Warning: This is a death fic. Muwahahaha!!! Anyways we killed someone, so if you don't like that kinda thing don't read it. Heavy drama. Contains small spiolers.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh or it's characters, or I'd be rich and wouldn't bother with writing this.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"So can we be friends now?"

Malik studied the smiling, innocent face of the boy who had asked the question. Yuugi had mind crushed Malik's evil side only days before and now stood by his sickbed, offering his hand in friendship. Malik studied the hand, and then turned away. "I don't…I don't know. I've spent so long seeking for your death that I don't know if I could suddenly change. Even if the evil was destroyed, not everything can suddenly be okay. All you've done is broken the wall of hate I built. You've merely lain open my hurting and angry soul. You haven't healed that, and I still have to deal with it myself."

Yuugi looked a little sad. "Is that a no?"

"Well, I doubt you could ever forgive me."

"That's not true! It wasn't truly you doing those things, and I hold none of it against you."

Malik closed his eyes. "The world needs more like you, Yuugi, but I don't feel like we could really be friends."

"Let's just give it some time," suggested Yuugi. "You haven't fully recovered yet."

"Yeah," said Malik and went back to sleep.

~

A school year went by, and they barely even talked to each other at all. Yuugi retained his cheerful and open disposition (except in duels), but Malik remained silent and sullen, a loner.

Everything changed suddenly one afternoon.

Yuugi didn't see Malik standing on the corner near the bus stop as he crossed the street. He only barely saw the car come hurtling around the turn, disregarding the red light. The next thing he knew, someone was shouting, "No! Yuugi!" and a sudden impact sent him hurtling backward onto the sidewalk again. There was a screeching of tires and a thud, and then a sudden, awful moment of silence. Yuugi stood, a little bruised, a little shaken, but otherwise all right. Had someone not pushed him out of the way, he could have been dead. He looked about for the kind soul, and then froze in horror. Malik lay on his front on the asphalt in a growing pool of his own blood. He had taken the blow full on his right side. His arm was twisted at a peculiar angle, and his pale hair was now soaked crimson in some places, indicating a head wound.

Yuugi ran to the injured boy's side and knelt, not touching him for fear of making things worse. "Malik! Malik, open your eyes. Talk to me!" Hot tears tumbled from his eyes and choked up his throat as the ambulance's siren drew near. They subsided slightly as the paramedics loaded Malik's mangled form into the back. Malik's eyes fluttered.

"Yuugi…"

"That you?" asked one of the medics, nodding at Yuugi.

"Yeah," he murmured. "I'm Yuugi."

"Then c'mon, kid."

The ambulance sped off minutes later. Staying by Malik's head, Yuugi couldn't help but notice the crushed limbs and the blood still trickling from beneath the pale hair. Malik stirred again. "Yuugi…"

"Malik! You're awake! Y…you saved my life…"

Malik made an expression that was halfway between a smile and a grimace of pain. "I…I wish that…I had…seen how friendship…could work out…earlier…"

Yuugi tried to smile back as the tears welled up again in his eyes. "Yeah. But we can be friends now, right?"

"For…a few minutes…at least, I think…"

"What??"

"You're gonna…live long, Yuugi… Tell Isis…I'm sorry if…I wasn't a good…little brother… I really do…love her…"

"Malik! Don't talk like that!"

"…Give her…my deck…you get…the Sennen rod, Yuugi… I pay my respects…to the…pharaoh…"

"Stop it! Malik!"

Malik looked up at the roof of the ambulance, gazing past the faces of Yuugi and the medics. "Whoa…" His eyes widened.

"What is it?

"I see…the dark gates…of the…shadow realm…opening… They're welcoming…me…"

"No! You can't!"

Malik smiled softly. "We'll…meet again… I'll get…another chance…when you…least expect it…" He lifted his head slightly, as if straining to float upwards. "Dark…gates…" Suddenly, his head dropped back down.

The medics' activity increased. "We've lost him! … Try again…c'mon!"

Quietly, silent tears streaming down his face, Yuugi reached over and closed Malik's staring eyes with two gentle fingers.

It is done. Please Review. It can only get better, right?

BTW: Kuruma means car, or so I've been told...