Yami's POV
Yami…..YAMI..!
A small voice was calling my name as I felt someone tugging on my shoulder.
Yami wake up……c'mon, we're gonna be late!
I let out a low grunt as I slowly opened my eyes; right it was a school day. I turned and sat up, yawning and stretching while looking at the clock. We still had half an hour before school started.
I looked at my little brother Yugi standing next to me. He was apparently overexcited about something, his eyes were shining with joy as he was restraining himself form jumping around the bedroom.
"What's up Yug, we still have half an hour left? If anything we're gonna be early." He was staring at me in shock as if I had just declared that Newton's theory about gravity was wrong.
"You….FORGOT!!!!" he half shouted while shooting through at least two octaves. "We're going on THE most important school trip ever!!!" He stated while throwing his hands in the air to stress the word 'the'. I quickly placed my hand over his mouth and grabbed his shoulder to stop the enormous flood of words that were waiting at the tip of his tong while keeping him from dancing around with my other hand.
"First: I didn't forget, it just temporarily slipped my mind. Second: Don't you think the statement 'THE most important' is a little bit exaggerated. And third: I can't go, I have a meeting with my mentor today." He looked at me with his big round, and recently, puzzled eyes. He took my hands of of his mouth and kept on staring at me. "You're…..not coming?" He asked as the lights in his eyes suddenly became a lot dimmer.
Upon seeing this I looked down, guilt washing through me. I really did wanted to go. I never really got the change to spent any time with Yugi as we were both busy with school. But now we had the change and I couldn't go because of…..NO! I mentally kicked myself for I had promised myself not to think about today, or what was gonna happen. Instead I looked up and forced out a smile gently squeezing Yugi's shoulder.
"It's ok, today's the last day of school. After that, we have summer holiday, which means two whole months with nothing but us time!". I was surprised at how happy my voice sounded and relieved as I saw a smile flash across Yugi's face. But still, I could see he was not at all happy with the fact that I wasn't coming today. There was still some doubt visible in his eyes, probably wondering why I would have a test on the last day before summer holiday. I could see this doubt growing as Yugi opened his mouth to probably ask another question. But before he could I jumped out of bed and pushed him towards the door. "Now get out or we will be late." I stated as I opened the door for him. He took the door knob with some hesitation and looked back at me confused. Not wanting him to start asking more questions I motioned him to go while smiling and staring into his big purple eyes. This apparently comforted him enough to smile back and close the door as he walked out.
My facial expression immediately went from faked happiness to genuine despair. It was getting harder and harder to lie to Yugi. Not just because I didn't really wanted to lie, but Yugi was starting to see I was. Not that I should be surprised. He did turn 14 two months ago and he was only two years younger than me. But still, I can't ever allow him to find out.
If that would happen than……….. AAAHHH!! I nearly screamed out loud but I managed to keep it in. I can't think like this. I can't , I can't, I WON'T!!!!.
I then noticed I couldn't breath properly.
Something was pressing down on my chest and crushing my lungs. I crossed my arms over my chest and grabbed my upper arms trying to calm myself. I stumbled over to my little bureau and yanked open the only drawer it had. I frantically started throwing things out of my drawer while searching for my inhaler.
The more I searched, the more I panicked and the harsher my breaths became. Why wasn't it here, it was always here, I always kept one in my drawer! My throat was burning and my lungs felt like they were gonna explode from the lack of air. I turned around and reached for the door, but my legs couldn't carry me and I fell down to my knees. I wanted to scream, call somebody but I couldn't find my voice. I held my arms across my chest still trying to calm down. When my vision started to blur and my breaths were starting to falter someone knocked.
"Yami, are you ready yet. I made breakfast and we need to go soon." I wanted to yell, tell him to come in and help me. The only problem was, I couldn't locate my vocal cords since my lungs were screaming for all of my attention, almost literally. "Yami…..are you in there?" Yugi's voice started to sound worried. I wanted to get up and open the door, I wanted to will him to come inside. Yet every effort I made was in vain as I could see my vision darken and my room vanish in a twist of colours.
Yugi's POV
I was actually a little worried. Yami wasn't answering although I was pretty sure he was still in his room. I carefully opened the door a little and peeked around the corner.
My heart nearly stood still from what I saw. I yanked the door open and caught Yami right before he hit the floor. "Yami, YAMI!" I yelled as I tried to wake him up. It was than I realised he was breathing really harsh and was holding his chest as in pain. I immediately looked at the drawer in his bureau only to notice that he had already turned it upside down. My mind was working at top speed thinking of where else he kept an inhaler………………………………..
Something suddenly hit me, I carefully placed Yami onto the floor and ran into the hallway. I snatched the inhaler out of his jacket and raced back to his room. His chest was rising and falling extremely fast, his arms had falling limp to one side while he was squeezing his eyes shut tight and sweat was dripping from his forehead. I sat down and pulled him up so that his head rested on my lap. I placed the inhaler at his mouth and he luckily responded by enclosing the inhaler with his lips.
I pressed the top and his chest rose up as his lungs filled with air. I removed the inhaler and placed my hand over his mouth and counted to three. I than took my hand away as he exhaled. He was still breathing fast but the painful look on his face became less and the rasping sound was starting to fade. I just sat there and waited as his breaths slowed down and he slowly relaxed in my lap.
After what seemed like forever he opened his eyes and stared at me. A little smile tugging at his lips. "Thanks" he said, his voice still rough from what had just happened. I finally relaxed a little, seeing him awake took away a fraction of my worries. But although he was smiling, he wasn't fooling me. I could still see the sweat on his forehead and hear his hard breaths, he was looking a little greyish and of course totally beat.
Yugi had only see this happen once before, but back than his dad had handled it and had even taken Yami to a doctor. I on the other hand had no idea what to do and doubted my uncle (who they were staying with) knew any more than he himself did. I suddenly felt Yami moving and snapped out of my thoughts. He had sat up and was now trying to get to his feet. I put a hand on his shoulder and gently pushed him back down. "Don't, you shouldn't get up. You should…" "Don't worry, I'm fine." Yami interrupted me "I just need a breakfast, and I'll be good to go". He looked so honest I actually believed him for a minute but than saw his greyish face and jumped up supporting him. "Please just sit down, you look awful bro". He apparently agreed with me as he allowed me to lead him towards a chair in the kitchen and push him on it. "Yug, I'm not even dressed" he complained as I told him not to move an inch. "You'll eat something first, than you can get dressed." I answered him while putting a bowl with steaming rice balls in front of him with some chopsticks.
I sat down on the opposite side of the table and never took my eyes of of him as we ate our breakfast. I fortunately saw he had been right as the colour slowly returned to his face while eating. As soon as he was done (he was always quicker than me), he got up to get dressed. I told him to take it easy since we still had 15 minutes left. He gave me the thumbs-up sign before disappearing into the bathroom with his clothes. As I listened to the running water I washed our bowls and made both of our lunches. I normally wouldn't do that (making his lunch that is) but I wanted him to do as less as possible, while knowing that he would insist on going to school. (I knew my brother well enough to know he would)
When I was finished I heard the bathroom door open. I quickly put the two lunches in our bags while Yami stepped into the kitchen. I turned around and was surprised by how good he looked. Yet you could still see a greyish shadow on his face and hear he was breathing through his mouth and not his nose.
"How are you feeling, why don't you sit down." I said while pointing to a chair. He walked over to me, ignoring my suggestion and saying he was fine. "I see my lunch is already ready." He said with a surprised yet slightly annoyed voice while raising one eyebrow. He looked at me while I quickly looked down. Before he could start his I'm-quite-capable-of-doing-my-own-stuff speech the doorbell rang. "That must be Joey and others." I yelled as I ran to the door and answered it.
As soon as I opened the door I could see Joey, Tea, Tristan and Duke. But before anyone got to say 'Hy' Joey started yelling. "WHAT, why aren't you ready yet??!! We're going on one of THE most important school trips EVER!!!!!" Before he could finish his 'speech' Duke and Tristan restrained him while putting both of their hands over his mouth. "Sorry about Joey Yug, He ate to much sugar this morning." Tristan said with an apologetic tone. A smile made it's way up my face as I saw Joey about to get one of his well known anger attacks. Just as Joey was about to throw both Tristan and Duke of I felt a hand on my shoulder as Yami gave me my bag and school jacket. He also laughed because of the funny scene in front of him while he pushed me outside and closed the door.
I was actually a little shocked to see Yami's face in the sunlight. He looked a lot worse than inside, especially with all of us as a comparison. Apparently this was noticed as Joey suddenly forgot about attacking Duke and Tristan and the last two let go of Joey. All four were looking at him and Tea was the one to speak. "Wow Yami, you look kinda awful. Didn't you sleep well?" She asked while looking at him as if he was going to break just from standing. "It's fine guys, really, I'm just a little tired." I saw their worried expressions a little as they sort-of believed him. I opened my mouth to tell them the truth but closed it again after a look from Yami. He didn't want them to know because he didn't want them to worry. This I could understand since Yami had been sick a lot as a kid and never liked it when people worried about him or felt sorry for him. So I gave him the I'm-watching-you look which created a small smile on his face meaning he understood.
We started walking and had to laugh every now and then about a funny remark Joey made. We were at school in five minutes and split up; Joey, Tea, Tristan and me joined the enormous group of students waiting for the busses in front of the school while Yami and Duke went into the building. They waved at us and we waved back. Yami chuckled a little when he looked at me his cheeks regaining a little colour, taking away all the worry and concern I created for him this morning.
My biggest mistake ever.
