The Not to distant future

The not to distant future
By Yami Kitsune
Now being BetaRead by: Tavi
Chapter thirteen: movement in the shadows
(AN: This first section is being stretched out mainly for the Seto/Jou fans. I can promise everyone else who isn't fond of this couple~ You can skip this and miss little to nothing of the actual story!)

The shadow climbed back through the window at Seto's house. Letting go of Jou's body he watched the blond boy stumble before falling to the floor, unable to hold himself up. The shadow frowned watching this. He hadn't realized that his presence in the boy's body had caused such a strain on him.

"Damn you!" Jou grumbled struggling to get up. "Why the hell are you doing this?" He asked stumbling to the bed.

"Because I have no choice."

"Everyone has a choice." Jou said sitting on the bed, still not looking at the shadow. There was a loud knocking on the door and Jou groaned. Standing, he stumbled over to the door and opened it half noticing the shadow had drifted into a corner where he would be mostly unseen.

Seto stood there and frowned at Jou. He hadn't seen or heard from Jou since he'd brought him home the day before. Assuming the blond boy had been sleeping the whole time. But as Seto looked him over, it was easy to tell that Jou looked worse now then he had the day before. This worried the CEO.

"What do you want?" Jou asked, sounding rather grumpy.
"I came to see how you were doing. And I think I'm going to go call a doctor." He said and turned to leave when Jou grabbed his arm.

"I don't need a doctor." He said, but didn't look very convincing when he tried narrowing his eyes at Seto then just let them close instead. Seto caught Jou before his legs gave out. Jou made a sound of protest when he felt Seto lift him up and put him back on the bed.

"You stubborn mutt. You are obviously sick. You can hardly stand."

"Don' call me a mutt..." Jou growled, opening his eyes to look at Seto. He was surprised to see a look of concern on the taller boy's face. Jou looked away not wanting to see it. It was then that he saw the shadow still standing in the corner.

"What are you lookin at?" Jou glared. Seto frowned thinking that Jou was talking to him, but before he could even give an answer, someone else answered.

"I can see why you never had much pain for me to feed off of." The shadow said, making his presence known to Seto as he stepped out of the shadows. But he was still looking at Jou. "It is because you are happy to get attention from the one you love. And it doesn't matter what kind of attention that is." The shadow smirked watching Jou's face turn bright red. Seto looked from the shadow to Jou then back again. He narrowed his eyes as he easily put two and two together.

"You're the reason Jou is sick." Seto practically growled. He didn't want to seem overprotective of the blond boy. But Seto had always tried his best to look out for Jou. Playing it off as a mistake. Or that he was doing it because his brother asked him to.

The shadow chuckled, looking between them. "Not my fault he has a weak body." He said with a shrug. "doesn't matter, I'm done with him now. I have my orders." He looked back at Jou who was still staring at him. "You'll be useless to me from now on anyway. You're too damn happy, even when doing something stupid." And with that, the shadow turned and vanished leaving both boys sitting there looking slightly stunned. Seto frowned and pulled out his cell phone.

"What are you doing?" Jou asked.

"Calling Malik." Jou just nodded and rested his head back on the pillow. "Just so you know." Jou said making the blue eyed boy stop and look at him. "The yamis are back." Seto stared, about to ask how Jou knew this, but the blond boy had already passed out. He looked back at his cell phone, sighing. He would call them later. After he was sure Jou was better when he woke up.

-------NON-Seto/Jou fans can start reading again! And sorry to all Seto/Jou fan's. I'm not good writing this couple.--------

Malik walked down the street as quickly as he could. It was late afternoon, and Malik knew he still had a couple hours before the sun set. He was taking a big chance being outside. But they were a little low on food, and Malik didn't trust what Marik and Bakura would bring home. So Malik decided to sneak out of the house and get some stuff like milk and juice. And some meat for the yamis.

He also wanted to see if he could find something that would help Yugi calm down. Malik had heard Yugi freak out, and Yami was still trying to get Yugi to calm down and try to figure out exactly what had the hikari so upset. When Malik had left Yugi had been near hysterics, which is what made it easy for Malik to slip out unnoticed.

Malik walked into the store and went down the first isle grabbing a few things. That's when he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning he frowned when he didn't see anyone there. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and he was suddenly regretting leaving the pent house.

/Marik/ Malik called his yami softly as he slowly moved down the isle still grabbing more stuff.

//Malik? What's wrong?// Marik asked. //...uh, where are you?// Malik knew that his yami had just checked his room and found that Malik was not where he'd last seen him.

/Uh...don't get mad at me please?/ Malik asked and was now moving a bit faster down the isle glancing over his shoulder every few steps. He knew something was following him, he could feel it. /We were low on food. And I figure I could come to the store and get back quickly.../

//YOU LEFT?!// Marik shouted through the link.

/I asked you not to be mad! I had to get some food, and I want to try and get something that will help Yugi calm down!/ Malik said turning down the next isle and froze as he noticed something he should have when he'd entered the store. It was the busiest time of day, people just getting out of work, rushing home to start dinner. But the store was completely empty. Malik swallowed and made his way back up to the front of the store looking around. All the lights for the registers were on, but again, not a single person could be seen anywhere.

//Malik Ishtar! Answer me!// Malik shook his head realizing that Marik had been talking to him probably for the past minute.

/Marik...I'm on my way home./ He promised dropping the basket of food he had and bolted for the door. As he ran out onto the streets he swallowed. It looked as if it were a ghost town. There was no cars, no people, no nothing. Malik took off down the street running as fast as he could. He reached the hotel and looked up. He saw someone standing on the balcony to his penthouse and sighed looking back down at the doors ready to head inside he froze again when he saw not the shadow that had possessed Jou. But Ryou's shadow.

He was smirking at Malik and stepped closer. "Poor little Malik." He said, his voice making Malik shudder feeling as if an icy wind had just blown right through him. "No yami out here to protect you. No one around at all." The shadow stepped forward, Malik took a step back making the shadow smirk even more and continued moving closer forcing Malik to back up into the street.
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Up on the balcony Ryou was leaning on the railing looking down at the people walking along the side walk. He heard Marik shout from inside and sighed. He couldn't wait until this whole mess was over. Then he'd be able to go to the park and get some peace and quiet. He wondered how Malik dealt with such a loud yami. Bakura was loud when he was angry, but he was also a lot like Ryou and liked things quiet.

Ryou blinked when something in the crowd below caught his attention. He was too high up to be sure, but he was sure that that was Malik standing in front of the hotel. Ryou frowned watching Malik more closely. He looked like he was talking to someone, but Ryou couldn't see who. He watched the blond Egyptian back up quickly. It was then that Ryou noticed a flicker of black, like a shadow. The next thing Ryou knew Malik had backed up right into the street into the path of an oncoming car.

"MALIK!!!" Ryou screamed, nearly falling off the balcony. But a pair of strong arms wrapped around him pulling him back. Ryou didn't see what happened but he heard a loud crash and was sure that Malik had been hit. "NO! LET ME GO! Malik! He...he..." Ryou trailed off as he looked behind him to see who was holding him. He thought it had been Bakura. But it wasn't.

"Malik is fine. He is being taken to the shadows." The shadow smirked at him. "You will be joining him soon. But first." The shadow smirked and vanished. Ryou shivered and collapsed. The next thing he knew someone was shaking him, and he heard Bakura's voice.

"Ryou, wake up."

"...'kura...?" Ryou asked, blinking as he looked up at his yami. Bakura sighed, looking relived.

"Ryou what happened? You suddenly screamed, and you nearly fell off the balcony." Bakura said and Ryou blinked at him again before his eyes went wide.
"Oh god...Malik! He...he was in the street! And then a car!" Ryou struggled to sit up.

"Ryou, calm down. You must have been dreaming. Malik is fine." Marik said, standing over Ryou. "He went to get some food, he just got back." Marik said watching as Bakura stood up helping Ryou to his feet and led him into the kitchen. Sure enough, there was Malik humming to himself as he put the food away.
"...but...I saw..."

//We're all under a lot of stress right now Ryou.// Bakura said wrapping his arms around the silver haired boy. "There was a car crash outside." Bakura said.

"Maybe you saw Malik before he came up here, and then saw the car crash." Marik suggested. Ryou frowned, he was sure about what he'd seen. But everything here was proving him wrong. He sighed and shook his head and decided that it had been stress and not enough sleep that made him see Malik in front of that car.

"Come on Ryou." Malik said, taking Ryou's hand. "I got some medicine for Yugi. Let's go give it to him." Malik said pulling Ryou from the room. Ryou numbly followed Malik to Yugi's room still feeling like he was in a daze. They saw Yugi in a corner hugging his knees tightly as he rocked back and forth. He was mumbling something that they couldn't hear. Yami was sitting on the bed watching Yugi sadly.

"Why don't you go help Marik and Bakura put the rest of the food away?" Malik suggested. "Me and Ryou will stay with Yugi. I got him something that might help calm him down a bit."

Yami looked at them and nodded slowly before standing and heading out to the kitchen. He stopped at the doorway and looked at Yugi once more. Yami was at a loss of what he could do to help Yugi. He wasn't talking, and every time Yami tried to talk to him mentally, Yugi would slam up more mental blocks. Malik waited for Yami to leave before he closed and locked the door.

Ryou shuddered wrapping his arms around himself before he felt his body take on a mind of it's own. He and Malik walked over and lifted Yugi up. Yugi didn't complain as he was pulled to his feet and led over to the window. Ryou looked over at Malik feeling panicked. He was fully aware of what he was doing, and he saw the same look in Malik's eyes seconds before they stepped into a shadow portal and vanished.

TBC>>>
Okay, yes I know it's a short ass chapter. -_-' but I havn't slept in two days. I will say this though. The fic is almost done! And yes, this chapter was supposed to be that confusing. You will all find out exactly WHAT happened in the next chapter. I promise~ For now. Enjoy this little update. ^-^ and I'll try not to let work run me down so much and finish this fic~