited, whereas Yugi's amusement quickly turned into shock as his mouth dropped open.

"Whoa…you can speak car?" he gasped.

"You bet I can," Razz informed him as she crouched down and checked the tyres out. "I have two older brothers remember."

Yugi stared at her as though it was the first time he'd seen her, never for one minute having suspected that she was a vehicle enthusiast before, until now. He was suddenly extremely inspired, "Razz, I think you and I, are going to get along, just fine."

She gracefully lifted up from her crouched position in a fluid motion, which was almost vampire perfect. "How fast can it go?"

Yugi smirked as he opened the passenger's door wide open for her, "Top speed is 193 miles per hour…but this baby can accelerate from zero to 62 miles per hour in just 3.9 seconds." It was only a fraction faster than he was.

Razz smirked as she climbed into the passenger seat, before taking a look around her at the interior's layout. She breathed in deeply and sighed as the car's scent hit her nostrils, just as Yugi seated himself beside her behind the wheel. "It smells like vanilla in here."

"Yeah, it's Yami's favourite scent," Yugi explained, as he started the car.

"What's yours, chocolate?" Razz inquired, as she thought back to Yugi's obvious weakness for chocolate.

"Strawberry," he said surprising her, "You?"

"Cinnamon," she answered him with a small smile.

"Good choice," Yugi responded as he threw her a hot smirk, which she inadvertently did a double take one. Since when did she start noticing features about him that were hot?

He pulled out the parking lot, and turned the car out onto the deserted street which was completely dark and creepy looking without the aid of its usual street lights, Yugi on the other hand, wasn't at all fazed and cruised along it as though it were as clear as day outside. "So where are we going to go if the whole of Domino City's power's out?"

"Out of town," Yugi replied, bracing himself for the storm…

"What?" Razz exclaimed, "No way in hell are we leaving the city!"

"It's not exactly a city…" Yugi tried.

"Yugi, seriously, stop the car," Razz commanded through clenched teeth.

"I promise, it's not going to be that far, it's like a twenty minute drive in this car-"

"I said stop the damn car!"

Yugi flinched slightly at her tone, but did as she asked immediately, and parked it on the side of the curve. She turned in her seat and glared at him with one hand resting readily on the door handle.

"Uh…" he began as he noticed where her hand was, "If you really…" He couldn't hold back the disappointed sigh that escaped his throat before he looked away from her. "If you really want to call it a night, will you at least let me drive you back?" he turned back to her, when he had proper control over his emotions and met her gaze, "I don't feel comfortable with you walking around in pitch blackness like this just to get away from me, there are too many creeps in Domino."

Razz raised an eyebrow, "You'd drive me right back?" He noticed a slight trace of suspicion in her voice.

"I'm not trying to kidnap you Razz," he answered.

Razz suddenly felt guilty and bit her lip, before settling back in her seat, and moved her hand away from the door handle. "I'm sorry," she apologized softly, before lowering her gaze, "I…I have major trust issues, and I don't trust anyone easily…sometimes I don't trust anyone at all."

Yugi watched her intently for a moment as he tried to figure out that which was Razz. An idea suddenly occurred to him, and although he knew that its chances of success were a long shot, he figured he'd try it anyway…because heck, he's date was already on its crutches. He reached under the driver's seat and fumbled around until his fingers traced the sharp edge of something cold and metallic, and pulled it out. Razz shifted slightly away from him as she regarded the strange looking knife in his hand, while warily eyeing him at the same time, wondering what he was planning to do with it. He carefully turned it so that the blade was pointing at him and away from her, hoping that would make her feel less nervous, as he had heard the sudden jolt in her heart beat, and carefully handed it to her with an amused smirk.

"Here…take this. If I do anything that makes you feel threatened or unsafe, you can use it on me...that way you can be sure I'm not going to invade your comfort zone, because I think you'll use it one me anyway."

That last part managed to get a smile curl onto Razz's lips as she carefully took the knife from him by the handle and examined it, noticing the exquisite detail on it that screamed Egyptian without her even needing to concentrate all that hard, before she looked up at him and once again threatened him with her usual hard glare. "Just so we're clear, I will kick your ass and kill you if you try anything, or get me into anything."

"I look forward to it," Yugi said, standing up to meet her challenge, as things seemed to go back to normal with them.

"And for your information, I could have totally made my way back to my hotel, safe and sound. I know how to defend myself," she said, defending her own honour.

Yugi smirked as he started the car again and pushed the vehicle forward into drive. "I wasn't concerned as much for your safety, as I was concerned for anyone you may have come across…we creeps, have to stick together you know."

Razz grinned as she shook her head, "You're not a creep…you're just strange."

"Noooo…" Yugi drawled out softly in thought, "I am pretty much a creep…you know with the whole coming out at night only thing, drinking blood, seducing young girls-"

"Sleeping in coffin all day," Razz added playing along.

"Uh…no. Coffins were so last millennia; we sleep all day in style, nowadays," Yugi retorted with a joking wink.

Razz chuckled despite herself, and looked the dagger over in her hand, "This is a beautiful knife."

Yugi side glanced at it, before refocusing his gaze back on the road ahead of him. "It's a replica."

"A replica of what?" Razz asked in curiosity.

Yugi remained silent for a long, long time, and Razz had almost assumed he wasn't going to answer, before he finally spoke. "It was originally called the 'Dagger of Fate,' which according to myth determined the fate of your soul in death if you were killed with it, by weighing the light and darkness in your heart. It's been in my family for a very long time."

"Determined your ultimate fate in death...? Was that like the weighing of souls in the after life?" Razz asked curiously as she puzzled over the meaning.

"Yeah something like that, but with a different outcome," Yugi replied mysteriously, before passing on to the outskirts of the city, "That dagger that you're holding now however, will only determine whether or not I've learnt my lesson."

Razz looked up at him and grinned, before turning to look out at the pitch blankness through her window, unable to make out anything they were driving past, though she had gathered that they were on the highway. The light purr of the engine was lulling and the silence between her and Yugi, as each seemed to be in their own thoughts, was comfortable, which allowed Razz time to truly observe all that she had thought and felt about the boy, who was still a stranger to her, and was startled when she realized how much she had let him in that night. That was definitely a first for her.

(Three years ago – Yugi's transformation)

"Where's Yugi?" Yami rasped angrily.

Dendera smiled cruelly with a knowing look in her eyes.

Feeling his temper rise beyond his control, Yami snapped and grabbed her by the throat, before growling angrily, "Where is he Ra damn it?"

Dendera flinched back. Fear lightly tinting her eyes as she remembered whom she was dealing with. "He's…He's…he had to feed…for the transformation to be completed," she whispered, sounding far more nervous than she looked.

Realization hit him like a cold wave of ice…and as stupid as his question was…he couldn't stop himself from asking it.

"What transformation?" he asked numbly, feeling his body ready to crumble beneath him.

There was a short pause as Dendera was hesitant to respond to him, unsure of how he'd react. "His transformation into a vampire…"

Within seconds, Yami was out of her room and making his way towards a special chamber on the far side of the tomb, shoving past several loafing vampires along the way, who hissed and growled at him in return, but didn't dare intentionally provoke him into a violent confrontation, as it had become 'tomb' knowledge of what he was truly capable of. He didn't stop to take a breath, even though his side was killing him from the cracked rib he had received in his confrontation with Yugi, and rushed forward until he slammed into the enormous wooden doors, which he knew Yugi was behind, and flung himself into the room.

All eyes immediately turned on him as the vampires in the room regarded him as an invader and a troublemaker, and Yami could immediately sense the alarm run through them, as several vampiric guards jumped to their feet to stand in his way. It was a large, circular room made of smooth polished stone, with a second level that rose a few feet from above the main floor where all the VIP vampires sat, his father in particular who sat on a golden throne in the very centre, where he could see all that was happening below him as well on his sides. Right then however, his entire focus was on Yami.

Yami stared fearlessly into his father's eyes for a moment, before he heard the light gurgling of someone's throat and whipped his gaze to the centre of the room, where Yugi was on his knees, holding himself up weekly by his arms, as a thick, gooey, red-black liquid flowed from his mouth and pooled beneath him. His entire body was trembling and sweating blood, and Yami was alarmed to see the pained expression on his younger twin's face, which had paled to a frightening shade of bluish death.

"Yugi!" Yami called out in horror and concern, completely forgetting all about his bitterness towards the fact that his brother had attacked him, and was instead focussed on the fact that his younger twin was in trouble and that he needed to protect him. As he rushed forward however, a guard stopped him by tackling him into an iron hold and kneeing him in the gut to force him onto his knees.

Yugi coughed up more blood and choked, struggling to breathe and cope with the pain as he felt his body dying, while Yami watched in horror, gulping for breath and still trying to break free. "Y-Yami…I'm…" he sputtered weakly, before an electric pulsation protruded from his heart and he felt his entire body convulse with pain. He dropped to the ground and blacked out, while his body remained active, as a series of convulsions racketed through his body.

It was a terrifying sight…

"Yugi? Yugi!" Yami cried, before spinning around and punching the vampire that was holding him down, so hard that he flew across the room and slammed into several others that were behind him. 'Hold on, I'm coming!' Yami thought as he elbowed another vampire out of his way, and leaped over another that was diving towards him, with a growl, almost reaching the main floor, when he was grabbed from behind and flung into a wall on the side of the stands. His vision swam for a second, as his skull had collided with the wall pretty hard, but just as it was about to clear, Seto appeared before him, and reached out to grab him around the neck, holding him firmly in place.

Yami growled in anguish, and tried to shove Seto's hold off him, but the older vampire's hold was too strong. "Get off me!" Yami commanded angrily, but Seto just pulled him a little way away from the wall, before shoving him back into it, harder than before, in warning.

"Do you want him to die?" Seto growled under his breath, his blue eyes turning icier. Yami tried to use his mind reading ability on him to figure out what his words had meant, but Seto had developed a way to block his thoughts from being read, which annoyed Yami considerably.

"He's already fucking dying!" Yami spat, as he gave a final, unsuccessful shove to try and escape Seto's clutches, but Seto had been the one who had trained the twins to fight, and knew all their fighting styles already, so he already knew what Yami was going to do before he even tried it…plus Yami's mini concussion wasn't doing him any favours either. He didn't respond to Yami's statement, but instead began to drag him towards the exit, away from his brother's jerking and twisting body that was bending in highly unnatural ways that shouldn't have been possible without snapping his spine, as blood gushed from every opening point of his body.

Seto flung Yami's body out of the doorway, in which he fell on his back with a loud thud, before slamming the doors in his face. Yami quickly got up and once again, tried to slam his body into the door…but the fricken thing was locked, so instead of bursting through it, like he did last time, Yami came off extremely short and just bounced off it like a ping-bong ball and slammed into the wall on the opposite side, before dazedly sliding down it and landing on the floor, with the world spinning around him. 'Ra that was so damn stupid…' he found himself thinking, as he dizzily climbed to his feet, and gingerly approached the door with a bit more caution, before banging on it with his fist. "Seto…let me in!" he barked, before coughing. "Ra damn it, open the fucking door!"

When he was blatantly ignored, Yami felt the realization about what exactly had transpired that evening, strike him hard, which once again numbed his entire being, and he fell to his knees gasping for breath, his throat feeling as though acid had been poured down it. Yugi was turning into a vampire...he was going to become one of them. His breath hitched in his throat, and tears were threatening to fall, but Yami would never allow himself to cry. The only person in the world who he lived for, was dead…the only person who he had ever trusted had betrayed him…it was all falling apart.

Yami had never felt so alone…

(Present Day – Part Two of First Date)

They arrived in a well lit town that Razz had never seen, or been in before, which was called Morganville Falls, and Yugi confidently made all the right turns down the right roads, which indicated that he had been there before, though Razz could not picture Yugi in such a place. It held a very old residential, small town charm to it, without the enormous buildings and dazzling lights of the city they had just left, and everything seemed to be closed, except the 24/7 gas station. Domino City at least had several malls that stayed open permanently; this town didn't seem to have anything open at this time of the night, which made Razz wonder why Yugi had brought her here.

He took a left turn and drove up a steep hill, while casually resting his elbow on the edge of his open window, his gaze seeming to drift every now and then to the sides of the roads, as though he could see something that Razz couldn't, even though she tried. However, after a few minutes, the vehicle crawled out of the darkness, as though they had travelled through a dark tunnel, and was engulfed by a soft orange glow as they neared a large shed-like building that was completely isolated from the rest of the town, and surrounded by enormous trees that were on the verge of creating an almost woodland surrounding.

There was a soft humming sound coming from within the shed that hadn't yet been able to penetrate through the car's metallic barrier to be totally understandable to Razz's hearing, but she gathered that there was music playing loudly inside. Cars of all types and colours, though none within the same class as theirs, were packed in the parking lot, allowing only a handful of open spaces for Yugi to choose from, which is how he ended up making his own parking space beneath a tree off the side of the road, still close to the entrance, and turned off the engine.

"What is this place?" Razz inquired curiously, as she studied their surroundings with interest.

"It's a hangout for all the teenage rebels of this place, come on, you'll love it," Yugi explained vaguely as he hopped out his seat and began to make his way over to her side to open the door for her, but she had already climbed out it on her own, and shut the door behind her, before taking another good look around.

"It seems remote," she commented.

"Well if you don't want your authorities or higher ups to know about all the bad shit you get up to when you're seventeen or younger – remote is good." Yugi kicked a stone out his way as he made his way over to Razz, with his hands tucked in his pockets. "I'd hide the knife away though; you don't want to create mass-panic in there," he said while pointing his gaze towards the shack.

Razz glanced down at the weapon he had borrowed her, having briefly forgotten about it, and gave him a sheepish look before hiding it in her side. "I-isn't concealing weapons a federal crime?"

Yugi rolled his eyes and shook his head, "There are no such things as federal crimes."

Razz raised her eyebrows at him as she followed him towards the entrance, imitating his casual pace. "Really?" she asked sarcastically.

"In a moment you're going to tell me you actually believe there are such things as policemen too," Yugi mumbled back with an amused grin.

"Why am I afraid of where this is going?" Razz droned.

"Rules are there for others to follow, but when you're with me…" Yugi turned in his step and began walking backwards as he regarded her, "You don't need to, because with me you're free."

Razz narrowed her gaze, "That is so cheesy it almost makes me gag."

Yugi chuckled, "I wasn't saying it to be romantic. I meant it."

Razz shook her head at him and glanced away just in time, to miss Yugi almost tripping over an uprooted tree root, luckily regaining his balance with unnatural grace before making a total fool of himself, just as Razz turned back to look at him. "So are we like at a club or something?"

Yugi mentally breathed in a sigh of relief as he turned back to walking forward and paid better attention to where he was going, before responding, "More like a dive-bar."

Razz slowly closed her eyes as she registered the type of place she was going to, before opening them again. "I am going to kill you," she threatened, seeming to lack the energy to make her words more, believable.

"I look forward to it," Yugi retorted before giving her one of his extremely hot smirks that she for some reason found hard to resist or stop thinking about. "Besides, what's a bit of romance without one partner wanting to kill the other?"

"Normal?" Razz suggested dryly with a questioning look.

"Normal is extremely overrated," Yugi responded, before climbing the rusty steps that lead up to the building's porch entrance.

Razz gave him a look and was just about to comment on his strange logic, when the metal doors thudded open and a couple about their age staggered out clumsily with music briefly blaring behind them, before the doors automatically shut closed again, giggling at something, before one of them recognized Yugi. "Dude!" the guy announced excitedly with wide star struck eyes as he took in the sight of his idol, and Razz watched Yugi's slight, backward withdraw as he seemed hesitant to acknowledge his obvious fan. "Oh man! Dude!" he seemed at a loss for words, and Yugi just nodded, before forcing a small smile.

"Yeah…hey, Alistair," Yugi greeted, before the red headed guy, who was a great deal taller than Yugi, wrapped him in a tight hug and briefly lifted him off the ground, before setting him back on his feet, and wildly gestured to his female partner, who seemed airy and off balance, and had to lean against the wooden railing that stopped her from falling off the porch. "Gina, this is the guy I was telling you about, you know the one that-"

"Uh let's not talk about it, man," Yugi quickly stopped him, by grasping him tightly on his shoulder, enough to make the man flinch in pain. "It's not a huge deal-"

"You're kidding me right?" Alistair laughed, before jabbing Yugi in the chest. "You're a fricken legend! I fucking idolise you man! The way you just-"

"Uh…you know, meet my date," Yugi gestured to Razz, who had been watching the pair with a raised eyebrow, and just nodded with a small, slightly suspicious smile when they both turned to look at her.

Alistair looked as though his eyes had just landed on an oasis in the middle of the desert. "Dude…what a babe!"

"Hey!" Gina growled at him from above them, and he clumsily turned around to look up at her, before pushing both his hands up to her in apology.

"N-no no, she's just a second babe, Babe, you're my number one babe and…" he muttered some other nonsense that made no sense to either party including himself, before he finally gestured to her and then to them, "Meet Gina everybody." He lowered down to Yugi's level and after giving him a conspirator's smirk, lowly whispered, "You won't believe how easy she is."

Looked like someone was at least having better luck than he was, Yugi observed…and he did, actually know how easy and spontaneous Gina could be.

"Oh wait!" Gina suddenly exclaimed as she took better notice of Yugi. "I do know you!" And that was what Yugi was afraid of, since he and Gina had actually been well acquainted before a few months back. He held his breath as he saw the wheels of her brain churning awkwardly behind her light brown eyes, as she tried to remember him, and he hoped that she was too drunk to remember much from that night, or else he'd have some serious explaining to do to Razz, who up until now didn't seem to be catching on to anything sinister. "You're that guy…!"

Yugi blinked before nodding his head slowly, "Yeah…um, you know, Razz and I came here to party, so we better get in before we miss all the good stuff." He quickly reached for Razz's hand, which he was surprised to find that she was willing to allow him to hold, and gently guided her up the steps, careful to avoid walking into Gina's space, aware from past experience that she was likely to react violently without much provocation. "See you guys around."

"Have a good one, man!" Alistair cheered, before helping Gina down the steps, though he wasn't much better with his own balance and almost ended up falling backward. "You rock!"

Yugi turned slightly to look back over his shoulder at the redhead and forced a small smile of gratitude before nodding once, and scratched the back of his head, as he turned back to face Razz who stared at him with an expression that seemed to be made up of a mixture of confusion and suspicion. "Uh…yeah, you don't want to know what that was about," Yugi responded to her expecting stare with honestly, before opening the door slightly for her. "Shall we?"

Razz looked him up and down once, before shrugging and hesitantly made her way forward towards the entrance way, just before Yugi opened the door wider for her, and loud music exploded through it. Yugi cringed slightly as he better prepared his senses for the oncoming assault, and diligently followed after Razz, making sure he didn't lose sight of her, especially since the place seemed even more, packed than usual.

The inside, looked totally different from the outside, with a large dance floor that stood below a wide wooden stage, upon which a band was playing feverishly on, while spotlights illuminated them in a variety of different exciting colours. Razz stared at them with wide eyes, before turning to Yugi questioningly, which gave her a small grin in return and pointed to the stage. "I told you I'd take you to see a band play live!" he yelled so that he could be heard over the loud music as the guitarist played his energetic solo. Razz's expression first turned into surprise, before a genuine smile crept on her lips and she nodded her head once in acknowledgement, which Yugi took as a nod of approval and grinned.

"Come on, let's get better seats!" he suggested, before gently steering Razz to the other side of the room, being careful not to touch her too much as he lead her away from the unofficial dance corner, where he knew several people often became quite rowdy in, and directed her to an almost empty section, which had a row of large wooden crates all stacked solidly upon each other that people used as high chairs to watch the show.

He first leapt up to the top of the crates, temporarily forgetting to act human, before reaching down to help Razz up, lifting her to the top effortlessly and pretended to ignore her gulp of surprise, as he took in their energetic company who were mostly all familiar faces to him.

Razz on the other hand, attempted to shrug off her surprise at how strong Yugi was and focus on their surroundings. Most of the interior's furnishings seemed to have been makeshifts or done by amateur craftsmen, including some of the areas which seemed to have been repaired in the past. Her mind however, wondered over to the stage the minute the guitarist's solo reached its climax, and a cheerful roar of delight exploded from the crowd who were jumping up and down in wild support. Razz suddenly understood why it was that people enjoyed live concerts, the atmosphere was amazing!

"Yo, Yugi!" a male's voice suddenly called from somewhere beside them, and both turned to see a dark haired male, making his way towards them from the bar, with a beer in his hand.

Yugi's eyes widened slightly. "Sup' Collins?" Yugi greeted, as the young male joined them. The boys briefly fist pumped while the guy's eyes darting to the stage every once in a while, before turning to fully regard them, and gave Yugi an amused smirk once he had noticed Razz beside him.

"Tell me you're here to bring some more life to the party again?" the guy, who Razz only knew as 'Collins' for the time being, inquired with a rebellious spark in his eyes.

Yugi shook his head, "I've got a girl with me tonight."

The guy nodded his head in understanding. "So I see, hey there," he greeted her.

"Hey yourself," Razz responded in her usual 'don't get too close to me or I'll knock your teeth out' kind of way - Feisty as usual.

"Razz, meet Shane; Shane meet Razz," Yugi introduced vaguely with simple gestures.

"Sweet name," Shane complimented her, before adding, "What's it short for?"

Razz gave him a long hard stare that was as every bit uninviting as the first one she had given Yugi when they had first met. "I don't know, what's Shane short for?" she responded sarcastically, and Yugi choked on a giggle. That was priceless.

Shane chuckled too, before turning his gaze back to Yugi, "I like her."

Yugi grinned, "You've got a long, long, looooong way to go before she starts liking you back." He winked at her in amusement when she flashed him a look with a raised eyebrow.

Shane laughed, before gesturing to the stage and its audience, "Why'd you bring her here? This town sucks!"

"We came to check out the bands. Is anything really good playing tonight?" Yugi asked.

Shane shrugged, before taking a small swig of his beer, "Michael's going up after these lame ass jackasses are done. I think he's pretty good. Just make sure that your girl doesn't fall for him."

Razz gave him a hard side glance, "I'm not his girl first of all, and second how would you even know what I'd fall for?"

Shane seemed momentarily taken aback, whereas Yugi just smirked, thankful to have her pick on someone else for a change instead of him. "I uh…well most girls are pretty into him," he quickly explained, giving her a nervous smirk, seeming to feel the burn of her glare.

"Let's get something straight Shane, I'm not like most girls, so don't just assume things about me, understood?"

Shane stared at her wide eyed, before Yugi cut in, "A loooooong way to go my friend."

Razz shot him a warning glare, "Shut up."

"Yes dear," Yugi responded immediately, before grinning widely.

"That's much better," Razz commented with a grin of her own, before turning her gaze back to the stage as they finished their gig for the evening and began to pack their instruments away, with the exception of the drum kit. "What exactly is this place?"

Shane had shared a long glance with Yugi, before grinning at her in awed amusement. "It's just a place where we all hang out and stuff. We mostly built it up ourselves so that's why it's all rustic like."

Hmm…ask a group of teenagers to volunteer to work together on a project that would give something back to their community, and the answer would generally be no…but, ask a group of teenagers to build something up from scratch so that they had a place to secretly drink and hangout with one another, and suddenly they were all for getting involved for the common 'good' of their community. Razz regarded him for a second, before glancing at the bar, "And the liquor?"

"Helps Judy pay for her 'recreational' activities," Shane replied, before downing the rest of his beer.

Razz shot Yugi an inquiring look and he demonstrated a puffing motion. "Oh…" she said softly, before biting the side of her lip. It seemed that underage drinking wasn't the only illegal thing happening here.

"Let's go get a drink?" Yugi suggested suddenly, before hopping down from the crates.

Razz raised an eyebrow and stared down at him, "Uh…Yugi?"

Yugi smiled up at her, "Just a soda, I still have to drive remember." Yami's warning was still very clear in his younger twin's mind.

Razz smiled back and nodded her head, ignoring Yugi's offer to help her down and instead just got down by herself before waving Shane off. The boys regarded each other over Razz's reaction to Shane's presence for a second, before Yugi just shrugged and made his way over to her side.

Once at the bar however, things went from mildly awkward to worse, when everyone who was seated at it, turned and stared at him, the girls even gasping, and some of the guys almost fell off their stools. The bartender, Judy, who had been just about to serve one of the clumsy boys, was however the first to vocalise her thoughts. "Speak of the devil!" she bellowed excitedly, in a shrill voice, and Razz suddenly realized she was much younger than the age she looked.

"Hey everybody, Yugi's here!" one of the other girls called out to the dance floor, and cheers and whistles suddenly rang out all around them, mortifying Yugi, who tried to wave them all off, gesturing wildly for them to all stop and shut up.

A Goth girl squealed as she sprung up from her seat and wrapped her arms around him tightly, giving him a tight squeeze before bouncing back. "You're playing tonight right?" she asked, her entire being, seeming to vibrate with energy.

"N-no, Eve, I'm not," Yugi informed her, before stepping out her hugging range. "I just brought a friend of mine over to see a band play live…this is Razz," he introduced her with a small gesture.

Eve regarded Razz, with a small friendly smile, "Hi Razz, I'm Eve."

Her bubbly personality was too hard to resist and despite Razz's general wariness and avoidance of strangers, she couldn't help but take to the strangely and dramatically dressed girl almost immediately. She politely bowed slightly in greeting to Eve, "Hi."

Eve rushed over to her, and took her by her hands, before pulling her over to the bar, where a guy especially moved off a stool for her to take a seat. Razz looked over at him in surprise, before quickly coming to her senses as Eve gently pushed her down onto it. "Uh…thanks."

Judy quickly handed one of her customer's their drink before gliding over to them, and first smiled at Yugi, before giving Razz a welcoming smile too. "What can I get you two?"

"Just a soda for me, thanks," Razz responded a little warily, wondering what the hell was going on, and why Yugi was such a celebrity here.

"Me too, thanks," Yugi also ordered.

Judy gave Yugi a mildly incredulous look, "Since when?" Yugi inconspicuously pointed at Razz behind her back, and Judy smirked in understanding. "Two sodas, coming right up."

"So Yugi," the Goth girl named Eve began, as she took her seat beside Razz, "Are you seriously not going to go up?"

"For what?" Razz broke in before Yugi could reply, her curiosity suddenly reaching its peak.

Eve's eyes widened in disbelief, "To play the guitar of course!"

Razz frowned, "The guitar?"

"Uh-" Yugi tried to cut in, but Eve quickly broke in.

"Yeah, he's amazing! Not a rock god yet, but he's getting there."

Razz glanced over to Yugi and gave him a questioning look, "You play?"

"Well…yeah, but not nearly as good as they're making me out to be," he answered hesitantly.

Razz grinned before regarding Eve, "Is that why he's such a celebrity down here?"

Yugi's eyes widened in dread.

Eve immediately shook her head, "Well yeah, I mean, we know him because he's majorly talented – don't let him trick you into believing otherwise – but his famous because-"

"Uh Eve, let's not tell Razz why I'm famous round here," Yugi instructed her, just as Judy returned with their cold sodas.

"Here you go guys, drinks on the house," she announced as she slid the cans across the table to them.

"Free drinks?" Razz inquired, shooting the trio a suspicious glance, "Now I've got to know."

Judy cocked an eyebrow, "Know what babe?"

Eve plopped both elbows on the table and rested her chin on her closed fists, "She wants to know why Yugi's so popular, but he doesn't want us to tell her."

"Come on girls, give me a break here!" Yugi whined. "She already has a low opinion of me; let's not prove her actually right!"

Both Judy and Eve laughed, whereas Razz gave him a hard stare. "Is there something I should know?"

Yugi met her gaze with a sheepish one, "Probably, but I'd rather you didn't."

As though for once, the gods had actually felt like showing him mercy, the spotlights zoned in on a single figure that had just walked onto the stage with an electric guitar in his hand. Razz noticed that he was as tall as Shane, with light blonde hair that seemed golden in the light, and a rather boyish cute face…this had to be the 'Michael' he had been referring to. Eve's focus immediately seemed to centre on him, and if Razz didn't know any better, she'd have sworn Eve no longer realized she was in a room filled with other people, totally awestruck in love.

Just before Michael started playing however, he glanced in Yugi's direction and smirked evilly, before leaning to say something in to the microphone. "Hey Yugi, how about an epic rock battle?" he challenged publicly, before addressing his audience, "Or is he too chicken to go up against real competition this time?"

There was a loud cheering from the crowd, and Yugi felt like sinking into a dark hole. He didn't feel like this right now. There were murmurs of his name been chanted lowly under the crowd's heavy breaths, and Yugi could sense the anticipation build up within them. Why had he thought bringing Razz here was a good idea?

"Go up and show me what you've got Yugi," Razz encouraged through an evil smirk of her own.

"U-uh, I…" Yugi faltered, staring at her with wide eyes, like a rabbit caught in a truck's headlights.

"What's wrong?" Razz smirked, "Are you going to back down because you're a little stage fright?"

"Yeah Yugi go up!" Eve ordered him with cheerful enthusiasm, but it fell on deaf ears, as his focus was only on Razz.

Yugi grinned back at her confidently, before taking a sip of his drink. "I never back down…and I never get stage fright. I'm just thinking about you."

Razz rolled her eyes, "I think I can fend for myself while you step up to meet your challenger."

Yugi placed his soda can back onto the counter and stood up, his still holding her gaze, "I'm not concerned about that, it's just that you might actually fall for me when I win."

Razz raised both her eyebrows before retorting, "I don't know about that Yugi…that blonde guy is pretty hot and looks like he knows how to use that guitar of his."

Yugi raised an eyebrow and glanced over at Michael who was grinning back at him from the top of the stage across the room, and then turned to look back at Razz. "Better start eating your words," he winked at her, before jogging across the room to meet up with the other musician on the stage, as the room erupted into applauses and cheers.

Razz clapped along with the rest of them, her dark eyes following Yugi's form, taking in his broad shoulders with crushable interest. "He's so hot, isn't he?" Eve suddenly asked her, as she scooted over and sat closer to Razz.

Razz felt a light blush burn on her cheeks, but shook off the idea that Yugi was even likeable in that way to her. "Hardly, he's immature and annoying."

Eve frowned slightly, before glancing over to her, "I was talking about Michael, the blonde guy standing next to him…"

"O-oh…uh, not my type," Razz quickly answered before taking a long sip of her soda, ignoring Eve's questioning gaze, before she eventually returned it to the pair on the stage, as someone handed Yugi another guitar, while they shot each other amused looks and chatted about something that was inaudible to the rest of them. She noticed that several girls were also eyeing him hungrily from the dance floor below the stage, and wondered about the strange emotion that she felt towards them, before looking back up at him, and suddenly understood what they were seeing.

Even though Yugi was much shorter than Michael, there was something much more powerful about him beneath the spotlights, in which he evidently held a lot of dark appeal and attraction that was almost hypnotising. It was like seeing him for the first time, in literally a whole new light, as his muscular figure was placed on display for all to see and drool over. His skin seemed paler, but absolutely moonstone flawless, and the dangerous, studded, black leather he wore contrasted his look brilliantly…but his eyes were the real attracting feature at play, as they glowed the brightest, beneath the lights.

Razz felt the slight churn of butterflies fluttering around in her stomach as she continued to stare at him, and felt with some tinge of satisfaction that it was her on a date with him that evening, and not the other girls, who looked like they wished they could be…though she would never vocalise it or even admit it to herself.

The boys grinned at each other, before Michael took the stage and began playing something that started out soft and grew into a slightly more, energetic paced melody, while Yugi watched him with an admiring raised eyebrow. Michael crammed in a few more good notes, before ending off with a wowing effect on his guitar, and gave Yugi a challenging smirk, while the crowd cheered, and Razz couldn't help but think that it was going to be tough to beat.

"Is that all you got Glass?" Yugi called him out through a smirk, before positioning his guitar comfortably, while the crowd began to cheer for him. "Take this then!" He followed Michael's lead and took the same tune he had played before, but modified it into a faster upbeat tune with several sharper notes that had the audience roaring in approval. Razz on the other hand sat watching him with a wide, surprised grin on her face. So Yugi really could play the guitar, why hadn't he mentioned it before when they were bringing up their special talents?

He ended off with a similar wowing factor on his guitar, which almost seemed to be a way to mock Michael, as the crowd cheered even louder, and the blonde just grinned and shook his head. "That was just the warm up dude, here's the real thing!" He skilfully ran his guitar pick over a series of complicated cords, which produced an incredibly heavy paced song that lacked fault and ultimately won the audience over again.

Yugi shook his head and stepped up yet again to meet the challenge, "Alright Glass…eat this." His gaze briefly met up with Razz's, before he turned his concentration back onto his borrowed guitar. At first he started out slowly with an attractive tune that was highly infectious, before building momentum quickly and before long he had outdone Michael by making the guitar roar for it's life on several of the almost impossible to play notes, and even Razz stood up from her stool to cheer for him when he ended, her entire being reeling at the shock of how brilliant Yugi actually was at playing guitar. He turned and regarded the audience with a smug look before bowing to them humbly and kidnapped the mike from Michael, before speaking into it. "That by the way was for a girl I was trying to impress, and if she isn't too stage fright…" he met Razz's gaze evilly, "I'd like her, to come up here and tell me what she thought of my performance."

It seemed as though everyone had turned around to look at her expectantly while still applauding for Yugi, and she felt Eve take her by the elbow. "Come on!" Eve yelled out over the roar, and began to pull Razz forward, who was extremely reluctant to follow.

Shit, she hated Yugi now more than ever, and the very second they were alone she was going to kill him. She growled her displeasure under her breath as Eve led her up to the stage, feeling hundreds of different gazes focusing in on her, and hated it, she hated been noticed, it was against her very nature to stand out. Yugi was so dead!

She was too focussed on the ways that she planned to make him pay, that she hardly noticed they had come up to the side of the stage, until a hand suddenly appeared in front of her and she looked up to see that it was Yugi who was extending it to her, offering her a genuine, encouraging smile that she would never have imagined anyone refusing. In spite of herself, she felt her lips curl into one too, as she took his hand, and he helped her onto the stage, before showing her off to everyone, never letting her hand go. "So 'girl that I've been trying to impress' were you…" he glanced over to her and lightly squeezed her hand, "Impressed?" He held the mike a little way away from her lips, and grinned. Razz shot him a hard side glance that seemed to promise pain later on, before confidently snatching the mike out of his hand and addressed the crowd with the same cocky attitude he had.

"Well Yugi…all I've got to say," She turned slightly and gave him an evil smirk, "-is what's impressive about rocking the stage with a guitar, if you don't have the vocals to back up its tune?"

The crowd erupted into cheers and Yugi faltered for a second as he regarded her. Damn she was good!

He shook his head in defeat and took the mike back from her as she cruelly held it out to him, and went back to addressing the crowd before turning to Michael. "Mickey…I'm handing this one over to you."

Michael quickly snatched the mike out from Yugi's hand and turned to their audience, "I've just got one thing to say to my opponent," he said, before giving Yugi an amused look, "Eat this!"

Yugi rolled his eyes when Michael began playing a love song he had composed himself, which was once again upbeat and contagious, and had the floor dancing and cheering within seconds, but it wasn't just his playing that had everyone cheering…it was his amazing, super-rock star voice, one that Yugi wasn't even going to try and go up against. Instead however, he just smirked at Razz, who for the first time that night seemed to be enjoying herself as she clapped in time with the song's beat, grinning at Yugi when she noticed he was looking at her. Suddenly others joined the stage as if on cue and a lively drum beat, as well as the bass guitar and keyboard's musical input were added to Michael's amazing song. Yugi could already feel his short lived victory cram back down his throat and shook his head in good humour, as he joined in with everyone else as they enjoyed the song.

"Yugi!" Eve called excitedly over the music at his side. "Stage dive!"

Yugi glanced at the excited crowd and nudged Razz's shoulder in time to get her to see Eve diving off the stage and swimming over the crowd to the very back of the dance floor. "Do you want to try?" he called over the loudness of the music.

Razz seemed horrified by the very idea of even trying and glanced at him with clear reluctance. "Are you kidding me?"

"You won't regret it, just trust me!" he assured her before taking her by the hand and leading her over to the edge of the stage, which she was slightly reluctant to allow. "When I say jump, just jump okay?"

She looked at the overly excited crowd, before hesitantly nodding her understanding to Yugi and inadvertently held onto his hand tighter, while he turned to regard Michael for a second, before flipping him off and shouted out to her, "Jump!"

The moment she felt her feet leave the stage, Razz was sure she going to fall face forward to the hard ground of the dance floor, but hands eagerly went up to catch her, and she felt herself been lifted and carried across the bouncing crowd as though she were floating on a weird wave that kept tossing and turning in all directions. Yugi never let go of her hand as he too drifted along somewhat ahead of her, cheering loudly.

Razz giggled and began to cheer too just as their short journey to the end of the dance floor came to an end, and Yugi hopped to the floor before catching her bridal style, and shook his hair out. "How was it?" he asked her, while manoeuvring around the other dancers, still holding her securely in his arms, where she grudgingly felt safe and completely weightless in, until he found an empty undisturbed spot to put her back down onto her feet again.

Razz breathed in and out for a moment as she collected her thoughts and put them back into order, and cried out, "That was awesome!" Yugi was awesome…and he smelt so good.

In his side vision he realized that the audience was starting to get a little too excited, and that it was probably best to get Razz out before things started getting rough. "Let's bail before the fights start!"

Razz nodded and allowed him to guide her back out again, passing by several admiring onlookers, including girls who seemed to be almost drooling after him, one actually running up to him and sticking a pair of panties into his jacket's pocket, until Yugi eventually shoved open the big metal doors and gently tugged Razz through them, both gasping as a wave of cool fresh air washed over them. It was hard to believe how hot and stuffy it had actually been in there, or how loud the music was, when the silence of the night seemed almost deafening. Razz breathed in deeply, before looking up at the cloudless night sky and exhaled; for the first time in a long, long time, feeling happy after doing something fun.

"So," Yugi began as he put his hands into his pockets and turned to regard her. "Which do you prefer, watching bands play live or on TV?"

"Live!" Razz responded enthusiastically, "That was an amazing experience! I loved it!"

Yugi grinned at her, finding this warm and fun side of her kind of cute, before pretending to be slightly breathless and rested his hands on his knees, bent down slightly. "I'm glad, because showing off, takes a lot out of a person! And I totally got creamed in that last round!"

Razz laughed, "Yeah you totally got your ass kicked!"

Yugi joined in her laughter, before straightening up. "Hey, look, walking away and letting Bieber's wannabe win, shows character you know!" he joked. "That should count for something!"

"Oh, you let him win, huh?" Razz quipped, before nudging her hip against his playfully.

"No, I just said that walking away and letting him win, shows character," Yugi retorted, before tickling her side, which made her shriek playfully as she jumped away from him.

"By the way," she inquired curiously, as she casually made her way back to him, "What exactly did you do to become so famous around here?"

Yugi grinned at her deciding that there was probably no harm in telling her, before rolling his eyes. "I stole a cop car."

Razz was mortified, "You did what?"

Yugi grinned at her sheepishly, "…the cops were going to raid the place, so to distract them I hijacked one of their cars the second they left the vehicle and turned the sirens on, first to alert everyone inside, and second to alert the cops that I had hijacked it. Uh, as you can imagine they quickly forgot about the shack and chased me instead. That gave everyone inside the time they needed to get rid of everything illegal, so when it was checked out later they didn't have anything to arrest anyone for, and because this whole place is on private property the cops need a warrant to inspect it next time."

"Yugi are you crazy?" Razz gasped.

"Most will tell you that I am," Yugi grinned at her.

"What happened with the chase?"

"Oh…well, I actually drove circles around them, and really pissed them off, but they never caught me," Yugi stated before shrugging and kicking a pebble out the way.

Razz couldn't believe what he was telling her, and watched his eyes suspiciously for any trace of a lie, which never appeared. "What did you do with the car?"

Yugi bit the side of his lip, and thought for a moment, before nudging his chin in Yami's Ferrari's direction. Razz frowned at it, before giving Yugi a questioning look, as he made a step forward, toward it without saying anything further. She followed him and once again allowed him to open the door for her, before soundlessly getting in and watched as Yugi smoothed his chin over in thought as he made his way to the driver's side.

She watched him curiously as he turned on the ignition and backed up, careful to avoid the other cars which had copied his idea by parking on the grassy sides of the parking lot, and skilfully made his way out, driving very slowly as he took a new route that led down the hill side. "I got lost around here the first time I found this place, which was how I actually came across Morganville Falls in the first place," Yugi explained, seeming to randomly answer the first question Razz had, the moment he had driven her into it.

"Oh," Razz responded, not quite sure why he was telling her this now.

"The good thing about getting lost sometimes though, is that you sometimes find really cool hiding places," Yugi explained further as he drove along a new dirt road.

Razz tried to see where he was going, but it was too dark for to make out much besides anything that the car's headlights illuminated, until he eventually parked on the side, and turned the engine off. "Come on," he said softly as he opened his door, giving her a small grin.

She gave him a look, "Why are we here?"

"Just come on," Yugi ordered with a roll of his eyes as he hopped out the car and went to stand at the edge that overlooked the side of the road's steep drop.

Razz hesitantly unbuckled her seatbelt and made her way over to him to stand at his side, and looked down, before gasping when her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she caught sight of what was obviously a wrecked police car, lying on its back in a crumpled position. "Holy shit, you weren't actually kidding…your story is actually true!" she gasped.

Yugi sighed indifferently, "Yeah…"

"I can't believe you stole and wrecked a cop car, don't you have any limits?" Razz didn't know whether to be impressed or outright mortified by Yugi's criminal tendencies. This was way more serious than she had ever imagined him capable of doing.

Yugi shrugged, "Well…I'd never steal candy from a baby if that means anything?"

Razz regarded him for a long time, before rolling her eyes and strolling back to the car. Yugi grinned after her, before making his way over to the driver's seat. "What do you want to do next?"

She thought for a moment, before deciding that she wasn't ready to go back to her hotel just yet. "How about a nice, quiet walk?" she suggested, hardly needing anymore excitement.

"Like through a cemetery?" Yugi inquired with a wicked grin.

Razz's brows shot right up to her hairline, "Are you been serious?"

Yugi nodded, "You won't believe how fun it actually is. Maybe we'll even get to see a ghost."

"Yugi…you're crazy. And besides, they're closed at night anyway."

"So what, we'll just climb over the wall, it's no big deal," Yugi insisted, before igniting the engine.

"I am not going for a midnight stroll through a graveyard…Let's just walk through Domino Park," Razz demanded, before stubbornly folding her arms across her chest.

Yugi chuckled, "Okay, Domino Park it is then."

(Three years ago – after Yugi's transformation)

Yugi casually strutted into the dining area of the tomb, where Yami sat sulkily by an abandoned table, with a mood like a blackened thunder cloud that was about to strike lightening at any minute. He hadn't spoken to Yugi in weeks, and refused to even look at him whenever he made his presence known, which Yugi did often, but to no avail. He took in Yami's slumped demeanour, and rolled his eyes, before making his way over to the 'blood fountain' where he got himself a fresh drink, and then walked over to sit in front of Yami, bringing with him his new found cocky attitude that his older twin detested.

Yami didn't look up or even acknowledge his presence at all, and continued to stir his hot chocolate around in its mug, with an intense look of irritation burning in his crimson orbs. Yami not drinking his chocolate...? That was a really bad sign.

"Goooood evening brother," Yugi smirked as he flopped into his usual seat, before reclining back in to it and bringing both feet up onto the table with two loud thuds, before taking a sip of his bloody drink. "Did you sleep well?"

Yami refused to answer him and continued to stir his hot drink, blatantly ignoring his annoying younger twin.

"I've heard a rumour that you took a girl to bed with you last night," Yugi tested him, with an amused smirk. "Was it Dendera?"

Yami still remained annoyingly silent, which came as quite an alarm, because in normal circumstances he would have reacted immediately upon the implication that he would ever willingly touch Dendera. Yugi took another sip of his drink before leaning forward slightly. "Did you enjoy 'making love' to her Yami?"

That got a slight bit of reaction out of him, as he paused in his stirring while blinking once in annoyance and taking a deep angry breath, but immediately continued after a few seconds, still without raising his gaze to meet Yugi's. Yugi rolled his eyes irritably before sliding his legs back down to the floor and slammed both his hands on the table's surface, startling several of the slave girls that were huddled up in the corners. "What the fuck is your problem?" he growled angrily, "Huh? Are you jealous? Is that what this is all about?"

Yami continued to ignore him, not reacting to Yugi's outburst in the slightest.

"Got nothing to say huh? You're pathetic!" Yugi swiped his arm across the table and smacked Yami's cup right off it, so that it hit the far side wall and exploded into a thousand pieces, while a startled yelp spilled out a slave's mouth, and she cowered behind her friends. Yami still held the spoon in his finger tips, and barely gave it a glance before dropping it to the surface, still refusing to meet Yugi's eyes, or voice his thoughts, and leant up onto his elbow while staring off into space.

Oh…so he wasn't going to react to a physical confrontation on himself huh…well perhaps he'd react better to plan B. Yugi smirked darkly before glancing over to the frightened slaves who were all huddled together, and beckoned one towards him, "You! Yes you, Blondie, come over here, and hurry up about it!"

A frightened, blonde slave rushed towards him with instinctive hesitation, biting her bottom lip while struggling to fight back tears. Yugi reached out and grabbed her around the wrist before roughly yanking her into him, and glared at Yami who seemed to want to look up at what he was doing, but couldn't. "What's your name?" he asked her in a mean, cheery way, before shaking her out of her stupor harshly, which caused her to cry out.

"I-i-it's…T-t-t-t," she stuttered, completely terrified of him, since she had seen him rip apart several slaves, right in front of her, before.

"Te-te-te, Te what for fucks sakes?" Yugi asked in a high pitched mocking voice, "I may be immortal but I do not have an eternity of patience!"

"It's Tiffany!" she squealed, before sobbing, and Yami's right hand automatically clenched into a tight fist.

"Well Tiffany, I think my brother needs a blowjob; you know what a blowjob is, don't you Tiffany?" Yugi bullied her, before giving her a harsh shake for an answer.

"Yes, yes I know what it is!" she sobbed, before shutting her eyes tightly in horror.

"Well that's very good Tiffany! Because Prince Atem needs to relax somehow…do you think you can help him with that?"

"Y-yes…yes I can, please don't hurt me again," Tiffany pleaded through a sob.

Yugi glared down at her, "I'm sorry; did you just tell me what to do Tiffany?"

"N-no-" she stuttered fearfully.

"Leave her alone," Yami ordered quietly in a stern voice, without lifting his gaze.

"Ha! I knew you wouldn't be able to remain silent for long," Yugi teased him.

"Leave…the girl…alone…" Yami warned, emphasising each syllable with a dangerous tone.

Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to make me?"

Yami clenched his hand into a tighter fist, and Yugi could hear all the clicks and ticks of his knuckles locking into place. His whole body was tensed, and his awareness of his surroundings was edgy, clearly pumped up and ready for a fight.

Yugi smirked, before gentling his hold on her and smiled at Yami innocently, "Tell me brother…have you fed this evening?"

There was a brief flash of uncertainty in Yami's bright crimson gaze, and it seemed that Yugi may have struck an issue right on the head. 'Oh' he grinned silently to himself, as he contemplated the scenario. It must have been such torture to go on day in and day out, hearing the blood of the slaves rush through their veins and into their lively beating hearts, and have to refrain from indulging in its delicious taste. He remembered all too well of those hardships, and at times couldn't even fathom how he had managed to cope, before his transformation.

He roughly shoved the girl aside, and allowed her to scurry away like a frightened rat, before shoving both hands down on the table with a loud bang, and stared at Yami in the eye, before making a soft 'te-te' sound on his tongue. "That's not a good idea Yami…you know what's going to happen if you don't feed soon."

Yami pushed his seat back and rose to his feet, clearly having had enough of Yugi's presence for the evening, and once again…he felt cut off from his older twin.

"Why don't you come hunting with me tonight?" Yugi called after his brother's retreating form, which didn't even bother to look back at him and retort some nasty insult at the mere suggestion, but instead blatantly ignored him once again, as though he hadn't heard a single word Yugi had said. 'Well now…that's just rude,' Yugi thought grumpily, never having liked been ignored in the past, by anyone, especially Yami. Why did everyone think he acted out the way he did? For fun, well yeah, but mostly to just get noticed every once in a while.

A small, scrawny male vampire, that made up his father's vast selection of 'pawns' approached him cockily, forgetting how dangerous Yugi had become, and overstepped a major boundary when he thought he could push past Yugi to make his way over to the blood fountain. The moment Yugi felt his personal space violated, he automatically declared the vampire exterminated, and after feeling the hard weighty shove from the said vampire, Yugi decided he would make his offender suffer greatly for it. In a movement, too fast to be seen, Yugi reached out and grabbed the vampire by the back of his neck and flung him down hard on his back, on the table's surface, before narrowing his scarlet gaze which had brightened somewhat incredibly into a death glare.

Suddenly the vampire's body began to convulse and jerk violently as though his body were on fire, before screaming in an extremely unmanly way, which startled everyone, vampire and human, who witnessed his torture, in horror, from the sidelines. Yugi smirked evilly before reaching out and grabbing the silver spoon that Yami had left on the table and turned it over in his hold admiringly, with sadistic fascination, before turning his gaze back onto his squirming victim. "I was going to destroy you…" Yugi told him in a creepily sweet tone. "But now I've changed my mind…"

He twirled the spoon around in his fingers, enjoying the wary and frightened attention he was receiving from the small audience that had gathered around him. "After all, I'm a nice guy…so since you have a problem with seeing where you're going…" He placed the spoon gently in the vampire's hand, which he had to break open and force inside, before he clenched it closed again. "I want you…to 'scoop' both your eyes out."

Gasps and whimpers could be heard all around him, and Yugi found himself filled with egotistical pride. The vampire's eyes flew open in horror and fear, and Yugi took note of their dark, muddy colour with the slight feral glint that all vampires had, and realized that it would be no major loss if he lost them. He raised an eyebrow as the vamp tried to form words in his mouth, which was probably to say something along the lines of, "No, please, anything but that, I'm sorry I disrespected you your Highness, I shall never do it again…blah blah blah…" Yugi still didn't care. He was still pissed at Yami, and this guy was a fun distraction.

"I'll stop the pain," he offered sweetly, almost seeming like his old tainted innocent self, but his eyes were cruel and evil. "The spoon I gave you will make it easier…just scoop in, nice and deeply…and pop your eyeballs out." He said it like it was the simplest thing in the world.

Yugi narrowed his gaze further, and suddenly the vampire was clawing at his body and squealing in unbearable pain. "It's only going to get a lot worse…" Yugi warned with his expression evidently amused.

The vampire, finding no other option and desperate to stop the 'pain' dragged his spoon-wielding hand jerkily up to his first eye. A slave girl cried out in terror and dived into the protective arms of one of the younger male slaves, who held her and comforted her before resting his forehead on the top of her head, unable to watch the scene unfold either. Yugi raised an eyebrow at this, before smirking deviously as he came up with several assumptions on his own, to this intimate behaviour, and thought of the many different ways he could tarnish their obvious romance, when an ungodly scream echoed through the tomb in a bloodcurdling way, that sent an excited chill up his spine.

It was just too bad that the stupid fool, wasn't smart enough to realize that the pain was all a suggestion in his mind, and all he had to do to break free of it was to simply…stop thinking about it.

Oh well…

(Present Day – Part three of First Date)

Razz rubbed her bare arms as she began to feel the slight chill in the air, and Yugi immediately removed his jacket and placed it on her shoulders. She looked at him in surprise, before noticing that he was now only wearing a short sleeved shirt, which showed off his muscular arms. "W-what about you?" she asked him in concern.

Yugi grinned, "I rarely ever feel the cold…especially with you glaring at me."

Razz rolled her eyes before trying to give him the jacket back, even though she really wanted to keep it, and not only because it felt so warm… "I don't need it."

Yugi rolled his eyes, refusing to take it back, "Are women always this stubborn?"

"We're not stubborn, we're just always right," Razz retorted, before grudgingly slipping into the jacket and inadvertently breathed in his delicious scent, which she was slowly becoming addicted to.

"So…if guys just admit you're always right…will that make all women happy?" Yugi asked curiously, as he tried to actually understand women.

"No," Razz answered immediately, without needing to think, "We like to be challenged."

"But…" Yugi began somewhat confused, "Okay…so if we always set out to prove you wrong, that'll make you happy?"

"No," Razz answered again, this time with a grin, "We want you to stand up and challenge us every now and again, but then admit defeat and just submit to our every will."

Yugi thought about this for a moment, before shaking his head in defeat, "I guess it's true what they advise; wives should love their husbands a little and understand them completely, whereas husbands should love their wives a lot and not try to understand them at all."

Razz giggled, before reaching into his jacket's pockets, and played with the Ferrari's keys, which he had placed in one. "Men aren't easy to figure out either."

Yugi grinned, "Is anyone, regardless of gender, easy to figure out?"

"Touché," Razz commented as she thought about it more, before finally shrugging it off and allowed her mind to wonder onto other things, such as how beautiful Domino Park was at night, as well as quiet, save for the crickets chirping in the background, and light whispering of the wind as it rustled through the leaves. "Yugi?" she began softly, which immediately caught his attention.

"Yeah?" he asked, as he fell into step with her.

"Why didn't you tell me you were so good at playing the guitar earlier?"

Yugi grinned sheepishly before biting his lip, and glanced away from her, unable to meet her eyes. "I don't really think I'm all that great at it…and besides, I hardly play it anymore anyway. It was just a hobby to pass the time back home, when things got bad, not exactly a passion."

"Well…what is your passion then?"

"Stirring up trouble, it seems," Yugi responded dryly through a smile, which lacked any trace of humour.

Razz rolled her eyes, "I'm been serious."

"I know… the truth is that I'm struggling to discover a passion for anything, because everything that I had once dreamed about, I lost in a second," Yugi explained emotionlessly, and Razz could tell that there was so much more that needed to be said.

"What happened?" she asked gently.

Yugi lowered his gaze to the ground and smiled bitterly, "So many things happened all at once, and I had to make a lot of important decisions fast, and all on my own, which required making some tough sacrifices, but…someone I cared about needed me to make them…and I'll never let those who I care about down, even now when I shouldn't feel anything at all." He paused for a moment as he thought of how to answer Razz's question, before softly continuing, "I've had very painful moments in my life, most of them that I don't want to ever relive or talk about, and I've made some stupid mistakes that I wish I could take back, but never will. So to answer your question as best I can, is to simply say that life threw me a few curveballs that I either had to catch or jump in the way of."

Razz took in all his sombre words, and knew better than to pry further into a topic that contained matters that he clearly wanted to remain private on, something that she understood better than anyone, since she herself enjoyed the comforts of privacy especially with own personal baggage. One thing that she did get about the strange boy, who had always up until now glowed with confidence and flaunted his laid back and careless attitude, was that he had had it hard at some point of his life, with what she wasn't completely sure of, as there were hundreds of different possibilities, but she could immediately identify with him, because she herself had gone through a similar development early in life as well.

"Well I guess then you do have a passion," she informed him gently, which startled his attention onto her. She held his scarlet gaze with her own, and smiled softly, "For those that you care about…I like that."

Yugi found himself grinning despite himself, before shrugging off the fact that they were getting a little too personal with each other, which wasn't supposed to happen. "Are you telling me that there is actually something that you like about me?"

Razz grinned before rolling her eyes, "Don't let it get to your head!" Why did he have to spoil the moment?

"Does that qualify for a yes?" Yugi teased.

"Keep asking me stupid questions and it'll qualify for a memorable ass kicking!" Razz threatened playfully as she began to take the lead ahead of him.

"Well in that case," Yugi smirked, "Why did the chicken…cross the road?"

"Oh gods," Razz muttered under her breath. "Do you really want me to beat the crap out of you?"

"I told you the day we first met, I like a girl that wants to get to know me inside out," Yugi winked. "So you tell me."

Razz sighed, what exactly was it that she had almost seen in him again? "I never pictured you as the type that enjoyed been dominated."

Yugi faltered, never having ever heard it been put quite like that before. "…I believe it's all about been challenged."

Razz snickered, "Good save."

"Thank you," Yugi quipped back, before glancing to the side where the park's fountain stood magnificently in the centre, sprouting silver threads of glistening water over a pair sculpted figures, caught for all eternity in a kiss that created the romantic scene of everything that the park was supposed to represent. Razz noticed it too, and began to make her way over to it, her eyes softening as she absorbed the message the fountain portrayed.

Yugi stood by her side, and placed a coin in her hand, which startled her back into reality as she immediately glanced at the cold item which had touched her skin. "Better make a wish."

She chuckled softly under her breath, "You really believe in stuff like that?"

"Well…" Yugi began, giving it some serious thought. "Either your wish will come true, because magic really exists in this world…or you're just paying the fountain a tip."

She giggled softly, before moving closer to the fountain's edge, and held the coin out while closing her eyes. For the simple, yet completely powerful moment that it took for Razz to lightly let the coin fall from her hand into the pond, Yugi couldn't take his eyes off her. His instincts, for some strange, unexpected and totally abnormal reason, almost spiked beyond his control, and he had to bite right through the bottom of his lip to generate enough pain to hold his focus steady, so that he didn't pounce on her at that moment. Maybe it was because she had her eyes closed and her back turned to him, which was usually the stance of prey…or maybe it was because his 'frustration' had reached its limit and decided to surprise him.

Or maybe it was because for the first time that night Razz had truly let her guard down around him and his subconscious had picked it up…

Either way, he forced himself to take a large step back, away from her, and ripped his gaze to the side, before grabbing onto the metal railing that ran along the circumference of the fountain, denting it between his fingers in a tight clasp. Losing control of his instincts wasn't an uncommon occurrence for him, and Yugi was well aware of all the times he had partly blacked out, before he knew how to gain a hold of them, and only came to when most of the damage was already done. The only thing that he found alarming at this particular time was how strong the sensation was. "Was I supposed to voice the wish out loud?" she asked as she watched the coin sink into dark depths of the blackened water below them, quickly losing sight of it.

Yugi was struggling to control his raspy breathing, and swallowed hard, before responding in a carefully controlled voice, "I think if you say your wish out loud it won't come true…at least that's what they say in the movies." He could hear her blood rushing through her veins, and the light, calm beating of her heart, as well as caught her sweetened scent in the breeze as it drifted past them, which almost seemed as though fate was intentionally tempting him, when it seemed to linger for an unnaturally long period of time, until it eventually moved off into the night.

Razz looked up at the love struck stone couple and smiled softly, before asking Yugi a highly unexpected question, which startled him back into focus. "Have you ever been in love Yugi?"

"In what?" Yugi gasped, as he turned to lean his back up against the railing while still holding onto it firmly at his sides.

Razz turned and looked at him, finding his strange behaviour only slightly odd. "Love?"

"Oh, you mean like when I saw a 1970 Dodge Challenger for the first time?" Yugi tried to joke, but faltered when Razz shot him a hard glare.

"Oh…" he gulped uncomfortably. "Right…love…um…love…that um…feeling thing…" He risked releasing a hand from the railing, and felt little flakes of metal stick to the palm of his hand, before scratching the side of his face. "No…no I've never, been in love." Razz raised an eyebrow at his awkward response, and he just grinned at her in response. "Why do you ask?"

Razz shrugged, before looking back at the fountain, "I guess I just wanted to know if you knew anything about what it felt like."

Yugi frowned, a little confused by her words, "What do you mean? What love feels like?"

"I've never been in love before either," Razz explained, before lowering her gaze. "And I'm not sure I ever want to be either."

This felt like a very 'chick' moment, one that Yugi had no place or any business in, especially with his insensitive attitude towards the very idea of love and romance…but, he found himself getting involved anyway against his much better judgement. "I can't say from experience…but I've seen it," he began softly, which gained Razz's immediate attention. "And…I think it's the closest thing to magic as humans will ever get. I mean, when just a mere feeling can inspire you to conquer everything that stands in your way for someone other than yourself, and go against every instinct in your body to protect someone else from harm, which should be impossible…that's kind of powerful. And as for what it feels like, I'm sure you'll know it when you feel it…"

Razz smiled at him softly. "Thanks for your honesty Yugi," she said lowly, before shoving her hands into the jacket's pockets as she absorbed what she had just learned about him. She realized that even though it was somewhat awkward and confused, Yugi did in fact have a sensitive side, even though he'd probably never touch that side of himself willingly with a five foot long stick, in absolute terror of it. It was enough however, to put him in a somewhat newer light for her. "Come on, let's keep walking."

Yugi observed her quietly for a moment, before slowly nodding his head and following close behind her, trying to think of anything to say. What the hell was he talking about love for earlier, it sounded so lame and stupid? Ra, what he'd give for Yami's mind reading ability to tell what she was thinking. Why couldn't he have just shut up?

This was not going like how he'd planned!

(An hour later)

They made it back to Razz's hotel from a short walk through the park, where Yami's Ferrari was again parked, and Yugi had a feeling that that was the end of the journey for him, but not because he felt that their first date was a total disaster, but rather that Razz was simply just not going to allow anything further to happen between them. She just didn't strike him as that type of girl. Of course though, the temptation of forcing her to want more was there… He could make Razz want him more than she wanted air and even make her beg him for it, but Yugi was strangely hesitant and respectful of her desires, wanting it to be of her own choice.

That did not mean however that he wasn't going to try…he was still a guy after all.

"Well look at that…I got you back to your hotel at a," he glanced at the clock on his cellphone, "…hardly, reasonable time. All in one piece, safe and sound, with newly acquired tastes and even a few life accomplishments, and you even learnt a few new things…I think our first date went rather well."

Razz chuckled lightly as she kicked a small pebble out the way, "Yeah…I got to admit, it wasn't a total disaster like I had originally thought it would be. I actually had a really good time."

Yugi beamed brightly, cheering mentally as he imagined himself doing a small victory dance. "See? Maybe I'm not such a lost cause after all…"

Razz grinned back at him, before brushing a strand of her short black hair behind her ear. "Yeah…I guess you have potential." She quickly removed his jacket from her shoulders, and pulled the knife out from its hidden concealment at her side, and handed it to him with a grateful smile.

Okay…not exactly what he was hoping for.

"So…does that mean I stand a chance?" he asked optimistically, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

Razz playfully tapped him on his shoulder with her right hand, before brushing off some imaginary dust and held him in place, giving him a playful, yet evil smirk. "Don't get me wrong Yugi, you know how to show a girl a good time…but, I walk alone. No hard feelings." She pulled away from him, and cheerfully waved him off before turning to leave when Yugi stopped her. He couldn't let her leave without telling her something first.

"Just for the record…you're still worth fighting for," he said, as a cocky grin spread across his lips. She didn't turn around to face him, not wanting him to see her shocked expression which she knew was evident on her face, as his words registered in her brain. "I just want you to know that, before I walk out your life forever like I agreed to…thanks for spending the evening with me, it was one of the best nights of my life." He stepped back while still watching her form, and knew his words were having an effect on her as he took in the stiffness of her shoulders and the rapid beating of her heart. "Goodnight Razz. I hope your wish comes true."

Razz came out of her stupor with a start, as she spun around to regard Yugi's leaving form and quickly called out to him. "Yugi?" In all honesty she didn't want it to end.

Yugi stopped in his tracks and looked back at her over his shoulder with a slightly confused expression, and raised a questioning eyebrow.

Razz opened her mouth, and then closed it, before opening it again. "I-I…" she swallowed before lowering her gaze, and then met up with his again, before giving him a small smile, "Don't be a stranger okay…"

Score!

Yugi nodded once before saluting her off, and winking. "See you soon then."

Razz smirked back at him, "Night."

And with that, came the end of Yugi's first date.

Okay…technically, nobody could judge him, as Yugi, in a state of desperate and somewhat uncontrollable need drove around the entire of Domino City, looking for a strip joint…which he could not find! 'How the hell, does a city function without a genuine strip joint?' Yugi's brain growled, and his fingers automatically tightened around the steering wheel. Domino City seemed to have got its power back, as large signs were illuminated all over the place, but none with any kinky headings that even closely resembled a sign that Yugi was looking for. This wasn't even about Razz anymore, everything was fine when they parted ways; he had his instincts completely under control…until he started thinking.

Thinking, contrary to popular belief…was really, really bad, and if helped, avoided at all costs, because one little innocent thought, could lead to another less innocent little thought…and so on, until the mind picks up on a poisonous thought that contaminates every other thought that crosses the mind then soon after… which is exactly what happened to Yugi, when he innocently contemplated the fact that Razz had worn his jacket that he had just put back on himself, and then the wheels in his mind began churning and activated all his hormones, which of course…were the same as they had been when he was sixteen, only much more aggressive after his transformation.

And holy Ra were they been aggressive right now, after weeks of pent up sexual frustration, he felt like he was going to explode. He managed to unhook his clawed hand, somewhat slightly away from the steering wheel, before tapping on its leather surface impatiently, mentally cursing on each tap in every language he knew, trying to occupy his dirty mind on placing the words in alphabetical order, which was near to impossible.

Eventually he was too tensed to drive anymore, and stopped the car on the side of the road, which happened to be in the same neighbourhood that Yami had first laid eyes on Tea after taking out an entire gang. Breathing huskily, Yugi glared ahead of him, and observed what appeared to be an enormous house party that had somehow eventually extended to three others as well as onto the street, with people everywhere and some crappy urban music with violent lyrics playing loudly in the background. Just a quick glance at the style of these partiers, however, made him realize that his tight leather made him stand out a little too brilliantly, which was the last thing he wanted to do. In fact…Yugi wasn't sure what he wanted to do.

Before he was completely conscious of what he was doing however, he found himself leaning against the outside of the car, breathing in fresh air, which was filled with all sorts of interesting scents…including ones that almost made him gag. He held onto the car with one hand and used the other to rub his tightly shut eyes, feelings his fangs ache for release, and his body demand the exciting thrills of the hunt that he had denied himself for so long…and desperately fought for control.

Then, from out of nowhere it seemed, two girls showed up, and seemed to be just about to walk past him, when the one with the familiar bright shade of bubblegum pink hair, recognized him. "Holy crap, it's you! Yooo-yoh-yuh…mmmm…you're that guy from the beach!" She still couldn't remember his name.

Yugi widened his eyes slightly and inadvertently moved away from her in wariness, as bad memories of his last encounter with her returned to him, but she didn't seem to notice. She rushed at him, bringing her friend along with her and gestured wildly between him and her. "You didn't meet Shananay last time," she informed him as she introduced her friend…which Yugi couldn't help but notice something strangely familiar about, though he knew for a fact he had never come across her before, because she really stood out.

Her hair for one thing, was the brightest shade of red that he had ever seen, braided back in several neat and silky hanging threads, which flowed down to just below her rib cage, but her dark brown eyebrows told him a totally different story, and indicated that she was naturally a brunette. Then, there was her petite form, which was scantily dressed in tight fitting clothes, revealing a lot of tattooed flesh, and Yugi's personal favourite thing of interest, the shiny belly ring looped through her navel. It was her sapphire blue eyes however, that he had the most trouble with, because he was sure he'd seen them somewhere before. The more he looked at her, the more familiar she looked.

"You just going to stand there checking me out, or are you actually going to say something?" the new girl asked, the tone of her voice both threatening and flirtatious all at the same time…and her sounding flirtatious wasn't exactly doing Yugi any favours.

"Hi," he managed, before giving her a hot smirk, which he couldn't hold back. The girl raised a delicate eyebrow, and she regarded him with a slight bit more of an interest.

Shelby seemed to notice that he was giving her friend a bit more attention than what he was giving her, and quickly stepped in to divert his attention back to her. "Hey uh…my friend Serenity, told me what I did to you after the beach party…and I'm really, really sorry…I'm not usually like that," as she spoke, she cutely fluttered her eyelids in a flirtatious manner, which Yugi couldn't help but find kind of cute for the time being…plus the way she was posing, whether she was aware of it or not, was allowing him a really good look down her cleavage.

He was however, somewhat comforted by the fact that she was only tipsy, which he could tell by her ability to somewhat think with a sense of logic, and at least knew that she wasn't going to throw up on him again.

"No problem…just don't make a habit of it, and we'll call it square," he responded huskily, which was encouraging her more than anything else, to get closer to him. She giggled like a crushing schoolgirl, and swayed slightly on her heels, whereas her friend remained still and simply observed with an arched eyebrow, and seemed partly surprised when Shelby made a move on him by invading his personal space when she reached out and placed her hand on his clothed muscular chest, before lightly massaging it in small circular motions.

"Ooo…do you work out?" she gushed as she felt his muscles through the thin fabric of the shirt he wore. It seemed guys weren't the only ones who recycled corny pick up lines.

Yugi's lips curled into his trademark hot smirk that screamed both danger and excitement, and until he had met Razz, who remained the only exception, it had never failed him once into seducing a girl…which unfortunately for Shelby, was her downfall, as her heart fluttered in excitement. Oh yeah, she was his for the night.

'No Ra damn it!' Yugi mentally cursed as he swallowed hard and tried to keep his eyes off her. He couldn't do this…it didn't feel right anymore. But oh Ra was it beginning to hurt…especially when Shelby was making it worse by continuing with her suggestive motions.

She turned her head slightly to look over her shoulder at Shananay, who got the hint immediately. She raised her gaze to Yugi's and smiled sheepishly, before nodding once and pulled her shoulder's back as she stepped forward to leave, "Uh…see ya." For a small girl on such short legs, she was really fast, and before Yugi even had time to respond, she was already gone, leaving him and 'Pinkie' all alone…

Even her walk seemed familiar.

Yugi's eyes closed into a tight cringe, as he gulped a large bubble of air down his throat, and leaned further back against the car.

"So…" she purred softly as a wickedly sinister smirk spread over her lips, "We're all alone now…"

'No shit?' Yugi thought sarcastically as his sinful nature began to play with his thoughts and body. "Yeah…are you scared?"

There was a brief flash of confusion in the hot gaze she was giving him, "Scared of what honey?"

Yugi smirked down at her, darkly, "Been all alone with a really, really dangerous guy?"

The confusion in her gaze quickly vanished, and was immediately replaced by lustful excitement, "I really like danger."

Well…she was kind of encouraging him now, wasn't she? Yugi reached up and clasped his hands around her wrists before pulling her into him and spun them around so that he had her pinned on her back against the side of the car, smirking down at her with evil enjoyment. She seemed startled at first, not having expected the action, but after she had time to accumulate her thoughts and evaluate the situation, she found herself grinning up at him sexily, before slowly puffing out her chest and then rested it back into place. "Still liking danger?" Yugi teased, before slowly moving his knee in between her legs.

Shelby breathed in sharply, before purring slightly under her breath. "Mmm…" she moaned lightly as she awkwardly grinded herself against him, before voicing her thoughts, "I'm liking it a lot!"

Yugi pressed his hard, muscular body up against hers, and felt his bulged member connect with her inner thigh, which sent electric chills rush through his being, powerfully. He could not wait to get inside her. She tried to pull her arms free, but Yugi still had them captured in a tight grasp and held solidly at her sides, so she bucked her hips instead which forced Yugi's hardened 'friend' further into her thigh, creating a delightful sensation that made Yugi growl.

He felt his fangs slowly make their way downward, as their familiar pain-pleasure singe struck his consciousness, and influenced his actions. He bent downward, briefly brushing his cheek against hers as he drew his lips down to her neck and lightly dragged them along its silky surface, eventually giving it a light nip, accidentally using too much pressure on the right fang, which resulted in it breaking through skin, though it was light enough that Shelby hardly noticed, and she continued to mewl in desire, while squirming beneath him. Yugi on the other hand was startled to discover how pure her blood tasted…

He gasped, before choking on his shock, as he licked a drop of her blood off his lips, and gulped. "S-say…uh…" he gulped again, as he tried to regain his focus and control of himself again, "H-how f-far have you gone…with a guy, before?"

Shelby's body tensed slightly and Yugi caught the quick lip bite that she snuck in, before she tried to feign confidence. "Does it matter hot stuff?"

Yugi blinked his gaze into clear focus, before lowering it to look into hers, "Yeah it does." When she shot him a brief questioning look, he decided to clarify, "I get rough."

Her eyes widened slightly in what almost looked to Yugi like perhaps fear, but she seemed to quickly manage to replace the look with a seductive, sexy look that Yugi could immediately see through all of a sudden, as the innocence in her eyes cruelly betrayed her, and he wondered how he had ever missed it. "You'd be my first…but don't worry, I can take it."

What were the fucking odds of that?

Yugi breathed in deeply as he contemplated all this. Sure, his body was screaming and cursing in every language a body could, for any release it could get…but…he mentally shook off the hesitating 'but' and growled. This girl was offering herself to him on her own freewill; in fact she was the one who had started it. It wasn't like he had compelled her into it…

But then, why did he feel so crappy about it?

As he thought about his feelings on the subject, Shelby had decided to take matters into her own hands, and had managed to sneak her hands in under his shirt, and felt her way up his toned stomach, lightly gasping in awe as she dug her fingers into him. The sensation was incredible, and any thought he may have had before about simply ditching her and finding a more, experienced girl, flew out the window. Fuck chivalry, getting laid was way more important. "I'll try being gentle," he whispered huskily in her ear, which sent chills through her body and she automatically clutched some of his fleshy muscle into her hands, digging her nails into his skin.

"That's a laugh," a bitter sounding, yet horribly familiar voice, called out from beside them, and both vampire and virgin girl, were startled out of their lustful haze, and turned their gazes to the side where Lamia stood, glaring at them.

How did she always manage to find him? Yugi wanted to kill her. "Did you say something?" he growled irritably, especially since she was the very last person he wanted to see that night, yet alone be interrupted by her.

"Taking advantage of a girl in a parking lot? And here I thought you at least had some class," Lamia practically spat, before glowering at Shelby. "You should have a little bit more pride, you're only a virgin once, and you're going to lose it to him on the sidewalk, listening to that-" she gestured to the boom box on the side of one of the house's with evident disgust on her face, "And after tonight, you'll probably never even see him again-"

"That's enough 'Snowy,' get the fuck out of here," Yugi growled warningly, his gaze seeming to have a startling resemblance to burning coals.

Lamia narrowed her gaze at his cussing and calling her by her fake pet name, "Is that anyway to talk to a girl?"

"Sorry, I didn't know I was talking to one," Yugi retorted sarcastically through an angry growl.

Lamia smirked without humour, "Doesn't surprise me, you've probably never been with one."

Oh this bitch was asking for it. However, Shelby decided then, to pipe in. "Well he will be with one tonight…" she looked up at Yugi and smirked at him invitingly. "I'm all girl hot stuff…but if you like you can help me turn into a woman by the end of the night," she whispered the last part, and that sent Yugi's hormones racing even faster.

Lamia ground her teeth together and locked her jaw as she regarded the pair's compromising position, feeling anger boil from the pit of her stomach. "Isn't that just so romantic," she spat sarcastically, and Yugi was beginning to get fed up with her.

"Lamia, seriously, get lost!" he growled angrily.

Lamia smirked at his usage of her actual name for once as she realized that she was getting to him. "No…if you're going to do it out in public for everyone to see, then I'm just going to stand here and watch it too."

Wonderful, she was an undercover pervert on top of been an annoying, self-centred bitch.

"I live in that apartment building over there," Shelby informed him, as she pulled her body further into his. "No one else is home, so we'll have the entire place all to ourselves-"

"And of course all the roaches and rats too," Lamia commented dryly as she folded her arms across her chest and smiled innocently at them. "So much better," she added sarcastically.

Shelby turned and glared at Lamia, seeming also fed up with her negative commentary, "What the hell is your problem bitch?"

Lamia cocked an eyebrow and immediately unfolded her arms, "What did you just call me, Bitesize?"

Yugi sensed the danger immediately, and decided to end things before they spiralled out of control, though he could not believe he was actually going to play the responsible part…something was wrong with that picture. "Enough!" he growled loudly, before pulling away from Shelby and shot her a semi apologetic look when she stared up at him with large concerned eyes. "Um…she's right. Your first time shouldn't be like this." Inside…he was crying.

Shelby lowered her gaze in disappointment as her lips curled into a slight pout.

"S-sorry…I um…will see you around?" Damn this was awkward for him.

Shelby managed a small smile and nodded, "Yeah, I guess you will…maybe next time?"

Yugi was in mid nod when Lamia chipped in, "Don't get your hopes up kid."

Shelby glared at Lamia, seeming to want to say something, but either couldn't word it or decided against it. Either way, the pinked haired girl, spun around and stormed off into the night, huffing angrily, whereas Lamia hardly spared her a second glance and blew a white strand of hair out from her eyes. Yugi immediately rounded on her, "What the fuck was that all about?"

"You're language is getting worse, and worse by the day," Lamia commented dryly.

"You know what, screw my fucking language! Who the hell do you think you are, by just strutting over here like you own the whole Ra damn world and-"

"Who do I think I am?" she interrupted him sharply, before meeting his fiery gaze with her glowering one, "Who do you think you are?" She walked right up to him with her hands fisted tightly at her side. "You have some nerve to say that I walk around like I own the whole world, but you're way worse Yugi…you think you own everybody in it as well. Look at you, feeling up a girl in a parking next to the sidewalk, almost taking full advantage of her, for your own sick little needs, just a few minutes after going on a date with a completely different girl!"

Yugi faltered as he absorbed her words.

"You just play with girls like they're your toys, and once they break or you can't use them anymore, you just move on to another and forget all about them…you're pathetic," she spat before storming over to the passenger side of the car, and slipped in. "Let's just get this over with."

Yugi at first was frozen to the spot, momentarily unable to move as powerful emotions rattled his being. He was first and foremost extremely pissed off and wanted more than anything, to throw a vampiric tantrum to get his frustrations out…but clearly he was growing up. He resented the fact that Lamia was right, which outweighed his feelings of irritation and overall disappointment about getting so close to something he wanted…only to have it snagged away from him just as it brushed the tips of his fingers. And the only person he could really blame for that at the time was the one who had brought up his flaws in character…and hating Lamia was easier, than hating and dealing with himself.

He grudgingly swallowed the harsh words he wanted to say to her, and forced his tensed muscles to cooperate with him as he stalked off to the other side of the car, refusing to even glance at the white haired girl who sat in her seat glaring at him with piercing black coals. He decided as he ignited the engine that he would not speak to her, he would not look at her, and most importantly he'd kill her if she provoked him any further and use her head as a soccer ball…okay, maybe not a soccer ball, since he wasn't all that into sports.

For a while the pair just sat tensely in silence, Yugi in particular, whereas Lamia was slowly starting to relax again and started to twirl a long strand of her hair around her finger. "So, what are you doing tomorrow?" she asked him casually, as though everything was completely normal between them.

Yugi just ignored her, and locked his jaw.

"Have you got anything planned?" she tried again.

Yugi ground his teeth together in annoyance, first wondering if she was bipolar, and then wondered if she ever knew when to shut up, because in any minute he was going to 'plan' her murder. She slowly glanced over to him and took in his glowering expression before raising her eyebrows. "Did you hear what I said?"

Yugi took in a sharp breath as his jaw twitched.

Lamia blinked. "Do you want to go shopping?"

"Can you not just shut the fuck up for five minutes?" Yugi growled, his patience finally reaching its boiling point.

She angrily socked him in the shoulder, which caused him to temporarily swerve the car to the side into oncoming traffic, before he managed to gain his control over it again. "Ow…shit! What the hell Lamia, I'm driving?"

"Why does every second word that comes out of your mouth, have to be a curse word?" Lamia huffed.

"What is your problem with swearing to begin with?" Yugi spat back, as he struggled to swerve around the rest of the traffic and get back into a normal flowing pace with them.

"I'm Catholic!" she spat.

Yugi, who hadn't really been paying attention to her, just ignored her explanation without even registering her words, as he continued to drive down a busy road, and hummed a sort of response. 'Whatever.'

"You need to stop at the drug store," she informed him as they came to an 'all night' operating part of town.

"What for?" Yugi snapped.

"Because I said so," Lamia responded simply.

"And since when does that hold any significance for me?" Yugi muttered back dryly.

"Because I'm a girl," Lamia answered, as though that was the golden response that would answer all his questions to life, like the kind that generated a golden heavenly light from the sky.

"And I'm a guy, so what?" Yugi pointed out with a roll of his eyes. Females had another thing coming when they thought they could just push him around, just because they won the vote back in…1920 or something...that only proved they could nag the nation enough to assist in choosing a new president for Ra's sake, what was so hard about that? Just because they could fill out a card and dress the way they liked now, they carried the attitude that all men should be enslaved and bow to their every will. He wasn't going to be like Yami, with the whole 'yes dear thing.'

"Do you want to shop for Yami's girlfriend's unmentionable necessities then?" Lamia asked quietly as she examined her nails. "Mister Tough Guy?"

Yugi paused for a long while, before slowly shaking his head before clearing his throat uncomfortably, "I'll just pull up here then."

"You do that," Lamia encouraged as a small, inconspicuous, smug smile curled onto her lips. "By the way, I'll need your credit card."

How did he know she was going to say that…and how did he know she was going on a spending spree with it? He could just feel the money trembling out his bank account. He dug into his back pocket and just handed her the entire wallet, before waving her off in defeat. Lamia gave him an amused smirk before hopping out the car, "Do you want me to get you anything?"

"Painkillers," he mumbled as he rested his head back against the headrest and shut his eyes. "And an icepack."

Lamia raised a delicate brow, "I see there's a clothes store open too; do you want me to get you some new shirts?"

"Lamia, we're not here on a shopping spree, just go in and get the things we came here for," Yugi muttered in annoyance. What was it with girls?

Lamia rolled her eyes, "I won't take long."

"That's what all girls say," Yugi retorted, "And I'm not up to waiting on you tonight in this condition, so just get Tea's stuff and yours if you want anything, and let's just get out of here."

"Well I need clothes…" Lamia really seemed to be either enjoying pissing him off, or trying to work him up.

"Tomorrow!" he sang-growled, drawing out on the 'o' sound for a long while before tightening his hold on the steering wheel in frustration.

Lamia snickered before shutting the door closed behind her, "Okay, it's a date!"

He hated her…he really, really hated her. However, it was only after five minutes that the word 'date' kept playing on his mind, when he realized how expensive that word was starting to become, and he had a feeling that shopping with Lamia, which he had somehow been sucked into against his will, was going to be an extremely costly experience…because girls didn't just shop, oh no. No, girls massacred sales like fashion ninjas, and could go on for days without eating or sleeping until they found what they were looking for, and dragged their reluctant others along with them into every store, where they'd try on fifty outfits that they didn't even like, but still wanted an opinion on – and still didn't trust the guy's answer anyway.

Life truly and unconditionally…sucked.

(Back to the annoying three years ago flashback)

It wasn't until several evenings later after that the mini confrontation in the dining hall, that the incident that really stripped them apart, took place…

Yugi had just returned an hour before dawn, smeared with someone else's blood and extremely giddy; laughing at everything he crossed paths with, as though he found it all to be a huge joke. There was nothing familiar about his laugh, which used to be filled with soul, but now sounded, mean and hurtful, and it grated on Yami's nerves, pushing him further into his dark depression.

At that time of the evening Yami usually retreated to his chamber and stayed behind a closed door, not wanting to come into contact with anyone and just be left alone…but on this particular unfortunate night, there was a spider in his room. The little, devious shit, had managed to crawl its way in through a tiny crack in his wall before Yami could find a way to coax it out, and there was no way in hell he was going to go to sleep without knowing where it was. So the only other option he had, was to stay up for just a little longer, to give it enough time to make its way out, or else he'd be forced to seal in it permanently…something, which he didn't want to do, because he didn't believe in the act of killing innocent creatures just because of his fear of them.

When he sensed Yugi's approach however, he decided to make his way back to his room, but his younger twin had other plans. "Yami!" he yelled out with darkly tainted enthusiasm. Yami ignored him without even turning to acknowledge that he had heard his name been called, and continued to walk down a long corridor to the sleeping quarter's section, passing several skittish slaves along the way.

There was a light, dry breeze against the bare skin of his shoulders and side of his neck and face, and suddenly Yugi was standing right in front of him, with wide, annoyed, yet slightly amused, scarlet eyes that were as bright and evil as ever. Yami was forced to stop in his tracks as he and his twin regarded each other, before a small smirk slowly spread across Yugi's lips, "…Hey."

Yami raised an eyebrow at the greeting, before making as if to sidestep around him, but Yugi moved in time to block him. He blinked in annoyance and took a deep composing breath, before trying to step around him on the other side, almost growling when Yugi once again stepped over to block his way. For a moment his younger twin seemed to be studying his eyes and demeanour, before giving a low, amused chuckle. "Still haven't fed yet?"

Yami refused to give away any of his feelings on the matter and lowered his gaze to the ground seeming bored. After Yugi's transformation, and him seeing his younger twin literally tear people apart with his own hands, or getting them to remove their own limbs themselves…Yami refused to even take a sip of blood. He'd rather die than turn into the same thing his brother had.

Yugi's mean expression softened slightly, as he extended his hand out to his older twin, "Come on; let's get you something to drink, yeah? It'll stop hurting."

Yami slapped Yugi's hand away harshly and glared at Yugi with menace, before stiffly shoving him out the way and stalked his way down the corridor without looking back, unfathomable dark rage that was beyond comprehension boiling in his gut. There were several vampires watching them from the side in eager anticipation, hungrily waiting for Yugi's violent retaliation, which he was well known amongst their kind for, and were eager to see the two young princes go at each other for blood.

Yugi didn't care much for their observers, as his angered gaze zoned in on Yami's leaving form, and ground his teeth together in annoyance. He felt an overwhelming spark of rage take control of his brain, and his instincts demanded that he attack Yami from behind and tear his throat out…but he held back, because a small part of him was still alive. "You know what…I don't blame you," he called after Yami, as a small, but cruel smile played on his lips, "Nothing is ever going to be able to compete with the blood, of that virgin snack, our father gifted me with…"

Yami's entire body froze, as anger rippled through him in dark electrifying waves. How dare Yugi even mention or even speak of Jayne, to him?

"You should have seen the way she looked at me…" Yugi continued to taunt him, smiling cruelly in satisfactory enjoyment, before giving in to a dark laugh, "She thought I was you, you know." That made Yami's blood run cold, as he lifted his head and breathed in sharply, without turning to look at Yugi. "N-no please…please…" Yugi mocked in a high pitch voice, imitating what had been her whimpers, "A-Atem…it's me…it's me, Jayne…d-don't hurt me…please Atem…don't hurt me."

Yami closed his eyes in guilt and swallowed a painful lump in his throat. Surely Yugi was lying, surely Jayne would never believe that he'd actually hurt her, when he had promised her he never would.

"Too bad I was far too thirsty to care…and her saviour didn't run to her rescue to prove her otherwise. Don't worry though brother, I enjoyed devouring her screams as I took her, way more than her blood."

Yami rounded on Yugi and punched him as hard as he possibly could, which sent his younger twin flying into the wall on their side, and stood over his crumpled body, while training a murderous glare on him. Jayne was the closest thing to a girlfriend he had ever had, and if not, she had definitely been one of his closest friends. It turned out that his father had originally planned to use her as his virgin initiation gift if he had allowed himself to be turned, but when he didn't, it was decided that she couldn't go to waste. Yami had done everything in his power to try and save her, but Dendera had used some powerful herb concoction that drugged him into submission, and the last glimpse he ever got of her, was her been carried away from him, her eyes shut tightly in sleep…and up until now he had always hoped that she hadn't been awake to see it coming.

He hadn't seen her body, Dendera wouldn't allow him too, but he had read the minds of the slaves who had been involved with the clean up, and had a pretty clear idea of what Yugi had done to her…and it was beyond the sickest of imaginations. He had no way of knowing; how he could ever forgive Yugi for having done something like that to someone he cared so much about, especially when he wanted to brag about killing her to his face.

Yugi laughed delightfully, before using his thumb to wipe off a thin streak of blood off the side of his mouth. "Though I must admit," he added as he rose onto his haunches, not seeming to have even felt Yami's punch, "I prefer hearing Dendera's screams, especially when it's my name."

A strange look flashed in Yami's eyes, before he growled and lunged at Yugi, who skilfully dodged it and landed a punch on the side of his older twin's rib cage, causing an unearthly crack to thunder through the tomb, as he temporarily forgot his superhuman strength. Yami gasped and spluttered wetly for breath, as blood pooled down his side and puddle on the floor. Yugi, unaware of his brother's severe injury at first, grinned proudly at managing to immobilize his twin, before turning to look over his brother's crouching figure, almost tempted to land another blow on him.

Yami was panting heavily, feeling sweat thickly coat his forehead, as pain exploded from his side and hit his spinal area at an awkward angle, before gently clutching his side where he felt it hurt most and was horrified to discover something warm and wet pool through his fingers, amongst the shock of discovering something sharp and pointy sticking out his skin…a fractured rib…not good, he wouldn't be able to defend himself properly.

Yugi looked Yami's figure over with a blank expression, before noting the bone that was protruding out his side, and bit the side of his inner lip in thought. "Oops…forgot how weak you are," he muttered with some amusement, before kneeling down and harshly pushing Yami's hand away to see the extent of the injury better. "Look's painful."

"Fu-fuck you!" Yami gasped out in between breaths. Yugi ignored him, and after giving his twin a simple shrug he reached out and grabbed hold of the bone's edge and ripped it out Yami's body completely, sending a mini shower of blood across the room, which splattered over the walls and floors. There was so much pain that Yami couldn't even begin to form a cry of any sort in his throat, and all that came out were hushed gulps and tiny blood specks from his throat. The sick bastard!

Yugi looked at the rib he was holding with a disgusted glance, almost as though he had accidentally touched a used condom, and shakily flung it across the room, before scanning the room and picking out the same slave girl he had been tormenting that entire week, after finding out she was sleeping with another slave. He rushed over and grabbed her, before dragging her unwilling body over to Yami, who was bleeding out to a point of death and struggling to control his urges. "I bet you're really hungry now, right?" he tormented his older twin spitefully.

Yami struggled to breathe and think, as the pain and blood began to awaken his vampiric instincts. "D-don't!" Yami ordered, as he began to hear her rapid heartbeat and delicious blood swim through her veins. "G-get her away from me!"

Yugi rolled his eyes and ignored him, before puncturing her neck with his fangs, drawing blood as she screamed in agony. He sucked on his tongue a bit, tasting her, before nodding his head in approval. "You'll like it, she's definitely part of the A group."

Yami crouched down further to the ground as he struggled against the welcoming waves of her delicious aroma, and his body responding to them. This was the worst thing Yugi could have ever done to him, knowing of Yami's struggle with bloodlust, which he had been battling with his whole half-human life. Yugi released his hold on her, as he pushed her forward with a swift but violent motion. Yami instinctively reacted to her sudden falling approach to him, and caught her a little clumsily, which forced their bodies together.

At first the pain of the action, distracted him from his senses, but the moment it subsided slightly, he was taken into full awareness of her body against his…her scent, her warmth…her taste. She whimpered in his hear, and he felt a certain wetness against his cheek, as tears ran from her eyes. "P-please…P-prince A-Atem…" she pleaded through her soft sobs, her fear of him, tormenting his human half who at this point couldn't do anything to save her, and exciting his vampire half. "D-don't hurt me."

Yami struggled for control over himself, but he couldn't resist the temptation of breathing in her scent along the sides of her bare neck, his fangs itching to plunger into her flesh.

"Please," she whimpered, before her breath hitched in her throat as he breathed across a sensitive spot on her neck, which was a fatal error on her part, as it spiked encouragement for Yami to bite. Unable to resist his body of her life essence any longer, Yami plunged his fangs deep into her neck, and tore her skin open, before gulping down her blood, which flooded down his throat eagerly.

She screamed in agony and terror, weakly trying to shove him off her as she realized that she was dying, and Yami clawed one of his hands away to wrap his hand around her mouth, silencing her temporarily, as his sensitive hearing could no longer stand the shrillness of it. Eventually, too absorbed in sating his long time unquenched thirst, he hardly noticed when her hands dropped limply to her sides, and her heartbeat was on the verge of stopping its lifelong marathon, greedily drinking every drop her body had.

Yugi realized how far his brother was going and gingerly cut in. "Alright, I think that's enough," he mumbled as he reached down and gripped the girl's slumped shoulders, giving her a light pull. Yami's wild gaze, whipped up onto Yugi, narrowed predatorily, before he growled warningly around the wound he'd made over her neck. "Let go," Yugi commanded, as he tugged on her body yet again, making a dangerous mistake.

Yami swallowed, while he stared at Yugi, his eyes seeming crazy and wild, and bright red, signs that Yugi was no longer facing half human Yami, but rather vampire Yami. And vampire Yami, unbeknownst to his younger twin as well as their surprised spectators, had no distinctions between his vampire brother and potential prey. He automatically released the soon to be, dead girl, from his arms, and lunged at Yugi, going for his neck. Yugi dodged Yami's attack, surprised, but his instincts kicked in before common sense could, and he retaliated violently by striking out in the same manner. Yami however, despite Yugi been fully transformed, was far stronger and had Yugi pinned in a matter of seconds.

The vampires around them began to panic, fully aware of their king's wrath if he discovered that they had allowed their prince to be killed by his brother, while standing by and watching. However, they also knew of Yami's vampiric state, which had resulted in many of their kind's demise when they stood in his way, and were afraid to approach him.

Yugi coughed and met Yami's gaze challengingly, trying to use his mind controlling ability on him, but found his powers to be severely blocked from Yami's mind. Upon the realisation of this, Yugi's expression faltered, as he realized something else as well…this was his brother!

Yami must have seen the vulnerable glimpse, because suddenly his eyes began to darken back to their semi-normal stage, and more of his human side, returned. He gulped and shook his hazy vision clear, before identifying the taste of blood on his lips, and spat it out disgustedly, trying to remember what happened, when his gaze fell on the pale, bluish body of the human girl, he had just murdered. His eyes widened in shock, and he felt his heartbeat quicken as regret and rage washed over him, before turning his gaze back onto his brother, giving him a murderous glare.

By that time, Yugi had managed to put an indifferent mask back onto his face, and didn't even flinch when he saw the look Yami was giving him, before he snarled, "You bastard!" Yami flung his own body backwards, while dragging Yugi up along with him, and leaped onto his feet, holding Yugi by the throat with one hand. This thing wasn't his brother, Yugi would never have just stood by and watch him, yet alone encourage him to kill a defenceless human, especially if it was a girl. No, this thing was evil, and all it had was Yugi's face and body.

Yami briefly released his captive's throat, before moving both his hands up to clutch the sides of Yugi's head, and with fast motion, as well as a harsh crack, spun his younger twin's head right around to a 180 degree angle, breaking his neck cleanly from his spine, before allowing his body to drop into a useless heap below him, and kicking him in the stomach hard enough to send him right across the room, to where a group of vampire's stood, quivering in fright.

He felt a dark streak of hatred run through him, and glanced up at the vampires, deciding that they should be destroyed too, but before he could lunge at them, Seto appeared, his eyes wide as he took in the sight before him. At first, when a female vampire rushed to his chamber, barging in without bothering to knock, yelling unnecessarily that there was a fight going on in the tomb that needed his intervention, he had been extremely pissed off and cynical about what seemed to be an melodramatic reaction to what was probably just a stupid little scuffle over who'd get to keep one of the women that morning…which of course was far from the truth.

Atem, was out of control, and wounded, with glowing red eyes that looked drugged and animalistic. Yugi was completely immobilized, and looked deader than usual, and the vampires surrounding the scene were actually trembling. He wasn't at all bothered by the slaves, who were put on edge for things as simple as a sneeze, nor was he particularly interested in the one that was lying dead on the floor. He was however, bothered by the fact that his cousin was in war mode, and if he wasn't calmed down soon, there would be bloodshed up to biblical proportions.

"Atem…" he said in a stern and warning tone, which seemed to fall on deaf ears as his cousin took a menacing step towards the vampire that was nearest to him. Seto rolled his eyes, before using his telekinetic ability to pull Yami's legs out from under him, and drag him towards him, while he flailed around in resistance. Seto grabbed Yami by the back of his neck, and pulled him up into a standing position, keeping him at arms length. He glanced around him questioningly at the spectators who all nervously pointed the blame to Yugi, causing Seto to growl in annoyance. Of course Yugi was the instigator in all this, why did he even bother to ask.

"I'll kill you!" Yami growled through clenched teeth, and Seto could sense the dark aura of power, begin to form around his cousin.

"Don't care," Seto responded indifferently, before guiding Yami as gently as he could to his chamber, which he planned to lock him in, until he calmed down. He glanced at Yugi's mingled body before lifting his gaze to the vampire nearest to him, "Get Dendera." The vampire nodded and rushed past him at super speed to carry out his order, while Seto struggled with Yami's constant attempts at escaping his grip. Seto could sense his cousin was getting angrier and angrier, and realised that if he released his hold on his cousin for one second, he'd lash out at the first thing he could attack.

Just as they rounded the corner however, a vampire, who Seto had known personally, from his childhood, made the mistake of leaping out at them for some unknown, dumbass reason, which Yami's instincts naturally reacted to…but not in a way that any of them had ever imagined. Seto had always known this vampire to be a fool, and had always suspected that he was mentally impaired from his transformation, so he wasn't particularly upset by what had happened, but he was alarmed by it, when his cousin's gaze went from its dim ruby shade to a brighter glowing scarlet, and a rippling black, shadowy aura substance, lashed out at his offender. The vampire that had tried to ambush him froze on the spot with wide terrified eyes that went blank within seconds, and he dropped heavily to the ground, as black blood gushed out his nose, eyes and mouth, and black veins became visible beneath his chalky skin.

The entire tomb became deathly silent as they regarded their fallen comrade who lay unmoving on the ground, before Yami drained of energy, fell out of Seto's hold and passed out, never wanting to wake up ever again for as long as he lived. Seto on the other hand, felt like banging his head against the wall in frustration. There were about ten vampires who had witnessed this, and now he had to exterminate them all, before word about his cousin got out.

So much for his quiet evening…

She couldn't get him an icepack, or at least that's what she had told him when she returned to the car - thirty minutes later! – but, she managed to at least find him some aspirin, which was not going to help him much anyway. She did however, carry in two large, brown paper bags, filled with things that she didn't mention to Yugi, and he in turn didn't ask about. Getting some of Tea's things from her apartment however, took much longer, and Yugi eventually read a really girly magazine back to back while he waited in pain, on the couch in the living room, as Lamia casually strolled from the bedroom to the bathroom, collecting things, until eventually, just before Yugi's patience wore through, she walked up to him with two suitcases.

Now, as Yugi was on his way back to the mansion with a trunk load of female stuff in the back, he couldn't help but be glad that the night was finally over. Well…almost.

He pulled into the garage and remained sitting in the vehicle for several quiet minutes, while he thought back on the night's events, especially those that included Razz, and then allowed his mind to travel back further into the past. He was still deep in thought as he climbed up the stairway that led into the house, and first made his way into to the kitchen, where he snatched a bag of blood, as well as a mug to put it in, and found a box of Oreos along the way, before making his way to the main living room, where he was surprised to find a shirtless Yami, sitting all by himself, with his shoulders slumped in defeat and a depressed expression on his face. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed Yugi's presence as he stood beneath the archway entrance, staring at him in concern. Yugi would have thought that he'd be cuddling with his girlfriend upstairs.

"Hey…" Yugi began carefully, which startled Yami into reality, as he whipped his gaze over to his younger twin in surprise. "Are you okay?"

Yami blinked several times as though he were trying to figure out if Yugi was real or not, before forcing a small smile of reassurance, "Y-yeah."

Yugi narrowed his gaze, unimpressed. "Y-yeah," he mocked teasingly without humour, "-right. You can't lie to me brother, we're twins remember."

"You didn't have much trouble lying to me," Yami added softly, his voice seeming blank and emotionless.

"No, you just weren't paying enough attention," Yugi replied gently, not intending his words to be an attack of any kind, but Yami still seemed to take the hit.

He seemed motionless for a while, before a small bitter smile spread across his lips, "You're right, I wasn't."

Yugi made his way over to sit beside Yami, slowly, keeping a careful eye on his older twin as he took his seat. Yami lowered his gaze before shutting his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose. "I think that's why it hurt so much…why I was so angry. I should have known what was going through your head, I should have at least seen what was coming…but it totally blindsided me, and I didn't know how to cope with the aftermath…because even though it felt like betrayal, I felt then and still do that somewhere along the line…I let you down Yugi."

Yugi's eyes widened in surprise, as he had never expected to hear that coming from Yami or even knew that that's how his older twin felt; he'd always assumed that Yami just hated what he'd become, and that was it.

"I was your big brother…it was my job to protect you," he explained softly, with his eyes still closed. "But I realized everything, too late."

"Yami…it wasn't your job to protect me," Yugi started quietly, "And it wasn't your job to always look out for me either."

Yami sighed before opening his eyes slowly, "Yugi, you didn't have anyone else to."

"Neither did you…" Yugi stated softly, as his eyes softened. "You were even more alone than I was. Nobody raised you Yami."

"I didn't need anyone to," he brushed off stubbornly.

Yugi now suddenly understood why Yami was so badly hurt by his transformation into a vampire with startling clarity, "And when I died…you felt like I had abandoned you."

"You didn't die!" Yami growled, before gulping like he was having trouble to breathe and turning away, unable to look at Yugi's wide-eyed gaze. "I'm sorry for saying that to you…you were never dead to me, even though I needed to think it to at least see past the fact that you had turned into…a monster. I realize that now…that a part of me could never bring myself to believe that I had truly lost you."

"Apology accepted," Yugi grinned lightly, before lowering his gaze to the ground. "I didn't want, or meant, to betray you…but I knew if I said anything, you'd stop me, and I couldn't let you." His words brought Yami's full attention on to him. "I…" Yugi slowly closed his eyes as he realized that he had to finally confess at least a piece of the past that Yami needed to know about, even though it was the hardest thing he was ever going to do. "I was sick Yami…"

Yami frowned as eyes widened in shock, "What do you mean you were sick? Sick with what?"

Yugi smiled bitterly, "The fatal kind…"

Yami's entire face paled in horror, "W-what?"

"I was dying…"

Yami's breath hitched in his throat, "The fuck! Why the hell didn't you tell me Yugi, why?"

Yugi bit his lip, "I…I couldn't Yami."

"The fuck you couldn't," Yami growled angrily. "You could have told me anything Ra damn it! You didn't…you-" he roughly pulled at his blonde bangs and rubbed his eyes harshly as he tried to regain composure of himself and keep his voice down, as Tea was sleeping upstairs. "You didn't need to go through that all alone. I would have understood…"

Yugi watched as Yami breathed in and out deeply, and waited a few minutes for his brother to gather himself before he continued. "I'm better now…" he laughed softly, but it sounded more sad than funny.

It was on the tip of Yami's tongue to point out that he was actually dead, but he decided against it when he saw the human look in his brother's eyes…a brother that needed him to at least try to understand him. "I don't get it Yugi…when…how…?"

Yugi shook his head, "You would have noticed if I hung around you a lot…so I avoided you for a while, until I felt a little better, at least then I could act like things were normal, but sometimes you saw through me." What Yugi decided to conveniently leave out, was that he most often spent that time with Dendera, since she was the one who was nursing his condition at the time, and one of the only two other people who knew about it…which was how their kind of relationship started in the first place.

This made Yami, feel even worse than before, "So all those times I thought that there was something a bit off about your demeanour…and all those times that I just brushed it off because you didn't give me any reason to think that there was anything really serious going on..."

Yugi nodded his head solemnly.

Yami shut his eyes, "I…I should have-"

"There wasn't anything you could have done…and there's no point in obsessing over it anymore. What's done, is kind of going to stay done," Yugi lectured, lightly punching Yami in the shoulder to help snap him out of his defeated composure. "At least while I'm this kind of 'dead' I get to still annoy the hell out of you – from beyond the damn sarcophagus! Oooo-woooo!"

Although he couldn't quite find Yugi's light hearted attempt at lightening the mood, amusing, he still raised an eyebrow, and Yugi blinked. "Because you know…ghosts go 'ooooo-woooo-oooo'…and 'beyond the sarcophagus' is a parody of 'beyond the grave'…so…" he tried to explain, but Yami still had a blank look on his face. "Never mind."

"So…in the end, you chose to become a vampire to live?" Yami asked straight to the point.

"No…no Yami, it's not that simple. It's much bigger than that…there's so much more that I still have to tell you, but I need more time…I need you to give me more time," Yugi tried to voice what he needed to say in coherent words, but his mind was severely jumbled and confused as it always got when he had to think on these particular issues. "I can't ask you to forgive me, for what I did you, because I know that I've caused you a lot of pain and made your life a living hell…but I'm sorry, I'm sorry for what I've taken away from you."

Yami frowned as he tried to understand what Yugi was telling him, and then tried to figure out what was been asked of him. 'More time for what?' until he eventually rested on his younger twin's apology, and decided that that was more important right now. "I forgive you Yugi…" he whispered softly, and it suddenly felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. "But…I need more time too, to start trusting you again."

Yugi forced a smile and nodded his thanks, understanding why Yami felt the way he did, completely, as he had good reason for it, but was still slightly upset about it as anyone would be.

"And…I want to get to know you again…the new you. I'd be an idiot if I thought that things can go back to exactly as how they use to be between us…but as long as we go back to being brothers…that's all I want, because I've missed that," Yami added softly, his eyes downcast and thoughtful. This was probably the most vulnerable he had ever been in opening up to Yugi in their entire lives, which somewhat shocked the younger twin. He took in a deep breath, before walling his emotions back up to his invisible halfway mark, only showing a slight bit of vulnerability. "And when you're ready, we can talk about this again."

Yugi smiled softly at his older twin, "Thank you Yami."

"Don't mention it…I'm still going to fuck you up when my body's fully recovered, you dumb son of a bitch," Yami grumbled, seeming to return to his old self again, and even though Yugi shot his twin a highly unimpressed look…he wouldn't have it any other way.

"Yeah, sure you will," he retorted sarcastically.

Yami flashed him a tight grin, before turning to massage his right shoulder as his entire body was beginning to ache under the stress of his earlier activity with Tea in the hot tub. Yugi on the other began pouring the blood from the bag into the mug and after he had managed that, opened the box of Oreos. The sound of rustling cardboard, brought Yami's attention back onto the scene that was playing out before him, and he raised an eyebrow in question as he watched Yugi take on of the dark chocolate treats out from the box and dunk it into the blood.

"What in the name of the sun god Ra are you doing?" he asked, mortified at the combination.

"Dunking an Oreo…" Yugi explained simply as though it were the most natural thing in the world…to dip it in blood!

What was wrong with him?

He waited a few seconds to soak it through, before slowly lifting it up to his lips and took a shallow bite of it, whereas Yami cringed slightly in disgust. For a human, this would be downright disgusting for obvious reasons that were natural to them…but to half vampire Yami, this was the equivalent of peanut butter been mixed with mustard over a sandwich. "I dare you to try one," Yugi mused as he took another bite. "Trust me, it's good."

Yami looked at the Oreos and then at the blood, thinking that Yugi was crazy, but also knew that in the past they shared more or less the exact same tastes in food. Hesitantly, he picked one up and dunked it lightly in the thickened crimson liquid, before slowly bringing it to his lips, as though it would bite him any second, and gingerly bit into it. He gave it a moment to swirl around his taste buds, and found it to be…

"Hmm…not bad actually," he commented as he dunked it in again and took another bite.

"See? What did I tell you?" Yugi responded, as he had another one. "Now, are you going to tell me what happened before I arrived, or what?"

Yami sighed deeply, before lowering his eyes to the floor.

"Did you and Tea get into a fight or something?"

"N-no, nothing like that," Yami said in response, before lifting his gaze slightly. "We were…"

"Enjoying adult happy time?" Yugi suggested in a teasing tone, with a slight smirk on his lips.

Yami blinked, before a small guilty smile spread across his own lips. "Uh…so anyway…" his expression suddenly fell and hardened, as memories of the few hours before, returned to him. "I…I almost…"

"Bit her?" Yugi finished, entirely serious with the topic and not at all teasing or joking about it as he had been the first time they had had this conversation.

Yami slumped in defeat, before running a hand through his wild hair. "Yeah…" he paused for a minute as he gathered his thoughts and then continued. "It was more intense this time…I was on the verge of actually blacking out!"

"And Tea…?"

"She doesn't know…she doesn't have a clue how close I had came to almost killing her tonight. Fuck!" Yami dug his thumb and index finger into his eyes, breathing heavily as though he were on the verge of having a severe panic attack. "Gods I could have…"

"Yami, I've told you before…it's not like feeding," Yugi explained calmly, hating to see his brother like this. "Actually…it's…well I don't know how to tell you this," Yugi bit his lip uncomfortably when Yami turned his head sideways to meet his gaze. It was like explaining sex to an innocent. "Well…it's mating."

Yami frowned with his gaze narrowed on the coffee table, "Mating?"

Yugi scratched the back of his head, and refused to look Yami in the eye. He had already explained some of this to Tea before, but explaining it to Yami was a little bit different. "It's when-"

"I know what it is Yugi, it was explained to us at the same time remember?" Yami responded gruffly with a small roll of his eyes.

"Well then you should know that it's our kind's natural way of 'claiming' our territory…that's all your body wants to do to Tea," Yugi answered in a tone that made it sound like it wasn't such a big deal.

Yami narrowed his gaze, "I don't know about that Yugi, you know about my past…"

"Yeah I do…but you love Tea, you'd never hurt her, you know that."

Yami smirked without humour before turning his gaze away bitterly, "Yeah, my sensible human side is in love with Tea."

"Well that's all that matters," Yugi responded as he ate another blood soaked Oreo.

"I sat for an entire hour, trying to get the idea out of my head on what her blood tastes like…" Yami added softly, which seemed to generate a tense atmosphere around them, as Yugi momentarily fell into silence. "I eventually had to leave the room, because I couldn't stop staring at her neck…and the more blood I drink to get myself out of my bloodlust haze, the more I keep finding myself comparing it to what hers might taste like."

Okay…that wasn't good, Yugi had to admit, but on the bright side, Tea was still alive.

"But not for much longer if this keeps up," Yami spoke out suddenly, which confused Yugi as he hadn't actually voiced his thoughts. Yami's gaze was focussed on an expensive vase across the room, but his mind was focussed completely on the situation, and he hardly seemed to be aware of anything else in the room. "If I slip even slightly with my control around her…I could never live with myself."

"Yami, you're missing the bigger picture here. Tea's still alive, because you're way stronger than you realise, both physically and emotionally so I wouldn't worry about a lack of self control. And as for your sudden interest in her blood, all I'm going to say more than ask is, 'you do know what you're half of, right?' And it's not only that, and…I really hate using this terminology because it seriously freaks me out, but…you've got that whole 'mating instinct' going on inside you…it's like vampiric puberty only it lasts for eternity instead of a couple of years. Have you even noticed that you're hornier than usual?"

As a matter of fact, Yami had, but he didn't want to admit it. "And…you go through this?"

Yugi half shut his eyes in a narrowed stare, "Dude, I'm going through it right now as we speak…but I suspect a goddess of some sort is watching me right now and making me suffer on purpose by deliberately preventing me from getting laid!"

"Why a goddess?" Yami asked without much enthusiasm.

"Because a guy wouldn't do this, to another guy man! No matter how much they may hate him, it's all part of the guy code!"

"And why would this so called goddess, do such a thing to you?" Yami said, sounding bored.

"Because she's a man hater!"

"Yugi, as usual, you are been ridiculous…she just hates you…and I take it then that Razz rejected your advances?"

Yugi sighed and rolled his eyes, "I don't get it…why doesn't she want to sleep with me?"

Yami lifted his brows, "Are you been sarcastic or for real?"

"Seriously…" Yugi went on without even registering that Yami had spoken to him, "I can get almost any girl I want into the sack with me…but not this one."

"Yugi…" Yami droned.

"I mean, I managed to get her to warm up to me I think…I mean she's kind of given me the 'okay' to approach her again even though the agreement was that I was never to re-enter her life again after tonight…so I guess that's a positive…but why is there no sexual attraction?"

"Yugi-"

"I just don't understand!" Yugi all but wailed.

"Well clearly Razz carries herself with a little bit more dignity than what you're used to Yugi…in fact most virgin girls with class do," Yami explained with a roll of his eyes at his younger twin's wide eyed expression.

"So…you think she'd be the type to…like…wait?"

"Well Yugi, I'm hoping that for the five and a half hours that you've been on this date with her, that you'd actually know enough about her to answer that for yourself."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Yugi muttered as he slumped down in defeat. "Because she'd be the type to make me either work really hard for it on her, own terms – not mine…or I'd have to actually…yeah, second option is never going to happen."

"Still adamant that you're not going to get married someday?" Yami practically teased him, as he ate another Oreo, this time without the blood coating.

"Still adamant," Yugi quipped. "And kids aren't an option either."

Yami chuckled for the first time that night with genuine humour, "How do you know you haven't fathered a couple of bastards already?"

"Shut the fuck up man!" Yugi demanded a little unnerved by the idea…because there was a slight possibility. "Don't jinx shit like that!"

Yami smirked, "Why the paleness Yugi? Don't tell me you don't practice with precautions."

"Yeah easy for you to say, you can do whatever the fuck you like, whenever the fuck you like…who would have ever thought that getting injured in the sacks would be a benefit later on?" Yugi grumbled bitterly, and Yami despite himself, felt a light burn across his cheeks. When they were much younger, Yami had a bad training accident, which for the most part they did not talk about, in too much detail, but it was bad enough that it left him…sterile.

"Well I think Lamia took care of your problem," Yami commented as he thought back to the night she had first appeared.

"I'll never thank her for it," Yugi grumbled back.

"How is she?"

"Same as she always is; psychotic, bitchy…otherwise…annoying…Ra I hate her," Yugi growled before taking a swig of his blood.

"Why?" Yami asked in amusement.

"She's just so…I don't know what her fucking problem is with me," Yugi growled.

"Have you tried talking to each other…working out your differences?"

Yugi shot Yami a look, before growling at the coffee table like it had done him a great offence. "Talking to her; is like talking to a wild animal, chewing on the bars of its cage, and expecting it to understand you."

"You always told me that you can communicate with all creatures," Yami reminded him amusedly.

"That's not the point!" Yugi groaned. "Verbally communicating with her is impossible."

"You should try at least," Yami tried, but once Yugi flashed him another look, he decided he'd rather leave them to sort their own problems out, and not get involved.

"I um…" Yugi gulped suddenly as his body rippled with discomfort. "I need to go and…yeah you don't need me to tell you the rest," he said as he got up, and handed Yami his half filled mug.

"Do you know what's strange," Yami started, just as Yugi was about to leave the room. "Have you ever wondered why self masturbation doesn't sate the cravings all on its own? I find it pretty strange that our kind needs physical contact with someone else…even though vampires are supposed to be detached from emotional connection."

Yugi thought about it for a moment, before nodding in acknowledgement and carried on his way to own room without saying anything. Duh Yami, you only realize that now?

Who's just gone off Oreos for the rest of their lives? I have a sick mind, I know!

Man! That was a long chapter, and my neck's aching, my eyes are burning, and the caffeine is wearing off. I've been up all night editing and painfully rewriting several of these scenes, and I can see its getting light outside right now. Yikes!

Okay, so anyway, I'm actually heartbroken that some of my favourite scenes had to be sacrificed, including Yugi and Razz's stroll through cemetery…(insert teary eyes)… But I know that if I had put them in, this chapter would have been just way too long!

But back to what was written – how many people were surprised that I actually revealed one – ONE – of Yugi's secrets? Don't worry, I've got more up my sleeve, and sorry to all my – hopefuls – there is still a major plot twist coming up, behind the reason of why Yugi turned, so don't get too excited yet…you all know how I am. And what does everyone think about Yami? Oh…and sorry Tea fans, she needed to uh… 'take a break' for a while.

By the way I'd like everyone to know, that there are no such things as spelling mistakes or grammatical errors…It's called Vodka creativity or Sleep deprivation grammatical inspiration… Don't worry I'll forgive your ignorance.

Once again a special thanks to Coka Cookie Cola for usage of her character, and RazzBerrieCharm for hers, and Toxcinity for hers. I know however, that somewhere out there in the world, the real 'Razz' is plotting my murder…sorry Razzy (if it mean's anything, I think Yugi and Razz were quite cute together.)

Anyway – Thank you to all who took the time to read this incredibly long chapter, and I'd love to hear what you all thought of it. Until next time – see ya!