"Hey, Yugi, want to go down to the beach with us?" Tea asked, flaunting her perfect figure in a tube top and short-shorts. In comparison, Yugi was wearing surprisingly heavy clothing, school jacket and all. And Atem thought that women were always cold.

Yugi shook his head and bent over the book he was reading a little more. Atem and Tea were both in beach clothing and standing in the doorway of the bedroom. Joey and Tristan were in the kitchen, raiding the Mutous' refrigerator as they made a picnic basket.

Tea was concerned for Yugi, just like everyone else was. She walked next to him as he read by his desk and gently touched his shoulder. Yugi flinched. "Yugi, what's up with you?" she asked. "You've been no fun for the last couple of weeks. You never want to go out or do anything but stay cooped up in this stinking room of yours."

"I'm not cooped up, and my room doesn't stink," he said shortly, and pulled himself away from Tea's touch.

She held her head and grimaced. "So you're finally going through puberty, aren't you?" she growled. "You know, I actually thought that you would stay nice when this happened, but I guess I was wrong."

Yugi didn't respond, and Atem frowned deeply. His reclusiveness and aversion to touch had increased exponentially since the night that Yugi had first dreamt that nightmare. "Tea, let's go," Atem said quietly. He wanted to speak to Yugi alone when he got back.

Yugi's mood wasn't the only thing that had changed. He seemed to be getting thinner and paler with each passing day and his sleeping patterns had become erratic. One day he would not seem to want to sleep at all, trying to stay up as long as Grandpa would let him. The next day he would jump into bed as soon as was acceptable and sleep until noon the next day. Almost every night, Atem would see Yugi toss and turn in his sleep and hear him mumble things like "please stop" or "I'm sorry". Whatever his dreams were, they were taking a heavy toll on Yugi, and no matter how hard Atem tried to persuade him, he would never admit that something was wrong.

"Yugi didn't want to come?" Tristan asked as they headed to the shore. Atem shook his head. "He never wants to do anything fun anymore, y'know? Plus, it's the middle of summer. Why's he wearing all of that clothing? It's crazy."

"Yeah," Joey said. "I don't know what's with him… it's like he went back ta da Yug' we used ta make fun of. A few years ago, he never talked ta anyone beside da teachers or Tea. We thought he was totally lame 'cause he was so shy… what would make him go back ta that after everything he's been through?"

Again, Atem shook his head. "I don't know… but I'm going to find out."

Yugi began to change the bandages on his forearm. The long, thin cuts running across his arm and over his wrist had bled through again, staining his jacket before he realized it. He had to hurry – the others had been gone for a few hours already, and who knows when Atem would come back.

"Come on…" Yugi mumbled angrily. It was extremely difficult to tie a knot with only one hand.

"Yugi?" Atem's voice said. Yugi heard his footsteps approaching the bedroom and hastened to clean everything up. Atem couldn't see this, he would be angry; he didn't want to anger him again…

But it was too late. Atem walked into the room and saw the cuts, bandages, antiseptic, and stained jacket. Yugi bit his lip. There was going to be a big punishment for this. "Yugi, what have you been doing?" Atem said. He recognized those kinds of cuts immediately and grabbed Yugi by the arm.

Yugi cried out in pain and fear. "Yugi, answer me," Atem commanded. Yugi's breaths were shallow and panicked.

"I-I haven't b-been d-d-doing anything…" he said. Tears began to flow down his cheeks and he sobbed.

"You think that I don't realize what this means? You think that you can lie to me like you have for the past month?" Atem asked angrily. Yugi wept and tried to pull away, but Atem wouldn't let go. "Tell me, admit it. What have you been doing?"

"I-I won't do it again, I promise, I swear… Please don't be angry with me, please," Yugi begged desperately. "Please stop, I'm sorry." At these words, Atem released him immediately. Was this the moment Yugi had been dreaming about for so long? Was it the shame or the guilt of hurting himself that was consuming him?

Atem gently hugged Yugi. Yugi screamed and pushed Atem away, scrambling to the corner of the room. "Yugi…" Atem said softly, utterly in shock at his partner's behavior. Then he thought of something. "Yugi, take off your shirt."

Yugi trembled at this order. He would be so angry, so angry… but Yugi obediently peeled off his long-sleeved shirt, now tainted with crimson blood. Atem gasped as he saw bruises of all colors on Yugi's chest and arms, the gouges, scratches, and burns that covered Yugi's upper body. Atem wondered how much worse it was on his other half.

Atem walked over to Yugi, who was shaking and putting his soiled shirt back on. "You're better than this," Atem whispered. "I don't understand, Yugi, I don't understand at all. Why did you do this to yourself?"

"I… I w-wanted you to be p-proud of me," Yugi said.

Atem's jaw dropped. What kind of twisted, masochistic ideology was Yugi spouting? "Proud of you?" Atem repeated incredulously. "Proud of you? Why would I be proud of you for hurting yourself? If anything, Yugi, I'm disappointed."

"No – why?" Yugi asked. "I never complained, not once did I say anything!"

"You expect me to be happy with you for not expressing pain that you caused yourself? What do you take me for? Get this ridiculous notion out of your head, Yugi! You need to stop this, now."

Yugi sunk to the ground, holding his head. "I know, I know, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to… That's right, it's my fault, I should have been more careful… No excuses, I know, I'm sorry…"

Many parts of this speech didn't make any sense at all to Atem. It was as if Yugi was having a conversation with himself or someone else in the room. "It's alright… but we need for you to stop this now, okay?" Atem said soothingly. "Whatever help you need, we'll get. But you have to promise me-" Atem turned Yugi's head towards him. "Promise me you'll never do this again. Alright?"

"Promise, I promise, it won't happen again," Yugi said quickly. "Please don't be angry at me, please don't be…"

"I'm not angry," Atem said. "I'm concerned, as I have been for a long time. But it stops now. I want you to talk to me. Tell me everything that's been going on: why did you start this? Why didn't you tell me? What kept it going for so long?"

Yugi was quiet for a moment and his eyes fazed out. "I want… to go to bed…" he said at length. Atem was confused. It was only six o'clock. Maybe Yugi's blood loss had made him tired, for it seemed by Yugi's shirt, bandages, and sheets that a lot of the vital fluid had seeped out.

"Alright, let's get you cleaned up first and then you can go to bed." Atem helped Yugi bandage the cuts on his arms, and then placed more across the many injuries on his torso. Finally Atem changed Yugi's sheets and let him put on his pajamas.

Yugi crawled into bed and lifted the covers over his body. "You're going to… watch me sleep?" Yugi asked, peering at Atem.

"Until it's time for me to go to bed," Atem replied. "I want to make sure that you won't do anything that I wouldn't be proud of."

Yugi nodded and closed his eyes. In moments he had fallen asleep and was breathing heavily. Atem watched him for a few hours, contemplating what could have driven Yugi to this madness in the first place. Finally, as the late summer sun set over the city of Domino, Atem changed into his pajamas and dozed off as well.

When Atem woke up early the next morning, Yugi wasn't in the room. Atem berated himself for being so stupid and trusting someone in Yugi's condition to make rational decisions and keep their word. He rushed out of the bedroom and saw Yugi sitting in the kitchen, staring wide-eyed at the floor and rocking back and forth. Both of his eyes were black, his nose was bleeding, and his lip was split.

Atem grabbed a paper towel and started wiping the blood from Yugi's face. "Yugi, you promised," Atem said, choking on his emotion as he realized how sick Yugi was. "You promised me that you'd never do this again."

"It was the price I had to pay," Yugi whispered, "for my disobedience."

"You were punishing yourself? For what? For hurting yourself in the first place?"

"Everything's going to be better…" Yugi said softly. "I'll never be bad again…"

Yugi looked steadfast and determined, and Atem didn't know whether to be happy or to be even more disturbed.