Seto's POV

I heard steps approaching from behind me and sidestepped into a nearby alleyway. I stood pressed against the wall, controlling my breathing as just a few feet away from where I had just been standing, a dozen beasts sprinted together. The group consisted of a mixture of wolves and larger dogs. A few of them had eyes that glowed. I tried to stay as quiet as possible while waiting for them to pass. Their growls and howls should be loud enough to hide any noise I might make. But at night, with all the dark monsters running about, I couldn't take any chances. There were benefits to traveling at night - the shadows being the primary reason - but the monsters at night moved with numbers. Getting caught at night was worse than during the day.

When the monsters were gone, I proceeded back on the street, checking each direction before stepping out of the shadow. It stood abandoned. During usual outings, I often spotted other people, but only in the hours around sunrise and sunset. I held up my watch, trying to catch a fragment of light to see the time. Most of the street lamps were broken, either shattered or shot. The moon provided just enough light to make out the hands. It was nearing midnight.

The monsters that roamed in the moonlight frightened most everyone. Only a daring few chose to venture out after the sun had gone down. Demons and the dark moved at night. Getting killed by any of them would not be the worst thing to happen.

It had been twenty minutes since I left the house. The main trading area in the city was on the far end of town. If Mokuba and I hadn't moved from the mansion, I would have to walk hours to reach it. Extra time couldn't be afforded. We didn't stay in the mansion for long after the portal was opened. Its size attracted too many unwanted visitors.

I approached my destination and knocked on the door before entering. Knocking wasn't necessary, but I knew what waited on the other side. I wanted to make certain it knew I was coming in. I closed the door behind me and was met with darkness. I squinted into the blackness for any signs of light.

When I turned to the side, the glowing eyes of a beast greeted me. I remained still as it examined me, allowing it to circle me. It had met me before. Even though its eyes glowed, I didn't know if it could see me in the dark.

His eyes remained locked on me until I heard, "Zoa, he's safe."

A light flickered on, flashing a few times before settling on a continuous glow. The beast moved away so I could walk into the back room where Bandit Keith sat. He was in the same position as usual, sitting in front of a computer entering data into a spreadsheet. Zoa, the monster who had chosen him, moved to lie at his side.

"What can I do you for tonight?" Keith said. He didn't look at me when he asked, but his arrogant smirk appeared. If there had been anywhere else in the city to get supplies, I would have gone there. Keith was the only person brave enough to conduct trade with other cities, so all dealing in Domino had to be done through him.

"The same as last week," I stated. I held out my hand for Zoa to see before reaching into my pocket. The monster's gaze followed my every move.

I pulled out a fold of money and handed it to Keith. He took the time to count it out before standing and walking to the back of the room. Picking up a box, he began to fill it with an assortment of food, water bottles, and batteries. Once he had put everything that I requested in the box, he brought it over to me. Since he had counted the money I handed over, I checked the box to make sure he hadn't left out anything.

I nodded and backed away. In comparison to most of the monsters, Zoa seemed safer. I had yet to see Zoa attack anyone, but I knew he would if he felt I was a threat.

"Thanks for the business, Kaiba. Come again soon," Keith said, taking his seat at the computer again.

Before I left, I peered out from behind the thick curtain covering the window to make sure that nothing lurked on the streets. I gave it a full minute before deciding to leave. I didn't like standing with Zoa behind me. I hadn't gotten used to conducting business with Keith since he had been chosen. It was convenient for everyone in Domino that Zoa still let Keith conduct his business. Too many people had disappeared after being chosen.

I knew a few things about the process of being chosen. It varied from beast to beast, but for most, the monsters took a claim to a human and isolated them from everything else. The monsters were possessive and jealous, as had been demonstrated in the case with Yugi and Yami.

For Mokuba's sake, I kept up with the remaining members of Yugi's clique. Aside from the rare times Yami could get to a computer, no one had heard anything from him since the Magician killed Yugi. Yami didn't mention it much. He never said how it was possible for Yugi to be killed while Yami remained alive. All any of us had discovered was that the Magician had chosen Yami, and Yugi got in the way.

I had to hide again when a noise came from up the street. The nearest place to hide was a brick doorway that dipped into a building about two feet. I breathed in and out in a rhythm to stay composed. After my first night sneaking around and the first encounter with a near-discovery, I made sure to keep my breaths quiet. Loud breathing had almost gotten me caught before. I leaned my head against the wall and waited. Being found wasn't an option.

The noise persisted for several minutes. I stared at my watch, holding it close to my chest, and counted the seconds. I had gotten Mokuba a clock last week so that he could keep up with how long I was out each night. The round trip took me just under an hour and I was getting close to that marker. He would be watching the clock if he was allowed. He had enough things to worry about without counting each minute, hoping I made it home.

Three minutes passed before the street silenced. I didn't see anything during that time, but checked for any movement. They would have a harder time finding me at night, but it also meant that I would have more trouble seeing them. One street lamp still worked on the street. It used to have three bulbs, but just one shone. If all the emails the government sent me were correct, then they wanted to help repair the city. After a year of looking for help and finding none, I didn't expect anything from them.

I made it back to the house after two more quick moves to hide. I laid the box on the ground so I could pull out my key and unlock the front door. Once inside, I sat the box on a side table and locked the door behind me. Then I grabbed a warm water bottle from the contents.

Although it was after midnight, I knew Mokuba would be awake. His sleeping schedule had reversed with Kuriboh's erratic sleeping habits. Kuriboh stayed up through most nights which meant Mokuba had to do the same. They stayed in the one bedroom the house had. Mokuba spent almost every moment in the bedroom. He wasn't allowed to leave the room often.

The bedroom door was cracked open. I tapped a finger against the frame before pushing it open farther. Mokuba and Kuriboh sat on the bed, Mokuba running his hand through Kuriboh's fur.

"Look Kuriboh. Seto's here," Mokuba said, telling the beast so it wouldn't be startled by my sudden presence.

Kuriboh had been facing the window, and he spun around, glaring at me for interrupting his time with Mokuba. I waited in the doorway to determine what type of mood Kuriboh was in. On the hostile days, he would start growling the moment I came into view. A low rumble came from the back of his throat.

"I was just bringing Mokuba some water. I have food in the other room. Can he come eat?" I asked.

Kuriboh kept growling.

Mokuba closed his eyes and pressed his lips together before leaning down to Kuriboh. He continued stroking the fur while saying, "It's all right. Seto isn't going to take me anywhere. I need to eat and you do too. It's been two days since you've gone out and a day since I've eaten anything. Do you want us to get sick?"

After months of living with Kuriboh, Mokuba had yet to figure out how to reason with him. Mokuba worked to keep the monster happy, but since Kuriboh couldn't communicate, we didn't know what we were doing. All we had discovered was that Kuriboh didn't want me close to Mokuba. He tolerated me from a distance.

Kuriboh didn't move. Mokuba sighed in frustration.

"I have to eat. Can Seto at least bring me something?" he asked.

Kuriboh stopped staring at me to look at Mokuba. Mokuba returned the expression in hopelessness. Even if Kuriboh had been content before I walked in, anything Mokuba could do was never enough when I was around.

If Mokuba had been chosen by any larger creature, I would have no chance of being allowed to live in the same house. While I wasn't allowed near Mokuba, this way, I could check up on him and take care of him. Kuriboh wanted me dead since the first night when he cornered us in the alley. Mokuba had kept me alive then. I had to keep him alive now.

Kuriboh pointed one of his hands at me, then moved it to point in the direction of the front room.

"I think it's okay for you to get me something," Mokuba said.

I faced Kuriboh as I backed out of the room. The last time I turned my back to him, I ended up with a long series of scratches on my neck.

I walked back to the box that I bought from Keith. For the most part, all the food came in cans that would require cooking. But I always made sure to get granola bars that I could leave with Mokuba. This wasn't the first time that Kuriboh had kept him from leaving that room.

When I went back in, Mokuba was leaning against the far wall with Kuriboh standing in front of him. The beast moved over to me and examined the items in my hands. Once he decided that they were acceptable, I placed them on the table by the door and left the room.

I slept in the living room on the sofa. I sat on the sofa and reached down to untie my shoes. When we moved houses, I didn't bring much with me. Everything I owned fit on the bookshelf beside the sofa's arm. I tossed the shoes on the bottom shelf.

Checking my watch, I tried to plan out the rest of my night. I could risk going to sleep, but there was no guarantee that I would wake up before the sun came out. If I went ahead and locked up the house, Kuriboh might want to leave and then would get angry. Since he didn't have any fingers, he couldn't work the deadbolt.

I hadn't eaten since around three. I didn't want to use any of the quick foods because Mokuba would need them in the following days. So instead, I grabbed one of the cans of soup. While I heated it over the stove top, I could check my email.

The television was no longer the way to get news. Domino and the surrounding cities had all but shut down. No one went to work anymore, so the news stations had closed. The only channels remaining displayed the emergency alert notices provided by the government. But the internet still worked. My laptop was the only technology I had brought along in the move.

I opened one of the soup cans and poured it into a pot. After turning on the eye of the stove, I went back into the living room and grabbed my laptop. Sitting on the couch, I flipped up the lid and logged in. I checked email first and found that I had a notice from the United States government. They had been pressuring me for the information about KaibaCorp's old military equipment. I had given them all I could, but they didn't believe that I had given them all the old data.

"Seto?"

I turned to face the door where I heard Mokuba's voice.

"Yes?"

"Can you move to the corner?"

"Of course."

I put down the laptop and moved to the opposite end of the room so Mokuba could walk to the bathroom. Kuriboh followed him and stayed by the bathroom door, glaring at me the entire time. Like I had done all night, I waited for the monster to leave. A minute or so later, Mokuba came out and gave me a sad look before being ushered back into his room. I waited until I heard the door close before I moved back to the computer.

Typing my response to the email, I considered the government's plan. They were planning on taking out most of the monsters, but I wasn't sure how they planned on doing that without injuring innocent people. I wasn't sure if that was their top priority. They hadn't decided on any specifics, but they didn't want the KaibaCorp files for storage.

I spent the next few hours surfing through reports and sightings of the monsters in my area, stopping only to have dinner. I was hoping that a certain few of the monsters would leave to move elsewhere, but from what I could see, they all seemed to stay put.

When I saw the sun rising through my window, I jumped up to close them. We had two that faced the streets, and I checked the locks on both, pulling the curtains together. Just as I finished closing the second one, I heard a loud sound that echoed through my mind. It was the cry of a Blue-Eyes.