I don't own YGO, I don't claim to own YGO, and I make no money on this. Suing me would be an absolute waste of your time.

"Mimai" is Japanese for visiting someone who has been ill.

Yeah... I actually don't like this one quite as much as some of my others, but... the idea wouldn't get out of my head, ever since I read that visited Seto while he was in a coma... Just had to write it, you know. Anyway. Enjoy this while I go try to figure out how the heck to format ShiMiNi... ( :P if you don't know what that is...)

Mimai

The hospital room was cold and white and impersonal. Behind the forced scent of a "Spring Clean" Plug-in, the room had a slightly washed-out chemical smell, bitter and nauseating.

Except for the patient himself, sitting in a wheelchair by the bed, there was nothing to indicate that the room was occupied. There were no flowers, no balloons, no gifts. The only unusual object was the deck of "Magic and Wizards" cards resting on the side table.

But this hardly seemed significant—it hardly seemed enough to indicate that the patient had been in a vegetative state for almost six months. For half a year, the blue-eyed patient had sat with his eyes wide open and his head cocked loosely to the side, responding to nothing the doctors did.

There were whispers, now, among the doctors and nurses, that it couldn't go on much longer like this.

The boy who visited the patient's room at three o' clock that afternoon didn't know that. How could he? It was the first time the boy, who had violet eyes and distinctively spiky, colorful hair, had ever come for a visit.

Timidly, the boy pulled a wooden chair over so that he could sit right next to the patient. "Hi, Kaiba-kun," the boy whispered. "It's Yuugi. How are you doing?"

Naturally, Kaiba did not respond.

Yuugi continued, "I've read that it's helpful to talk to people in comas, so… I decided to come visit you, Kaiba-kun." Leaning back in the hard chair, Yuugi paused to choose a topic. "Well, let's see… There's a Magic and Wizards tournament going on right now. They're competing for the title of best in Japan. The finals are tomorrow, and they're going to be Insector Haga versus Dinosaur Ryuzaki. I have a feeling Haga's going to win, because he combines insect cards with intricate strategy, but Ryuzaki only really uses power and dinosaur cards. I haven't seen him use magic or trap cards the whole tournament.

"I guess you had planned to participate in it, right? You probably would have won. As for me, I decided not to compete. I could have, but… I kind of want to duel you again, once you get better.

"I guess you don't know—it's been almost six months since Death-T, and… you've been like this the whole time. The other me says that you're putting together a sort of puzzle in your mind. The puzzle of your heart. He tells me that you have to solve it with your own strength this time, which is too bad, because puzzles are more fun when you do them with friends… But he says, too, that you're not really doing this puzzle for fun, that it's something you have to do to heal your heart. I hope… I hope it helps, and I hope you finish soon. We're all waiting for you to come back to school… well, Jonouchi's still a bit upset at you, but I think even he would prefer if you were back to normal."

Yuugi trailed off for a moment and gazed sadly at Kaiba. "I hope you haven't lost any of the pieces of your heart, Kaiba-kun," he said. "I hope everything's there, waiting for you to pick it up and put it exactly where it fits." Yuugi's fingers traced the golden pendant he was wearing. "It's really scary when you can't find the piece of a puzzle you want to finish," he commented softly. "At least, it was really scary for me…"

Behind him, the door to the room opened and the patient's only constant visitor entered.

"Nii-sama…?" this visitor inquired timidly.

He had wild black hair that fell past his shoulders. He came every day after his middle school let out, and often stayed well into the night, caring for his older brother.

Right now, though, he looked furious, and the cause was his brother's other visitor.

"What are you doing here, jerk!" the black-haired boy demanded furiously.

Unperturbed by the boy's rude language, Yuugi smiled lightly and said, "Hi, Mokuba-kun. Did you come to visit your brother?"

"Of course I did!" Mokuba snapped. "But what did you come for?"

Yuugi looked back towards Kaiba. "I'm worried about Kaiba-kun too," he explained, "so I decided to see how he was doing."

"Yeah right. Like you care." Bitter hatred radiated from Mokuba. "It's your fault Nii-sama's like this in the first place! It's all your fault—everything that's happening now is all your fault! I bet you just came to gloat over how well your 'penalty game' is succeeding, didn't you?"

Few people would notice the sudden change in Yuugi's bearing, the way he narrowed his eyes and pulled himself to a slightly taller height. More obvious was the change in the way he spoke; now his voice was harder, and he used more casual, rough language. "This isn't 'success' for my penalty game, Mokuba," he informed the boy. "Right now, your brother is still playing the game. Success will be when Kaiba wakes up again with a completed heart."

"And when will that be?" Mokuba asked sarcastically. "I don't think so. I'm not going to trust you anymore. Nii-sama's just going to stay like this forever, isn't he? I think that was your plan all along."

"You're wrong," Yuugi answered calmly, with only a hint of annoyance.

"Then prove it! Wake Nii-sama up!" demanded Mokuba. "Make him wake up!"

"He lost to me. He must finish his penalty game."

"But he's not going to have time!" His voice wobbled slightly.

Finally Yuugi hesitated. "What do you mean, he won't have time?"

"The doctors—they've started asking me… how long I intend to keep Nii-sama on life support." The trembling in the boy's voice was more pronounced now. "They've started asking me if I still want to keep him alive, and I don't… I don't know what to say anymore!" A hint of tears glimmered in his eyes.

"You plan to give up? What happened to waiting for him 'forever'?" Yuugi questioned, ignoring Mokuba's tears, if he saw them. "That was the promise that you made to him. Are you going to go back on that promise after only six months?"

"Shut up!" Mokuba twitched as if he wanted to fly at Yuugi. "Shut up! Nothing's that easy! Do you think you know everything? There's no way I'm trusting you!"

"Mokuba." Yuugi's voice was firm. "If you give up so soon, the one you're really not placing your trust in is your brother."

Now the boy did move towards Yuugi, fist raised. Yuugi blocked the punch casually and commented, "Are you angry because you know it's true?"

"Shut up!" Mokuba shouted again. "You don't know anything! Mind your own business!" His hands reached for Yuugi's neck.

Without any effort, the older boy took a hold of Mokuba's wrists and kept his hands immobile. "You have to continue waiting for your brother, like you promised."

Mokuba struggled futilely for a minute before slumping over. "But what do I tell the doctors?"

"Tell them the truth. Tell them that your brother will wake up. I'm sure you don't want to take him off life support, do you?"

"N… no, but… if he's not going to get better…"

"He will." Yuugi released Mokuba's wrists and turned away. "I'll go now. I have some advice for tonight, though—talk to your brother. Tell him how you feel. Tell him you're scared. Tell him you miss him." He went to the door and looked over his shoulder to add one last comment. "I have a feeling it'll help."