Fleeing the Shadows

Okay, this story is a little odd to me. It was just an idea that was floating around in my head about a month ago. I do know where it’s going; I am just having a hard time telling it the way I want. So, thank you to ObsidianJade, for being my beta and CSI consultant on this story. I really appreciate it!!!

And I hope it lives up to the same standard of writing as my last one. And please, I would like to hear back from the readers on this one, even if you don’t review, my email address is available. I’m not so sure I’m suited to doing suspense type of writing. It’s definitely something different. If I screw something up, let me know and I will fix it.

Special note to dragonlady222: I can’t seem to come up with a villain that doesn’t look like a wuss in front of the group I have here, so instead of a one shot, I’m dedicating this story to you. I hope that you will forgive Anzu’s intrusion into the story for the first chapter or two. And don’t worry; everyone will make an appearance in this story! And I hope that these villains are evil enough for you!

Once again, this is YAOI, and I don’t own Yugioh! Sorry little ones, this isn’t a good one for you to read. So on with the story!




“Hey! You can’t go in there!” One of the uniformed officers yelled as he scrambled to catch up to the man that had ducked under the yellow crime scene tape. It had been bad enough to try and stabilize the perimeter while it was raining, now there was mud everywhere, and the young officer would be damned if he let anyone mess up what was not yet processed.

Shadi barely blinked as he flipped his FBI badge at the officer. “I can, and here’s my proof. Now move before I have you reported to your superior.”

The man all but jumped out of his way, eyeing the badge with distaste. ‘Rookies’ Shadi thought to himself in exasperation. ‘They shouldn’t be allowed at scenes like this.’

The Egyptian made his way slowly up the stairs to the scene of the murder, nothing escaping his icy blue eyes. A muddy foot print, rendered almost useless from the rain, still clinging to the step, and a scrap of blue fabric fluttered from a splinter on the railing. Hadn’t anyone been out here to collect the evidence before it was blown away? None of it was even marked yet.

His latex gloves already in place, he pushed through the half-open door and snapped at the two cops inside the door to take a lunch break for an hour. He needed to see the scene as it was before anyone else got there and messed things up, destroying any other precious evidence. More often than not, the ones who ended up losing his cases were, in fact, young CSI’s and detectives in training. They had cost him too many times, and he’d be damned if they were going to cost him this scene.

“On whose orders? I’m the one giving orders around here.”

Shadi eyed the belligerent man before him. This must be the lead detective. The burly old man didn’t look like much with his rumpled sport coat and his smudged ID badge, but his eyes were sharp, and his hands were steady. Shadi suppressed a sigh; he had no desire to fight with the man over jurisdiction. He just wanted to see if this scene could be tied in with what his men had been investigating for over ten years.

“Isis called me in. She said there were similarities between this case and one we are currently working on.” Shadi replied flatly as he flipped his badge out again.

The big man stared at it before he heaved a sigh, scratching his bald head. “FBI, huh? Look, I…Welcome aboard. To tell you the truth, I think this is more than our small force can handle. Not that I’m letting you take all the credit, but we can really use some help here. This scene is a total cluster fuck. And the guys I have trying to secure the perimeter are whining because the rain has washed away a lot of evidence.”

Shadi’s eyes widened at the comment. This was unusual! Normally this was where territory disputes came in, and it degenerated into a glorified pissing match. Being wise enough not to look a gift horse in the mouth, the agent said smoothly, “That’s fine. If this turns out to be what we’re thinking it is… this has been going on for over twenty years. Your chances of catching this person or persons is virtually nil on your small town budget. It’s a slim enough chance for us to catch them, even with our resources. But I need to see the scene before it gets trampled.”

“The victim is in the living room. No one’s even been in there other than to verify that he’s dead. The house belongs to an old guy named Solomon Motou, I can’t tell if that’s him or not. He is totally unidentifiable from a visual standpoint. He does have some rather odd markings carved into his skin, though. We were just called in about half an hour ago. Someone thought they heard a gunshot. CSI’s only been here for about 5 minutes. I called Isis the moment I saw the guy. This isn’t an ordinary murder; you’ll see what I mean. I remember hearing about a case like this once.”

“You called Isis?!” Shadi barely managed to conceal his surprise. “Thank you. I really appreciate this chance to see a fresh scene. Normally all we have to go on is photographs.”

Shadi weighed his next words carefully, before speaking. “If you could keep this place clear for about an hour or so, I’d really appreciate it. I’d like to get a feel for the place, for the victim. And maybe for the people who did this. I need to be alone to do that. I promise not to mess anything up.”

The big man thought for a moment, tapping his chin. “I’ll wait outside for you to be done. But there ain’t no way I’m leaving the sight of a murder unattended. Even for you, Mr. Shadi. And yes, I’ve heard of all the cases you and your team has helped to solve. That’s why I called. It’s just that I’m responsible for what happens here.”

The agent ushered the big man to the door without trying to look like he was pushing him out of the house. “Again, thank you…”

“My name’s Gary. I’m the only detective in this town at the moment, budget cuts and all.” The big man held his hand out.

Shadi clasped the man’s large hand. He had a feeling he could trust this man. Sometimes it paid off to have the certain talents he had. He handed the guy a card and told him to call him and him alone if he had any more news. Gary just grunted before turning away.

As the big man lumbered out of the house, the agent looked around the small entry way. It was empty of anything personal. That was odd. He made his way into the living room, careful to not step on any of the blood that was coating the walls and the floor in macabre patterns. There was an awful lot of blood, just like at his other scenes. Even the ceiling was marked with the crimson liquid. He didn’t want to look closely at the victim yet. He needed other information first. He could already see the cruel symbol that was carved into the man’s flesh from where his was standing.

He took a quick look around the room. It had all the comforts of a home. There was a decent sized television on a stand, a stereo, a couple of books on a shelf, comfortable, if slightly worn furniture. But upon closer inspection, he noticed what was missing. This house had no pictures, no knickknacks, nothing personal to tell who had made it a home. That in itself was unusual.

The detective made his way to the kitchen, it was the same way. No objects of a personal nature anywhere. There were only a handful of dishes drying on the strainer, and no more in the cupboard. Whoever owned this house didn’t feel safe enough to make it a home. It was the same through every room he looked, as though he stood in a hotel cottage rather than someone’s home. There was even a sparsely packed suitcase in the first bedroom he came across.

As he opened the door to the last room on the top floor, Shadi’s eyes widened. This room had an owner. But more importantly, this room belonged to a teenager. Lopsided posters hung from the wall, laundry was scattered across the floor, and broken CDs were strewn across the bed. None of it indicated a person the age of the victim. There was a second person living in this house. He could tell it was a young boy by the pictures and memorabilia scattered around the room.

The school books strewn over a worn out desk told him that the kid was at least in high school. He dug around the room a little more, realizing that the room wasn’t trashed because the kid was a slob. Someone was looking for something. All the other rooms he had been in were immaculate. This one was a disaster! The bed even looked like it had been tossed about. Whatever they were looking for, it was his bet they didn’t find it.

Shadi made his way back down the stairs and into the living room. He gave the room a very thorough once over, looking for something that he might have overlooked earlier. Pulling a book with an oddly lettered cover off the shelf, he leafed through the pages. This was a weird book for an old man to have lying around, almost occult-ish. He tucked the tome into his coat for later as he glanced at the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room. A quick movement had caught the corner of his eye while he was perusing the book. Looking closer, he found the source of his distraction. Just a reflection of the light from what he had thought was a blemish at the bottom of the wall, right next to the TV stand. He walked slowly towards the wall focusing on the blemish, there it was again. Just that flash of movement.

The agent got onto his knees and pressed his face up against the wall, peering into what seemed to be another room. This one tiny and dark, lit only by a dim light, if what he was seeing could be believed. Then came another quick movement. Someone was pacing inside the wall. Up this close to the wall, the agent could hear small noises – quiet sobbing, from the sounds of it. Shadi resisted the urge to take in a breath. He didn’t want to startle the person in that hidden room. If it was the perpetrator, he didn’t want him to take flight. If it wasn’t, well that opened up a whole new slew of possibilities. He was almost excited.

He moved quietly to the kitchen, looking for the entrance to the room. In the corner of the pantry, there were all sorts of things piled up against the wall. Like someone was trying to hide something. With a smirk, he began to quietly remove the food and cleaning supplies that were blocking what he figured was the entrance to that room. If the room was blocked from this side, he could almost guarantee that the person stuck inside wasn’t one of the murderers. That meant he had a witness!!!! A real live witness to the brutality of the men who he was chasing. The detective almost couldn’t contain his exhilaration at the thought.

Unfortunately, when he moved the last item, a large mixing bowl, from in front of the entrance to the room, it fell to the floor and shattered. So much for surprise, he thought ruefully as he kicked down the separated panel that served as the door to the room…

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Yugi was trying to figure out what he was supposed to do now. His grandfather was lying dead in a room not ten feet from where he was pacing back and forth, trying to relieve some of the tension in his small frame. He knew it wasn’t safe to break down yet. There were still people in the house. They had come not long after the first set of men had left. So the diminutive teen bit down on his fist, drawing blood, to keep himself quiet. His body gave a shudder, and he slid back down to the floor, curling up into a ball, sobbing quietly.

He heard raised voices in the outer room and peeked out of his little hole in the wall. Seeing that one of the men had on a uniform, he shrank back away from the sight. Then there was silence for a while and he peeked again. This time there was a man standing in the middle of the room, totally ignoring his grandfather’s mutilated body that was lying a few feet away. He scooted back again, turning away to pace the small confines of the bare room, wrapping his arms around his chest. Just wishing this were all a nightmare, not unlike the ones he’d had before.

Repeating in his head, over and over ‘it’s a bad dream, it’ll go away. I’ll wake up and grandpa will be standing over me, shaking me and telling me it’ll be okay.’ But it wasn’t a bad dream, and he wouldn’t wake up. His grandfather was gone now. Three men had tortured him to death. Heaving a deep sob, Yugi almost lost the food that he had eaten at the arcade earlier.

There was a thunderous crash and the door to the room burst open, slamming back against the wall. Yugi gave a cry of terror as the man that he had seen earlier, in the outer room, launched himself at the frightened teen. Kicking out, the small teen tried to get away, but it was no use, the man already had him in his grasp. Yugi turned around and tried to beat away the hands that were holding him down. Then the man pinned him to the ground, using his weight as an advantage.

“Whoa! Whoa! Calm down! I’m not here to hurt you!” Shadi pinned the wildly struggling youth to the floor. Never before had he seen someone that small possess the strength that this boy was displaying. He was almost unseated at least twice by the time the boy decided to give up…or play possum.

“Ahhhh! Nononono!” Yugi cried hoarsely. His mind went into overdrive when he realized that his struggles were doing nothing to dislodge the man. The small teen fell limp in the other’s arms. This worked before, with the kids that were bullying him. It had to work, or he was dead.

Shadi almost fell for it, but as he started to get up, he could feel the boy’s body tensing for flight. So he rested his weight back down on the small body beneath his. “If you try to run, I’ll cart you off to jail and watch you try to survive the night. Now I’m not here to hurt you. I want to find and punish those who did this to that man out there. Calm down and talk to me. Do you know that man out there? Did you see who did this?”

The dam broke, Yugi’s tears rolling down his face in rivers as he nodded. But he was unable to utter more than a few hoarse words. “H-help me…please.” His heart was beating erratically; his chest felt like it was going to explode. He couldn’t seem to take in enough air to support any type of brain function. The small teen just wanted to curl up into a ball and die.

“That’s what I needed to know. I’m going to get off you now. But I’m going to tell you the truth, as I see it. You’re in very real danger right now. And I’m the only one who might be able to help you. Do not run - you have no where safe to go. If I have to chase you down, you’re going to regret it. Do you understand?”

Yugi nodded, more tears filling his amethyst eyes. He didn’t trust the man, but he didn’t have any other options either. He wouldn’t endanger the lives of his few friends. Those men were after him for some reason. His life wouldn’t be worth spit if he didn’t find someone to trust soon. The men would be back, searching for him. And if he didn’t find a way out of here by then…

True to his word, Shadi got up and pulled the boy off the floor, steadying him with an arm around his waist as he started to lose his balance. “I don’t want anyone else to know you were here. Okay? We have to leave this place. Is there any way out the back?”

Yugi nodded again, more tears making their way down his face. He was so close to breaking down. If he could just think, he would have found a way out of this by now. But a bleary numbness had settled over his brain, making coherent thought impossible.

“Show me.”

Yugi’s body was on autopilot as he guided the strange man out of the kitchen. They passed the living room, Shadi refusing to let the boy catch even a glimpse of the mutilated corpse lying on the floor. The agent had a firm grip on the boy’s arm as he let him lead the way down the basement stairs and to an old set of cellar stairs leading up and out of the house. Once they made it to the back yard, Shadi began to lead the way out of the neighborhood. Never once letting the boy out of his firm grasp. They would have to double back to get to his car, which was parked down the street from the house. Thank god it was dark out. He didn’t want anyone else finding out about what he had.

It took them about 15 minutes to get to the car. Once there, Shadi pushed the boy into the back seat, covering his shivering body with a blanket, effectively hiding him from view. The small teen gave a sniffle as the blanket was pulled over his small frame. It was clear that he was already in shock from the whole incident.

The agent didn’t want the only witness this case ever had to become public knowledge. But there were a few people that needed to know what he had found. And some excuse needed to be made for his sudden disappearance from the scene.

As they drove away, he phoned Isis and told her the news. Shadi knew Isis would never tell anyone what had transpired. For all the others knew, he had become sick after catching sight of the most gruesome slaying since before Dahmer. But Isis, she deserved to know the truth. To have the hope that came with it. And now he needed to share that hope with two others who desperately needed it as well. As it was, he needed their help to hide the little surprise he had found tonight. And Isis had just reaffirmed his opinion on who to call on.

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Shadi drove on through the night. He had tried for a while to get the young boy to talk, but his incoherent words made little sense to the agent. By the time they reached their destination, it was three o’clock in the morning and his passenger was out cold.

He pulled the police issue Caprice into the long winding driveway. Finding a parking spot in front of the massive three story house, the agent quietly got out of the car. He didn’t want to wake his exhausted passenger. It was a miracle the boy was even sleeping at all. Of course it wasn’t the most peaceful sleep, his quiet whimpers and cries had been getting to the agent for the last hour or so, but at least it was rest of some form.

The agent made his way to the front door of the house, ringing the ornate doorbell by the side. He only had to wait a few moments before he was greeted by the sight of one of his best agents. Seto’s face showed the shock he was feeling at having his superior show up at his house in the middle of the night. And in the middle of an undercover case no less.

“What the hell?” The brunette hissed quietly as he glared at his superior. “What are you doing here?! Are you trying to blow our cover?!”

“I wouldn’t be here, but it’s a major emergency. Where’s Atemu?”

“He’s in the other room playing video games. He’s bored again. He thinks we should bust them tonight, before they make the trade. Why? What happened?”

“I’ll tell you both at the same time. I don’t want to have to repeat myself anymore than necessary. And I don’t want anyone else to know about this.” Shadi pushed his way into the house. “His playing games getting on your nerves?” He chuckled. It was nice to know that some things never changed.

Leave it to these two to get on each other’s nerves within the first minute they were undercover together. They may have been related, but you’d never know it. They were exact opposite in looks and attitude. Seto was tall and lean, with his dark brown hair and ice blue eyes, his arrogant attitude as cold as an arctic glacier. A good looking man in his own right.

Atemu, on the other hand, barely reached the 5’5” mark, his lithe, athletic body holding a hidden strength. And his temper was as fiery as his stunning scarlet eyes, his hair a mix of black and ruby, with golden rod bangs that framed his face. True beauty molded into every detail of his features. A mix of American Indian, Egyptian and Japanese heritage evident in full lips, exotically slanted eyes and an angular jaw line.

No, there was no way to tell they were related at all. Unless you messed with one of them. Then the other would come to the rescue. But put them in a room together and they would willingly drive each other crazy. It was that bond that had intrigued Shadi from the beginning. That was why he took them in, when he could have left them in the foster homes that their cold hearted relatives had placed them in when it was clear the money couldn’t be taken from them.

“Yeah. How could you tell?” Seto snorted. His young cousin was a true pain in the ass when he was bored, or when he had heavy thoughts on his mind. Right now, there was a little of both going on. Neither of the agents wanted to fail the kids that were being held somewhere around town.

“Just the tone of your voice when you said that. And be glad that he’s not bending spoons or other objects yet. He tends to do that when he’s bored. He does a lot of odd things when he’s bored. That’s why I try to keep him busy.”

Seto walked calmly beside his superior officer, rolling his eyes. “Bending spoons how?”

“With his mind. He seems to have that ability. I thought you knew that?” Shadi chuckled, remembering his first stakeout with his very best agent. The youngest agent ever to be assigned to his squad. He had been so proud of the boy for that. But that was a night he’d not soon be forgetting.

The older agent learned a lot of things about his younger adopted son that night. And some of them were not exactly normal. Not that he was anywhere near normal either, but the younger agent had some talents that made him look down right ordinary.

“You’re talking shit again. I won’t fall for it. You forget that I’ve known him for longer than you have. Even if I hadn’t seen him for almost five years until you came around. He’s never been able to bend a spoon in his life. Don’t give me that hocus pocus bullshit” Seto replied breezily.

“What hocus pocus bullshit are you talking about? And who the hell are you talking to?” Twenty-two year old agent Atemu Hasan only heard the tail end of the conversation between his cousin and whoever he was talking to as the two stepped into the large den that they called their game room. He paused the game he was playing to listen to the conversation that was taking place between his cousin and their mystery guest.

“Shadi?! What are you doing here?!” Atemu gasped when he turned and saw his boss standing in their temporary house. A surprise visit from Shadi was never a good thing.

“Seto asked me the same thing. I need a favor of you.”

The duo had been working undercover as a flamboyantly gay couple with old family money for the past two months, trying to bust up a child smuggling ring that catered to the ultra wealthy. They were perfect for the job, as everyone at headquarters already knew that Seto was gay, and Atemu was bisexual. Added to the fact that they were both young, and wealthy in their own right, they were a shoe in for this job, fitting in instantly. And they both worked the case willingly, for one of their friends had had a run in with this ring not too long ago. The young man currently in hiding until this bust was made.

All the duo had to do was pretend that they were a couple, and that they were interested in adding a child to their nightly entertainment. As much as the thought of taking someone underage was abhorrent to the two agents, they managed to hook up with the ring of slavers, and even managed to make their way to the top of the food chain. They were just waiting for word from HQ before taking down the whole ring.

But, as Atemu sized up Shadi’s animated attitude, he didn’t think they would be able to see the end result of their work. Shadi was never excited. In fact, their boss was the calmest person they had ever met. So something was definitely up.

“What gives Shadi? I know you didn’t come all the way down here just to ask a simple favor of us. Why are you taking us off of this case?” Atemu was ready to fight his boss to see this through to the end. He wasn’t going to give this up willingly. Not since his friend had become involved.

“Something’s come up. And this case is finished as of an hour from now. Seto, I need you to go with Malik and Marik to see this through. Atemu…I need your help. I have someone with me, and I need him alive. This is your first priority. Above anything else.” Shadi looked the young agent straight in the eyes. Somehow he sensed that this young man was his only hope of keeping the witness alive. At first it was just a feeling, even with Isis’s urging, but now he was sure he had made the right choice.

“What the hell, Seto can stay, but I have to go?! Just how important is this person? And would you mind telling me why they’re so much more important than these kids we’re trying to save? Nothing is that important.” Atemu glared back at his superior, his scarlet eyes glowing in his rage. All the time he spent trying to find these kids before they were sold off to the highest bidder. And Shadi thought he was going to take him off this case for a babysitting job. Well, the older man had another thing coming. He wasn’t giving up without a fight.

Shadi sensed an attitude coming on. Atemu may be his best agent, but he still held the same defiant attitude as he had when he first came into their household. The older man knew well were this would lead. He was better to head it off at the pass. Before this became a contest of wills.

“He’s a witness to a brutal torture slash murder that happened earlier.” Shadi wasn’t so sure he wanted his young associate to know all of the details. In the mood Atemu was currently in, there was no telling how he would act.

“And…There’s something you’re not telling me.” Atemu countered. He would drag the information out of his boss if he had to. Usually Shadi would just tell him straight what was going on. But tonight the man was talking in circles, it made his head ache.

Shadi sighed again. He needed Atemu to understand just how important this was. He needed to be told, no matter his reaction. “The murder just happened in a little town called Domino, just outside of Cincinnati. About three hours north of here. The victim’s name was Solomon Motou. I caught that much before I had to leave, if that really was him in there. He had a young houseguest, I don’t know who he is, and for now I don’t want to. All I know is that the murder this boy witnessed…it’s tied in with your family’s…your sister’s. I saw the proof, in blood.”

“WHAT??!!!!” Atemu jumped up over the back of the couch he had been reclining on and darted for the door as fast as he could run. There was no way in hell. He had to hear this first hand. He had to know. Just one scrap of evidence, one reason why the people who were doing this hadn’t been caught yet. Just one reason that his parents’ killers hadn’t been brought to justice.

Atemu’s family had been murdered not ten years earlier, his and Seto’s. His older sister kidnapped, tortured and murdered. The only reason their family died was that the murderers wanted the young teenage girl for something only they knew, and the Hasan’s weren’t willing to give her up. He and Seto had only managed to stay alive because the two of them were spending the night at the house of a family friend. So, neither even knew what happened until the cops showed up at their friend’s house.

It was a night that he would always remember. The end of his childhood. The start of his lonely life, passed around, first by relatives, then by the state of Tennessee. He and Seto didn’t even get to be in the same foster care together. There wasn’t enough room, or so they were told.

“Atemu stop! What are you doing?” Shadi ran after the young man. Seto right on his heels. “Wait! You don’t know…” Shit this was not good; he would give the boy a heart attack. He was afraid that this would happen. Atemu wasn’t known for being calm and cool. That was Seto’s job.

Atemu flew out the door, running full speed for the Caprice. He jerked the door open and dragged the sleeping teen from the backseat. It didn’t take long for Yugi to realize he was in danger, and with a cry he began kicking and beating on his attacker. Then catching a glimpse of Atemu’s demonic ruby eyes glowing in the dark, amethyst eyes rolled up into the back of his head - and the boy fainted, dropping to the ground when the agent let go of him in surprise.


You know you want to, just press the review button, and tell me if I should continue to work with this type of story!