Disclaimer: Yugi-oh is the property of Kazuki Takahashi, who is a genius.

To everybody reading this: Thank you. I appreciate you hanging in there and reading my little (or now rather big) fic. Comments will always be welcome.

Chrysalis

Epilog: A Night on the Town

Yugi

The school gym was decorated in silvery streamers and soft white crape. The bleachers were pushed back off the floor and covered with signs proclaiming "Live Your Winter Fantasy" and "Winter Fantasy Land" and other witty sayings. A glittering disco ball revolved in the center of the ceiling, sending sparkles of light along the floor as it turned. Plastic seats lined two sides of the room, with a third side taken up with a long paper wrapped table with sodas and punch sitting on it. The middle of the room was conspicuously empty of all forms of life.

Yugi squirmed in his tux, wondering if his date was going to make him venture out into that hostile, sterile land. Though she had been sweet and kind to him since her return to school, he wasn't entirely sure that the past was safely tucked in the past. She could still decide to work out a few issues by dragging him out to face certain humiliation in the front of the whole school. Why?? Why the dance?? I could have stayed home! I could be playing Mancala, watching Yuai try to out-think Yami. I could...

"Yugi, can I have a drink, please." Delicate fingers tugged questioningly at his sleeve.

"Uhhh, sure, they're right over there." He helpfully pointed toward the refreshment table.

WACK. " Lets try that again. I want a drink, go get it." The voice no longer resembled the soft sweet voice he had become so familiar with.

"Why me?" Yugi whined, looking at the group of large, overly bulky boys that were around the refreshments.

"Because, you are my date, and you are supposed to go and get me a drink." Delicate pink lips frowned at him.

"Who said?" Yugi watched as a smaller student got pummeled and tossed to the top of the bleacher stands for getting too near the punch.

"Go get me a drink Yugi, or we're going to go have a long conversation about our friendship." Soft gentle eyes narrowed dangerously at him.

Yugi eyed the now dazed kid on the top of the bleachers then eyed his date. A feeling of complete dread surfaced, trapped, with no way out. If he went to the table to get the drink, he would end up on the bleachers. If he held his ground, he'd end up in the conversation from hell. If he bolted, he'd be hunted down like a rabid dog that could only hope to be put out of it's misery. Not even Yami would save him, the ancient spirit had disappeared into the depths of the Millennium Puzzle as soon as Yugi had finished dressing, wishing his soul partner well and absenting himself with a small smirk.

Yugi decided that sitting for the rest of the night on the bleachers wasn't so bad, and trudged off to the refreshment table as his date gracefully swayed off to claim a couple of chairs.

Kaiba

Kaiba smiled benignly as he watched the boys toss Yugi up onto the bleachers. All in all, it wasn't a bad toss. The first boy handily broke Yugi's fall. The little one shouldn't be too bruised. Yami would be pleased about that. He should probably give the boys a large bonus, the plan was working beautifully. He'd have to make it up to Yugi later, though. A few free hours in one of the VR stadiums would probably do it. He nodded slightly and fussily adjusted the cuff of his tux, noting that the sleeve was getting a bit too short, he'd probably need to get another.

Jonouchi was standing behind him, glowering suspiciously at where Honda and Serenity were sitting partially concealed in the shadows. "He'd better not be planning anything."

"Jo, it's the winter formal. Of course he's going to try something." Kaiba pulled the blond away toward the refreshment table. "I'm going to try something, which will involve you being too busy to be wondering about your little sister."

Jonouchi still glared in the direction of the happy couple, not really listening. "Highway 6, huh? We'll see about that."

Kaiba gave his employees' a nod of acknowledgement as he reached the table, still hauling his grumbling date behind him. The boys nodded back and quickly left to go find their own dates. Kaiba glanced up at the now stranded Yugi, noting the smaller teen was groggily sitting up. He really hadn't liked that part of the plan, but Yami insisted. Honda had convinced Yugi it was a good idea to get a few bottles of vodka for the dance and Yami didn't need his little light to be dead drunk, not tonight.

Kaiba looked around as he scooped up a couple of glasses of sparkling cider and passed one to Jonouchi. A slight, white haired figure ghosted by, pausing to speak in gentle, soft tones to one of the nearby chaperones. The man smiled and gave a little laugh, then pointed toward the other side of the gym. The delicate one smiled back and turning caught Kaiba's eye, instantly the angelic smile changed to one of demonic delight, that was quickly hidden again. Kaiba smiled nastily back, everything was set.

Yami

It could be worse. I could have to dance. Yugi sat on the edge of the bleachers trying to spot his date.

Isn't that the purpose of coming to a dance, to dance? Yami leaned back against the wall and stretched out his legs.

No, I'm pretty sure that's not it. Yugi pointed to the barren dance floor. See no dancing.

Pity that. You've got a pretty date. I'd dance and show her off. Yami's eyes tracked to where Yugi's date stood talking to Honda and Serenity. The small girl was dressed in a soft, silvery white dress with small silver snowflakes embroidered on the outer transparent layer of tulle. Her blond hair tucked back into a soft knot with silver snowflake pins and small glitters of crystal sparkled at her ears, throat and wrist. In the dimness and dancing light, she looked like a small spirit of light and snow.

Yuai isn't a prize fish, you aren't supposed to show her off. Yugi waved trying to catch Yuai's attention, but she seemed busy laughing at something Serenity was saying.

She spent a lot of money on that dress aibou. The least you could do is make sure she is seen. Yami looked over to see Kaiba breeze past Yuai, tugging a reluctant Jonouchi behind him, as he headed toward Ryou.

Yugi's eyes were only on Yuai. A tall upper classman had come up to her and was leaning attentively over. She shook her head and he laughed gesturing to the drink table. She shook her head again and motioned to Honda, who was leaning back in his chair smiling. In a minute the upperclassman wandered off, leaving Yuai to pull a chair up at Honda's table.

Yugi sagged back to sit next to Yami. Well, I'm not going to be doing that tonight.

Yami glanced over to his light, feeling a twinge of guilt. I guess you'll just have to spend the night with me.

Yugi smiled brightly back and wiggled himself into a comfortable position. That sounds pretty good. He closed his eyes and in a second he was standing in the corridor between their soul rooms smiling at his darkness. Sounds really good actually.

Yuai

Yuai looked up at the tall bleachers and wondered how she was ever going to get her date down. The teachers and chaperones seemed to be singularly blind to the fact that there were two students stranded on the top of the bleachers. Yugi had sat down on the top of the bleachers, looking like he was taking a nap as the other boy prowled around trying to find a way down as his date trailed along below him shouting insults at the poor schmuck.

Yuai looked around for help. Honda was sitting in the back with Serenity busy discussing something that made them both blush and giggle. Kaiba and Jonouchi were nearby, but she'd already caught Kaiba surveying Yugi's situation with a pleased look on his face. No help in that quarter. She walked over to a teacher.

"Excuse me. My date's stuck." Yuai pointed up to Yugi.

The teacher absently looked up then frowned down at her. "There are a lot of people at this dance. We told everyone to stay off the bleachers. If your date got stuck because he was fooling around where he was told not to be, he'll just have to wait till we have time to get him down."

"But he wasn't fooling around, a group of boys tossed him up there." Yuai persisted.

The teacher's frown deepened. "We will get him down later."

"But..."

"Later," the teacher turned and walked away from her.

Yuai walked back to where Yugi slept and looked up at the tall stretch of bleachers. See if I ever listen to Kaiba again. "Your date's supposed to get you a drink." Yeah. Right. Now I don't have a date. I've been ditched at the dance and my date's still here!

Yuai looked around at the lurking packs of guys, the girls floating around in their formal gowns and the chaperones fluttering around looking for inappropriate behavior', then back up at her snoozing date. I guess I really wasn't missing all that much.

She turned and started winding her way back toward the seats that lined one side of the gym to wait for her date to wake up and hopefully be allowed down. She found a chair a little ways away from a pack of girls who's dates were all clustered together on the other side of the gym, trying to escape, Yuai supposed, the earth shattering impact of the latest gossip about an all boy band from Tokyo that had come to town last night.

Yuai smoothed down her skirt and looked up to where Yugi was. The other boy had finally given up and was sitting on the edge of the bleachers alone. His date having gone off in a huff and was now snuggled up to another boy in the back of the gym.

"Hey, you're Yuai, from class." A tall boy with soft brown hair and doe soft brown eyes smiled down at her.

"Uhm, yes." Yuai tipped her head back to look up at him.

"I'm Haski. I'm in Mr. Yoshida's class..." he prompted.

Yuai remembered. The boy who Yugi nearly gelded with his backpack. "Oh. Hi. Sorry about that." she waved toward where Yugi was sleeping on top of the bleachers. "I'm a little distracted. My date's stuck and no one seems willing to get him down."

"Hey, at least he showed." He laughed uncertainly, rubbing the back of his head. He took a deep breath, gathering courage, and gestured to where a few couples were venturing onto the dance floor. "Would you dance with me?"

Jonouchi

The dance had been great. A little slow at first, but it had picked up, especially after Honda spiked the punch with vodka. By the end of the dance, the dancers were barely on their feet and things had become a bit wild. The teachers and chaperones had frantically dumped at least six bowls of punch trying to curtail the merriment, but Honda or one of his helpers' had made sure that the party kept on rolling. Finally, the teachers had called a end to the dance and tossed the lot of them out of the gym, they even got a ladder and pulled Yugi and his bleacher buddy down.

Poor Yug, finally gets to go to the dance with his girl and gets stuck. Jonouchi snuggled closer to Kaiba on the limo seat. Poor Yuai, finally gets to go to a dance and spends the entire night sitting alone, at least until Haski showed up. It seems Yugi's got some competition.

Kaiba seemed to be ignoring everything, looking out the window and frowning in thought. Jonouchi wondered what was up. The brunette had been acting preoccupied all night. At first, he hadn't noticed, he'd been half annoyed at Honda and half worried about what would happen if Duke showed up. He really hadn't wanted to see Kaiba and Duke in the same area as each other, even an area as big as the gym. But the guy never showed. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't seen Duke since his return from California.

Jonouchi looked at Kaiba's distracted profile. I wonder what's up?

Yami

Yami sat across the street from the jail, smiling to himself as he waited. He really had to make tonight up to his light. He had deliberately set out to destroy Yugi's big night, and he'd done a spectacular job. Poor, aibou. You'd approve if you knew, well, maybe not, but it has to be tonight, tomorrow those two will be gone, out of my reach.

He leaned back against the bus stop bench and waited till a slim, white haired figure darted out the door, nodded to him, then disappeared into a nearby alley. A few minutes later three people grumbled down the steps to stand in front of the jail and light cigarettes. Yami bowed his head down pretending to be asleep.

"The dude said that the guys got a poker game goin' at Jaku's place ta welcome us back." Ekko took a long drag and looked around the street, no one near but some kid snoozing on a bench.

A large, overweight man, who Yami guessed was Yuai's father snorted, "Tha' skinny skank? Well, better then goin' home, maybe win a few bucks before we head outta town."

The small skinny, woman nodded, "But we ain't got not'in to bet with the girl gone."

"Don't remind me of tha' bitch." Yuai's father growled, "I gotta settle a score wi' her. Stupid whore, we give her everytin' and what we get? Tossed in jail. Before we leave, I got some business wi' her."

"Money firs', we gotta have some cash to get outta town." the woman snatched the large man's cigarette and took a puff. "Then we can pay the little slut back."

Ekko shrugged and headed over to the bus stop, "Otoroe has a piece ya can use."

The man yanked up his drooping pants and lumbered along in Ekko's wake with the woman skittering along behind him. He walked over to the bench where Yami was still pretending to be sleeping. As they sat down Yami pretended to look groggily up at them, then slid over to give them room. "Good, I'll get it at the game. Still gotta get some money ta play poker though."

Yami looked up at them, "Poker? You know where there's a poker game?"

"Wha's it to you?" Yuai's father growled.

"Poker's my game, I'd be willing to spot you some money if I could join in tonight." Yami grinned evilly at the trio and pulled out some money, "Say a hundred each?"

"Jus' how much money ya got there?" Yuai's mother leaned over snatching the money out of Yami's hands, noting a dagger strapped to the kids arm.

"Enough to make it interesting." Yami shifted slightly and crossed his legs, another dagger glittered in his boot and a suspicious bulge showed against at his side under his shirt.

The men contemplated the kid and nodded. "You and your money are welcome to our little party."

"Good. I'm sure we'll have a good time." Yami stood up as the bus slalomed to halt in front of them.

The room was stereotypically dim with cigarette smoke slipping around the cheap furniture and fogging up the yellow stained ceiling. Multicolored Christmas lights blinked in a strange counter point against the peeling wall paper and a jolly Santa stood on a nearby table, that would push down his pants and pee if you pressed down on his head. Nine players grouped around a battered linoleum table, perched on broken chairs, old trash cans and a couple of boxes retrieved from a nearby trash pile.

Yami lightly scooped up his winnings, so far he'd been playing with them. Letting them win most of the hands, but now it was nearing time to put them down. He gave a light laugh. "How about we raise the stakes a bit? Make things a bit more interesting?"

Ekko, who was sitting next to him smiled groggily. The fool had been disappearing into the back where lines of coke were carefully drawn on a coffee table. He'd come back a few moments ago and had sat next to Yami, as if they were old friends. "Whatcha wanna bet?"

"How about everything? All on one hand?" Yami flashed a feral grin.

Ekko nodded stupidly, "Okay, m'friend. I'm in."

A few of the other men grinned, the kid was cocky, but not all that good. They'd already won a shitload of money off the brat. "Ya ain't go the money kid. We got mosta yours"

Yami laughed, "Then, I'll bet myself. But you gotta anti up the same."

The men grinned, the kid had to be mad, but he was good looking and spending the night pounding into that lithe body would be worth a go. One at a time they all agreed.

Yuai's mother snickered, "Whatcha want with a bunch a used up old farts is beyond me kid, but I'm in."

Yuai's father had a twisted, sick look on his face. He leered at Yami. "Get ready to pay up kid."

The hand was dealt. Cards shuffled back and forth across the table. Yami plastered a bewildered, despairing look on his face and started twitching nervously. The men grinned, the stakes doubled, then tripled. Eyes looked speculatively at Yami's body as the stakes were finally called. Cards set down one at a time.

"Pair kings."

"Three nines."

"Straight."

"Pair eights.

"Three fives."

"Two aces."

"Four threes."

"Full House."

Yami smiled chillingly, "Royal Flush."

The men snarled, "No way."

"Ya cheated."

"Bastard. Gonna take our winnings anyway." Yuai's father lunged forward, but Yami dodged easily.

The men gathered into a snarling pack, "Com'er ya little shit. You can't cheat us like that. We gonna take you and all the money."

"Yeah, looks like we got us some entertainment." Ekko laughed edging closer to Yami.

Yami watched them prowl closer, "Penalty game gentlemen. You bet yourselves on the last match. And I always collect my debts."

The sennen eye blinked to life on his forehead as he reached out his hand and yelled out, "Turn the Tables!"

Power snarled and whipped through the room. The brightly dancing Christmas lights blew out, the makeshift chairs slammed into the walls as streams of power laced through the cheap furniture. There was a bright flash, screams of agony, then silence.

Yami calmly surveyed his work with a artisans delight in a well crafted piece, then walked over to the apartment door and opened it to reveal a slightly bored Bakura.

"Took you long enough Pharaoh." Bakura grumped as he stepped through the door and dropped a duffle bag to the floor with a loud metallic crash.

"Details, it takes time to get the details right." Yami shrugged, gesturing to the stunned, disoriented group behind him.

Bakura nodded and inspected the pharaoh's handiwork. "Should get a lot for these. Matching sets bring a good price."

Yami shrugged, "Just make sure it's unpleasant."

Bakura leaned forward looking into the face of a young girl that looked amazingly like Yuai. "Saw the file pharaoh, believe me, these little baby's are going to pay for that."

Eight small girls with blond hair and hazel eyes looked fearfully at the two spirits. Small mouths opened to scream, to beg, to plead but no sound emerged.

Yami's smile could have frozen the Nile, "For Yuai. You never heard her voice, so you are now voiceless. You never showed mercy, so none shall be shown to you. You used her body and soul for your own sick pleasure, so now, you shall be used."

The white haired spirit's smile was like a snarl, "Got some people in Bangkok who'll put the lot of you to good use." He leaned close to the one who used to be Ekko, "See how you like being someone's whore."

Yami opened the duffle and pulled out the chains, "Everything all set?"

"Van's waiting, ship should leave the dock just a couple of minute after we arrive." Bakura untangled a set of manacles then pounced on the nearest Yuai look alike. "Should be in Thailand trading these cuties and back by the end of the week."

Yami grabbed one by the collar and tossed her to Bakura as he finished with the first, "Good. Ill cover for Ryou till you get back."

The other yami smiled as he trussed the next little Yuai up, "That scum Ekko had a nice apartment. I hear it's going to be vacant soon."

"Amazing thing that." Yami leaned back against the door as one at a time the girls where rounded up.

"Yeah, can you imagine?" Bakura looked around at the eight chained girls, "Now, which one's are Yuai's parents?"

Yami walked over and patted two on their heads, "These." Then he pointed at another, "That's Ekko."

Bakura nodded, "Okay, got special plans for them." He leaned closer to Ekko, who cowered back. "Thanks for the apartment. My tenshi needs a nicer place to live. Bad neighbors, don't you know."

The spirit laughed insanely and yanked on the chains, "Come on kiddies, your glorious future as fuck toys for perverts is just beginning."

Yami watched them as they were lead, or more accurately dragged, out to the waiting van, then turned muttered a few words under his breath, erasing all trace of himself and Bakura from the apartment. The door closed softly behind him.

There aibou. Yuai's safe now. He walked out of the cheap apartment building and walked across the street. Sorry about the dance, but there's still the spring formal.

Someplace

An elegant hand reached out and lifted the glass of port to his lips as the large muscular man finished his report. He considered the news a moment then set the glass back down untouched. He quietly nodded a dismissal to the man and leaned back in the lush leather upholstery of his arm chair. A soft charming fire crackled pleasantly in the small fireplace before him spreading dancing light through the gracefully decorated room. He sat musing for a moment then smiled.

"That worked out quite well. It would have been delightful if little Mokuba had met a unfortunate end, but still..." The man smiled and lifted the glass again, taking a sip and swirling it around on his tongue. "The game is just beginning. I'd hate to lose such a valuable piece so soon."

Authoress now does Dance of Joy!!!! It's done!

I know that some of you wanted more Yami/Yugi time. It'll be coming in the second part of the series, which is planned out to be mostly Yami/Yugi and Yuai, so trot over and take a look at Emergence.

AmunRa: Thanks for the amazing review! When I created Yuai, I spent a lot of time working it out. I hate OCs, yet I realized that I needed one in the story line, so I sort of held my breath and leapt. I'm glad people like her. I hope you continue to like her as she starts taking a more prominent role in Emergence. Thanks again for the wonderful review!

just me: I am still kicking around the whole Yami/Kaiba thing. I might do a one shot, but honestly I'm backlogged. I have a one shot I'm playing around with as a companion piece to Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit; I have the rest of Emergence; and I finally worked out a storyline about how Kaiba and Jonouchi fell in love, that is sort of a stand alone prequel to the Chrysalis story line. But I do love that pairing, so it's in the queue.