AN/Disclaimer: I no own Yu-gi-oh! Oh yah, and just saying, when I was trying to fix something in here my computer went crazy and made me delete everything that was formatted. I've gone through, and I don't think I lost anything, but just thought you might want to know. :D :End AN/Disclaimer.

Three days. That's how long Yuugi lasted semi-sanely without Yami – but that was more out of shock than anything. And that's when he fell apart. That's when things began to deteriorate. Nobody noticed at first. How could they? It was minute changes that without talking to him seriously or hearing his inner most thoughts nobody could guess at or see. Nobody knew. So he broke apart. He broke apart more than anybody could see. He left his friends behind – how could he not? If everything hardly related to Yami tore at Yuugi's heart, then what about the things that truly were? His friends were just another painful reminder.

The first person who found out about his unstable state was somebody who used to hate Yuugi. Seto Kaiba. The only reason why? After six months of eating himself alive Yuugi flipped. He couldn't be there anymore. One small note to his grandpa and that was it. It read, "I'll be back when I'm back." And then he left. Two months after that found him walking into a restaurant and finding Kaiba there. It was odd, different, and weird. It was the longest place Yuugi ever stayed. And it hurt. They talked about everything – including Yami. The only reason Yuugi left was because of a drunken mistake and waking up the next day in bed with the older Kaiba. Seto told him that he was fine with it. That it was okay. But Yuugi was too afraid and hurt to do anything but run.

Yuugi kept running and hiding. Running and hiding. To the point he had nowhere to go. And he ended up in a small town. A town where he didn't think his past could catch up with him. He was ahead. And he wasn't about to let others catch up to him. Technically, he didn't even live in a city or town – he lived outside those borders in a place called Unincorporated Grant County. And he wasn't planning on leaving this time. He would stay here where no one could or would find him. He might've been lost, but he wasn't an idiot. He wasn't going to hide anymore. He just wasn't going to be found either. That was his logic. If nobody found him, then technically he was not hiding. He was only hiding once they came looking for him. Once they actually found and broke him.

And so Yuugi remained hidden but not hiding. In plain sight, he broke down even farther around strangers, hoping that nobody he knew would ever come.

-Line-

Yuugi dropped his pencil. "Why do I still draw?" he asked looking at his hand. Instantly, said hand was a puppet that could respond to him.

"Well, I don't know? Why would I know?" The hand said turning its 'face' towards the drawing. "It's a bird – do you even like birds? I know I don't, they peck me!" it cried.

"Well… I don't particularly like them around me, but I think they're beautiful to draw," Yuugi replied to his hand.

"Then you have your answer. It's that simple. You want to be a part of some beauty, so you draw it. You can draw whatever beauty your mind deems fit," Yuugi's hand said.

"Then why don't I draw…"

"Yami? Well, how am I supposed to know, it's your mind," the hand replied. Which is when it dawned on Yuugi exactly what he was doing.

"I'm talking to myself," Yuugi mumbled picking his pencil back up. He cursed his mind. It had brought Yami up. Why, why had his mind done that? Why did his mind always do that? Yami was gone. There was nothing anybody could do about that. Yuugi knew this, but it didn't make anything any easier. In fact, it made a lot of things a hell of a lot harder. To feel that useless was hell itself, no, past it. He couldn't do anything. He was no good. Yuugi took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. "Don't think like that, you're… worth something…" He let out an aggravated scream. He was sick of this, sick of hurting. But he was still the light. He could never kill himself.

No matter how much he wanted to.

-Line-

Yuugi couldn't believe his eyes, for a couple of reasons. All presented as the people in front of him. Okay, no. They were across the street, and only one of them had seen him, but he couldn't believe it. Jou, Seto, and Bakura all were walking across the street from Yuugi. And somebody else. Somebody Yuugi couldn't believe was there. It was a look alike to himself. A person who didn't exist anymore. Yami was gone! Yuugi was frozen as Bakura stopped and stared at him. Bakura stopped the others, just two words gracing his lips. Two words even Yuugi understood. They were, "Its Yuugi." And finally his feet unstuck. His eyes unlocked with Bakura's and he ran.

He actually heard them running after him.

"Yuugi?" the store owner asked as he came running in. It was a game shop and Yuugi was a regular. It was the closest place Yuugi could think of to run to.

"Four people are looking for me – do no tell them I'm here! Pretend that I don't exist. Pretend you never knew me. And just warning – one of them looks like me, but don't even mention he looks like me," Yuugi cried flinging himself over the counter and into the back room. "I'll be hiding!" Yuugi called.

The door opened and a voice yelled, "Yuugi, I know you're in here! This is exactly the kind of place you'd hide in." Said person cringed.

"What are you doing in my shop! And who is this 'Yuugi' you speak of? Hey – you're not allowed behind my counter!" Incoherent shouting ensued, and a bang as somebody was pushed into the counter, Yuugi presumed. After a brief moment of silence, the store owner said, "This here is my shop. And why might you be intruding and who are you?"

"I am sorry for the rudeness of my –"

A loud gasp interrupted the speaker from Jou. Yuugi yanked back from the doorway. The voice had drawn him forward. He had needed to know if it was really him. And they had caught him using the unintentional trap. He hid next to the doorway, stuck between coming out of his hiding place and having to face his friends or staying hidden and running away but loosing what was there again. There that shouldn't have been there. There was a scuffle and then another yell from the owner, "You are not going back there."

A brief moment of silence, and then, "Yuugi, I know you're back there, come out! Please!" Jou. Yuugi didn't budge.

"No! I'm not coming out!" Yuugi yelled back. Jou wouldn't make him budge.

"Yuugi! Please stop! Come out!" Jou yelled at him.

"I already said no!" Yuugi yelled back.

"But –"

"Jou, stop. This isn't working. Let me talk to him," he said. Yuugi poked his head back out. Just to the point where he could see him. Just Jou and him were in here. Not too bad, he could avoid them most likely. "Yuugi," he said quietly. "Why are you hiding from us? Why are you hiding from me?" He looked out a little bit farther from the back room. "Aibou, come out, for me. Please," he said. Yuugi stiffened, looking out even farther. He let out a small breath and met the crimson red eyes of Yami. He was here, somehow. He was here. Yuugi moved his foot, taking a small step back. He shook his head as Yami took a step towards him. "Yuugi, we've been looking for you for a long time. Please come out – Yuugi!" Yami's plea turned into a yell as Yuugi spun away from him and ran. Ran to the back door.

He flung the door open and ran straight into Bakura's arms. He struggled for a moment. Taller and older he was able to fling Bakura off of him. Yuugi was running before Seto even had a chance to move towards him. 'Why are my demons coming back to haunt me?' Yuugi wondered inside his mind. They couldn't be here… and yet they were. They continued to haunt him in the flesh now, rather than in memory. "Just leave me alone!" Yuugi yelled.

-Line-

Yuugi still wasn't sure how he managed to do it. He had somehow managed to run from them and evade capture. But he knew it wouldn't last long. He knew that they would find his apartment and trap him even farther. He wasn't going to let that happen. Yuugi sighed as he dropped the next clothing item into the bag. He was running again. He was beginning to really hate running. It made him feel like a coward, but he couldn't be found. He had finally stopped hiding, he didn't want to hide again. A soft knock on his door made Yuugi jump. Had they found him? Yuugi stiffened, staring at the door as if his life depended on who was on the other side. "Hey Yuugi, it's me, Alex," the store keeper called into his apartment. Yuugi let out a shaken sigh.

"Coming!" Yuugi called as he walked to the front door and opened it. Instantly he slammed it again, hearing a cry of pain from whichever one of them had stuck there foot in the door. Yuugi pressed against it with all his strength, but he wouldn't be able to hold it forever. "Alex, how could you?" he yelled at the person who had betrayed him, bringing the four people to his house. Somebody pushed against the door, hard, and Yuugi stumbled back, falling over from the force. He was back on his feet in a flash though, and locked eyes with Jou, and yelled, "Get out of my home!" pushing Jou out, just for Bakura to slide in after him. Yuugi paused, then slammed the door and locked every possible lock. He glared at Bakura before walking to a separate room and slamming that door as well.

The door opened. "I'm still here, you know," Bakura said, shutting the inner door behind him. There was a pause as Bakura neared the shaking man. Yuugi let out a small sound before wiping his face. "Yuugi… are you crying?" He kneeled next to him and touched his arm. Yuugi flinched away from his touch.

"Go away, go away, go away!" Yuugi cried, grabbing his head. "Just leave me be. I left for that reason; I wanted to be left alone. Why can't you just let me have my one wish?" Bakura walked over to Yuugi, taking hold of his hand, and placing his other on Yuugi's chin, making him look at him.

Bakura whispered, "Do you really want me to leave? All of us to leave?" Yuugi looked away, and Bakura once again made him meet his eyes. "Yuugi, please answer me, meet my eyes, and tell me the truth. Do you want us to leave? Do you truthfully want to be alone?" Yuugi yanked away, and curled into a ball.

"I don't know what I want… I don't want to be alone, but I don't want my demons to come back and haunt me," Yuugi whispered, crying. Bakura wrapped his arms around Yuugi's frame as he cried harder and harder, shaking more and more. Yuugi pressed into Bakura's embrace, unsure of everything he had thought he was positive about.

Fin…

AN: Hope you enjoyed!