As I'm sure you all know, I do NOT own Yu-gi-oh. I am just a fan having fun writing a fanfic.

Yugi was steadily making his way home despite all the pain. He had just gotten away from some bullies. They had been hitting him for a long time before he finally managed to escape. Now he was struggling to make it back home regardless of his many injuries. Getting home wouldn't be much better anyways. His parents didn't care about him at all. There was also a chance his father was drunk or a in a bad mood. If that was the case he would probably get another beating.

It was getting dark now. The sunset was beautiful, but at this point Yugi really didn't care. A few feet away from him was a dark alleyway and he could hear sounds down it. Curious, he stopped to look down the alley. He froze, horrified at what he saw.

There was a man there, holding another man up against a wall by the neck. The guy holding the other guy's throat looked a lot like Yugi. He had the same star-shaped hair that stuck up. There were also many differences. The man's eyes were red, not purple like Yugi's. Yugi had blond bangs, so did the stranger, except some of his stuck up to highlight his black hair. The man's black hair seemed to be crimson around the edges. Yugi could just barely make out some of the words they were saying.

"I… I can't tell you… I won't…" The poor guy shoved against the wall stuttered shakily.

"Tell me." The dark stranger commanded in a deep and threatening voice.

"I… can't." The victim repeated. Just then, the attacker turned his head to see down the alley after sensing another presence there. He saw a boy watching them. The dark man growled in frustration. He knew he couldn't take the risk of having someone witness the exchange. He would have to threaten someone else later. He quickly snapped the other man's neck, who died instantly, and turned to walk down the alley towards the boy. No witnesses.

Yugi stood there, too scared to move. His mind kept yelling at him to run but his body wouldn't obey. Finally he gained control and turned to run, but the stranger was too fast for him. An arm tightened around the boy's waist, pinning his arms to his sides, while a hand clamped around Yugi's mouth to keep him from screaming. Yugi struggled with all his might.

The stranger managed to pull him in the direction he wanted to go, but it was hard with the boy struggling so much. He needed to get out fast and the boy was not helping. The man knew he had to do something to keep the boy quiet long enough for him to get away from this place.

Yugi felt a hard blow to his head and darkness started closing in around him. Before he faded out of consciousness he saw his attackers lips move, but his mind was too fuzzy to recognize what he said. It looked like he said 'I'm sorry', but that couldn't be right. This man was a murderer!

Yugi woke up in a dim room. Once his eyes adjusted, he could see the contents. The only thing in the room was the simple wooden bed he was lying on. The room wasn't very big, about 15 feet wide and 10 feet across. The floor was plain concrete, as were the walls. A metal door was set into one side of the room. The bed he was lying on was a few feet away from the right corner, on the opposite side of the room from the door.

Yugi sat up and instantly regretted it. His head hurt like crazy, not to mention the other injuries he had gotten from the bullies earlier. Yugi tenderly lifted a hand to his head. Then the fear set in. He had been kidnapped. By a murderer! What is he going to do to me? Is he going to kill me too? Yugi was horrified at the thought.

The worst part is, he knew no one would come to save him. His parents would probably be happy he was gone. And it's not like anyone at school would even notice his absence. Yugi's mind was consumed by fear as he thought about how easily his kidnapper had killed that other man. His only question was, why am I not already dead? His kidnapper had had plenty of time to just kill him and get it over with. Yugi froze in horror as he heard footsteps outside his room. He jumped up, ignoring the pain that shot through his body, and sat down in the corner by his bed. Yugi pulled his knees to his chest as he pushed himself back into the corner, knowing that the murderer was coming.

The dark stranger walked into the room and noticed the empty bed. He calmly walked around it and saw the boy huddled in the corner. "P-please don't hurt me…" The boy begged him. His eyes were full of innocence… and fear. The stranger could tell this boy was terrified. The man's eyes softened.

"I'm not going to hurt you." He told the boy softly. The boy's expression didn't change and the man knew he didn't trust him. The man moved closer to the boy, but stopped when he heard him whimper with fear. The stranger bent down so he was eye level with the boy huddled in the corner. "There's no need to be afraid, little one. I just need to keep you here until I'm sure you won't tell anyone what you saw last night."

Yugi looked at the man he knew was a murderer. He seemed nice, but he had still killed another person… and kidnapped him. The ten-year old had only too much experience with people who wanted to hurt him. How did he know this man wasn't going to hurt him?

The stranger could still see this boy's fear plainly. I've told him I'm not going to hurt him. There's really not much else I can say to comfort him... Why won't he believe me? It was then the man noticed all the wounds the boy had. His eyes pulled together in concern for this boy. Besides knocking the child out, which he still felt bad about, he had done nothing to hurt him. So then why were there so many other injuries? Someone has intentionally hurt this boy. The stranger thought.

Yugi saw concern on the murderer's face. But why? Yugi didn't care. His only emotion and thought right now was fear. His heart pounded in his chest, fueled by the terror Yugi felt. Maybe he could escape? No, that might make the murderer decide keeping him wasn't worth it and kill him. What could he do?

The man, concerned at some of the more serious wounds, reached out to grab the child's arm, which had a weird look to it, as if it were broken. The boy whimpered and pulled away from him. The stranger gently took the boy's arm anyway and began to examine it.

Yugi just knew that the murderer meant to harm him. He was terrified, but he knew that if he tried to pull away, the man might hurt him more. Yugi bit his bottom lip nervously, anticipating the pain. The man felt his arm at the point where one of the bullies had broken it. Yugi cried out in pain when he touched it. Surprisingly, the murderer quickly pulled his hand away and the pain went away a little.

The boy's arm was definitely broken. He felt a deep concern and sorrow for the child. The man released the child's arm, who quickly pulled it back to cradle it in his other arm. Trying to distract the boy from the pain he must be feeling, the dark stranger smiled and said, "I'm Yami, in case you wanted to know. What is your name, little one?"

The murderer… no, Yami had just smiled at him! Was that good? Or perhaps it was bad… Still, there was a bigger problem now: Yami had asked his name. Should I tell him? Would that end up being bad for me later? Would it be bad for me now? Would he hurt me if I didn't tell him? Endless questions raced through Yugi's mind as he contemplated telling Yami his name.

"You don't have to tell me." Yami said, seeing the boy's conflict. Yami stood and left.

Once he was gone, Yugi sighed in relief. "At least I'm still alive." Yugi muttered to himself. Now that his fear wasn't so strong, the pain became noticeable again. Yugi cringed and tried not to move. Great. I've been kidnapped by a murderer.