Binding Circles

Title: Binding Circles

Author: Shamise

Rating: Teen+

Pairing: Puzzleshipping

Archive: Fanfiction.net

Warnings: Contains yaoi! (Is that really a warning?)

Spoilers: Uses Yami's true name.
Summary: The Ocean will call you home.' Is what Yuugi’s Grandpa told before he died. Now, a few years later, the ocean really is calling Yuugi, but not in the way he thought it would. A strange creature has claimed Yuugi as his mate. How will he survive? YYxY AU

Disclaimer: I dont own yu-gi-oh!

A/N: Muuhahahahah! This is te chapter people have been asking for! Yuugi gets 'attacked' by Yami again!!

'Thoughts'
"Speech"


Yuugi floated serenely on the surface of the water, moving his arms and legs every now and then to stay afloat. He starred at the evening sky and watched peacefully as feathery stretches of white dotted the azure background. Sounds of the waves crashing against the stone barriers of the cove mingled with the cries of seabirds calling to each other.

It was times like these that he could forget everything and shrug off the weight that always seemed to hang on his shoulders lately. He could forget about the financial problems he was galling further in and his lack of job that paid well enough. He didn’t have to remember that his Grandfather was gone

They say that ignorance is bliss. Well, it is until that ignorance is lifted and reality reveals itself.

He could no longer believe that every thing would be fine and that this was just a small valley that they would climb out of. He can’t keep fooling himself that his Grandpa would come calling through the backdoor to playfully scold him about inconsequential things.

His mind drew back to the letter he had gotten in the mail today, the one sent by the government. The damned warning notice stated that if he didn’t pay the escalating bills soon he was going to be evicted and sent to a foster family until he was of legal age. He was not about to get thrown into a foster home, screw what the government said.

Crystalline tears streaked down his face, joining with the salt water he floated on. He couldn’t think of any way to get out of what the government wanted. He had no relatives to hide with for a few years and there was no chance of his leaving his hometown. Asking Anzu’s family was out of the question, they had enough things on their mind to worry about another mouth to feed.

Shoving these thoughts out of his head, he dove deep under the water. His eyes were tightly closed against the familiar sting of the saltwater and his legs kicked periodically to keep him submerged. There was nothing he wouldn’t give to be able to stay here, away from the troubles that haunted him up on dry land. Unfortunately everything seemed to be against him getting that wish, even his own bodily functions weren’t compatible for his dream and he shot for the surface.

A couple deep gulps of air satisfied the burning in his lungs. He floated on his back and opened his light purple eyes to the expanse of blue above him. A flock of seagulls swung by, followed by a brown pelican.

Yuugi didn’t like this melancholy that had settled over him, he preferred to be optimistic. So, in an attempt to remedy his mood, he got out of the water to retrieve the breathing apparatus he had brought out after Anzu had left. He took a few breaths of air through the small machine to make sure that it was functional. Satisfied that it wasn’t going to malfunction while he was submerged, he waded back into the water but not before grabbing his snorkeling mask. It wouldn’t do if he couldn’t see.

Rich blues and greens bloomed around him when he entered the watery realm. At first, plant life was the only thing that broke the expanse of white sand, but soon enough the fish began to venture out of the crevices they had hid in. Yuugi once again thanked the heavens above for the technology that allowed him to see this complex beauty that most people took for granted.

Using a variety of dolphin-kicks and butterfly strokes, he swam among the small collection of coral that grew in the deeper parts of the cove. The light reflected off of something in between a patch of twisted cage-like coral and he moved closer so that he could get a better look.

‘Sea glass.’ Yuugi confirmed. It wasn’t often that he would find a few pieces of sea glass in his cove but it did happen every once in a while. His Grandpa had especially like the bowl shaped ones and had used them during supper whenever he had the chance; a soft smile hid behind the breather at the memory. When he had found out about his Grandpa’s like for the things he had used every opportunity to look for said items when he glided across the sand-covered bottom.

Cautious of the cage-like coral and what could be hiding in it, he maneuvered around to reach for the sea glass piece. His feet hooked between spaces in the coral so that he wouldn’t float back to the surface, and his right hand slid between the closest gap for the desired item.

A bittersweet feeling was issued when he pulled a blue bowl-shaped piece of sea glass from the sand. He floated there like a sea horse clinging to the coral, reminiscing about the past. With a sigh that sent giant bubbles racing for the surface, Yuugi pushed the past far away from the forefront of his mind; he didn’t want to have an emotional breakdown while he was under the water.

He pushed off of the coral, making his way for the surface with his prize in his hand. Perhaps he could use the sea glass to bring offerings to his Grandpa’s spirit, or he could put it up on a shelf for show. Nonetheless, it was getting late and he should probably be getting home, it was dangerous to swim in the dark.

Yuugi was rather surprised when he barely got two feet from his starting point before jolting to a stop. He turned his amethyst colored eyes back to where his let foot had slipped in between the space in the coral. From his point of view it seemed that when he pushed off, or tired to anyway, of the coral his foot had pushed past the space and was now stuck.

His brows furrowed when he quickly realized that he wouldn’t be able to simply get his foot unstuck by pulling it out. He reached down with his pruning hands, attempting to wedge his fingers in between his ankle and the coral. A frustrated scowl marred his features when he realized that his fingers were too big to fit. He kicked with his free leg to propel him closer to the seabed, trying to figure out a way to position his body so that he could get his foot out.

Movement flashed in his peripheral vision and his head jerked around to locate the source. A strange feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, gnawing at his insides uneasily. Yuugi’s large eyes selected a crevice near where he saw the movement, absently sweeping his bangs out of his face. The crevice was rather large, easily big enough to hide a predator that could do him damage. Yuugi split his attention, keeping half-an eye on the now still crevice while he redoubled his efforts to get loose.

His head snapped up as he caught something dark moving out of the crevice, eyes widening in fear and utter terror when he recognized the same appendages that had been haunting him ever since that tour boat incidence.

Black, slimy tentacles poured out of the crevice, making clear their intent as they reached for the now immobile diver. Thoughts halted in a train-wreck pileup as Yuugi starred wide-eyed at the cause of his fear.

An almost subtle prick against his ankle snapped him out of his terrified stare and reminded him of the large piece of coral that his foot was currently stuck in. Wide eyes darted from his trapped foot to the slowly approaching tentacles. Frantically, he tried to jerk his foot from its confines.

It still wouldn’t budge.

Yuugi might have been able to free his foot of the coral, had he been calm, but how anyone could be calm with their certain death coming straight at them he didn't know. He tugged more violently when the coral didn’t give, scrapping up his ankle badly.

Panicked thoughts clouded his mind as it was consumed with the instinctual need to escape, and he almost forgot the lurking creature that was now within striking distance. The first touch to his leg went unnoticed; it was seemed curious as it lightly explored. A few other soft touches were made around his bare chest and neck, sucker disks pulling against the skin here and there.

The body of the sea creature soon came into view. A well-toned body, definitely male, rose from the black mass that flowed from his waist. Arms, covered with a golden armband around his bicep and a loose pair of matching bracelets encircled his right wrist, curved muscularly next to its body and hands that showed the work they had been put through were attached to its wrists. Mauve eyes were embedded in a sharp edged face and hair that looked a lot like Yuugi's swayed in the current.

Crimson eyes starred curiously and possessively at the air breather before him. He had decided the first time he saw the teen that he would become his mate and nothing was going to change his mind. His eyes drifted over the petite form, landing lastly on the trapped ankle; it was probably going to bruise by how much pressure the teen was putting on it.

Carefully, a black tentacle slid around the human's calf, causing the teen to freeze up in terror. Nothing moved for several seconds till the tentacle squeezed lightly. Yuugi's reaction was instant.

Yuugi violently kicked his free leg, desperately trying to ward off the other tentacles that had surrounded him and to dislodge the one that was crawling up his thigh. His hands attempted to fight back as he tired to pry the black thing off and unfortunately that only served to help the advancing creature.

A tentacle wound its way around his chest, sucker disks latching onto his bare skin, and the muscle tightened, forcing some of the air on his lungs to jump out of his throat and covering the breather with small, tiny, bubbles. His hands shook with their effort, and soon abandoned the quest to retaliate against the slimy thing that gotten close enough to his face to get a decent hold.

The tentacle wrapped around his neck, putting a small amount of pressure against the windpipe and almost instantly most of his body went limp. His shoulders scrunched up in reflex and his hand pulled at the thing around his neck, trying to dislodge it. It was an instinctual thing for any creature; the neck was a vital and unprotected part of every mammal’s body.

Just as he had gotten his hands around the constriction muscle, two others had quickly encircled his arms. He jerked spasmodically as the tentacles wrapped around his forearms and slithered their way towards his biceps. His hands were pulled away from his neck and pressed together so that now only one tentacle was restraining them.

Yuugi whimpered around his breathing apparatus, futilely pulling against the tentacles wrapped around his arms, it felt weird having those sucker disks pull against the skin of his throat and might have been pleasurable if he wasn’t so terrified.

The black tentacles moved onward enthusiastically as Yuugi was restrained, each time he tried to jerk away or fight back the tentacle around his neck would tighten warningly until he ceased moving. He couldn’t help the flinches that followed when the groping muscles found a new place of skin to latch onto and thankfully he wasn’t punished for them.

One particular flinch pulled on his still trapped ankle, making it rub harshly against the coral it was trapped in. A pained groan was caught in his throat, making it vibrate strangely against the ever-present tentacle. He pointedly ignored it as he tried to free his ankle once again.

The moment he started moving, the tentacles tightened once again; apparently, they didn’t want his doing anything at all. He was just about to ignore the warning when he realized that the ‘merman’ had already guessed what he was going to do for the human hand suddenly reached forward and pushed against his snorkeling mask.

Salt-water rushed in and he was forced to close his eyes to avoid the sting. The feel of the rubber strap that held the plastic eyepiece to his head lighted and he knew that the visibility was just shot. He could have opened his eyes by the salt wouldn’t let him keep them open for long and the images would be too blurry to see anything.

It didn’t take him long to realize the merman’s reason for doing so, his imaginative mind became increasingly paranoid now that he couldn’t see and he found himself in a type of self-induced paralysis, like a hare being circled by a hungry hawk. His nerves went haywire and his breathing came in short, shallow breathes; he quickly became aware of just how much of his skin the tentacles covered and how the sucker disks suckled and bit into his skin.

He could feel one tentacle as it wandered underneath his swimming trunks, curling around his thigh and moving up towards his waist and a second one twirled around his opposite leg. Another curled snuggly around his waist and was slowly inching towards his shoulder. The one weaving in-between his two arms was pulling them away from his body, forcing him into a vulnerable position. And the one around his neck was tightening and releasing in a kneading motion that reminded him slightly of a kitten.

The fact that he didn’t know where the other three were frightened him tremendously.

Yuugi jerked when he felt a small, slimy touch to his trapped ankle. He whimpered when the tentacle around his neck tightened accordingly. The tip of that arm wandered near the back of his ear and Yuugi tilted his head upwards to avoid it. A strange hissing noise filtered through the water, causing Yuugi is shiver in fear.

Another small touch to his ankle almost went unnoticed and he refrained from flinching this time. One of the unaccounted tentacles was wrapping around his lower calf, pulling and releasing in a tender motion, and the tip carefully wedged itself in-between his ankle and the sides of the coral. With a slippery sliding motion, his trapped ankle came free and he hissed as the salt-water stung the scratches that littered the pale skin.

A series of clicks and hisses filled is left ear as the soft tissue of the tentacle slid around his abused ankle, soothing it and coating it with that weird oil that covered the creature's skin. He couldn’t help but flail slightly when only those tentacles, without anything solid to keep him in one place, suddenly supported him. He felt very isolated and vulnerable.

He was startled when he felt human hand touch his face. They glided over his skin before gently cupping his cheeks and brushing thumps over his closed eyes. The water stirred around him, giving off the telltale sign of movement, and smooth flesh was pressed against his forehead.

The crimson-eyes creature starred at those closed eyes as he pulled his forehead flush against the others. He marveled at the different texture of skin that stretched under his fingertips. His next course of action decided, he removed one of his hands from his future mate’s face and reached down to his other wrist. Murmuring a few arcane words under his breath and running a finger across the smooth surface of one of his bracelets, the golden metal split on one side.

He caught the sinking bracelet with one of his free tentacles, brining it up to eye-level and musing over its significance. Upon reaching puberty, the males of his species would create a pair of bracelets, called Kroshi. These Kroshi would be made from combining their newly awakened magic and the strongest or rarest metal ore they could find.

The creation of the Kroshi served a dual purpose. On one hand it would prove that the creator was ready to choose a mate and on the other it would serve as a ‘link’ between them and their chosen. It was a sign of claim, warding off any competing males. Each pair was unique, consisting of a different color and design. A blank space was always left on the metal so that their mate’s name could be engraved there.

He easily maneuvered the Kroshi into his free hand and exposed the skin of the human’s right wrist. A small whimper emerged from the teen’s throat and the sea creature couldn’t help but feel a small amount of pity. He knew that his future mate was scared out of his mind and that the temporary blindness he had caused was terrifying him, but if he had allowed him to continue to thrash about the teen would have hurt himself.

He tenderly positioned the Kroshi to encircle the teen’s wrist, sighing when he flinched. The ruby gems glinted in the watery light, giving off an almost ethereal glow, and the golden metal contrasted elegantly against the pale skin. With a click that just screamed finality, the sea creature closed the ends together.

A single arcane word was all that was needed to start the process he new instinctively would happen. Golden light spilled forth, entwining around both creatures and the matching Kroshi around his own wrist responded with equal exuberance.

Yuugi began to thrash at the sensations running through his skin. Light danced through his eyelids and the feel of cool metal settled against the skin of his wrist. Even with his eyes closed, he could sense the way the strange light weave around him and he subconsciously tried to get closer to the warmth in front of him.

The threads of light soon came into contact with Yuugi’s skin, tracing ancient patterns into the pale epidermis. He bit harshly into his breather, trying not to scream as he experienced what felt like fingernails drawing pictures into the skin of his right arm. Little did he know that the same thing was happening to his captor.

Just as the feeling escalated to being almost painful, a single, indiscernible word rang through his ears and seemingly into his mind. His body went completely limp as the sensations faded, though there was still a tingling that ran throughout his right arm.

Yuugi’s vision faded as exhaustion flooded over him. His jaw relaxed in a boneless way and his underwater breather slipped out. Water rushed in yet he felt no panic, as somehow he was still able to breathe. Dimly, he could feel slick fingers caressing his face as his mind slipped into slumber.

Crimson eyes looked affectionately at his mate, thankful that the binding process had gone well. He had been slightly unsure what would happen since his mate was a human, though he was positive that it wouldn’t turn out bad. He absently fingered his Kroshi, checking to make sure that there were no blemishes and searching for his mate’s name.

The name Yuugi was etched into the gold, written in the style of his people. This way anyone of the ocean’s heritage would know that he was Yuugi’s and that Yuugi belonged to him.

‘Yuugi…’ He though, tasting the name on his tongue and deciding that he liked it. ‘My Yuugi.’ He liked that even better.

Carefully, his inspected his mate’s Kroshi, admiring how the spotless gold contrasted with the pale skin. He ran his finger over the etchings on the middle of the Kroshi and was rewarded when he found his own name carved there.

Atemu

He looked up into his mate’s eyes, taking the exhausted expression and the boneless way he laid in his hold. The sea creature tenderly brought the human into his arms, pulling his flush against his chest. His tentacles slowly unwound themselves from his mate’s body, ignoring the whimper of discomfort that emitted from the teen’s mouth. He checked his mate’s breathing, thankful that the Kroshi was doing its job in allowing the human to survive in this environment.

He held his mate close as he swam off towards a place only he and a few other choice people knew about. The cove’s sandy floor left no hint of what had just happened, except for the discarded diving mask and breather.


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to be continued...
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