Elsie-Vive: I am very surprised how I have all this energy to write this fanfic. But I guess 'cause Yami x Hikari stories are part of my own little world ^^

Chapter 3: Death-drive

(Yugi POV)

The school hall was full of action and noises, but it was easy for me to ignore them because I couldn't stop thinking about the one who had saved me from getting detention in math.

"Hi Yugi." I heard his amazing voice coming from behind me, like little bells would ring… "I hope my help was some use for you with your math homework." Atemu smiled down at me which was all I needed for my mood to chance.

I too smiled. "Yes. You're a real life savior." As I said that his expression chanced. He seemed so sad and bitter. Gently I patted his shoulder which made him tense a bit and then relax. It happened so fast that I first thought I had just imagined it. When we got to our class I couldn't help but let my mood shrink to deepest parts of my mind. Math was depressing, especially because I was having a little problem with reading. I read so too fast so I miss some letters/numbers.

I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around in my seat to see Atemu smiling at me so sweetly that I was about to fall from my chair. I smiled back to him. "Thanks Atemu. You just made my day." He smiled at that comment and turned his attention to teacher . Her curly fire-red hair was easy to notice.

Math was really tiring subject and other pupils thought so too – I assumed so because they were groaning and sighing constantly. Atemu was the only one who could stay calm and fully awake for the entire time.

After troublesome hours of school I was finally free to leave with my friends. As I ran to our car I saw them already waiting for me. Today was again Malik's turn to drive for some reason. When I asked about it Malik said that Ryou had injured his wrist in gym so he couldn't drive. I quickly slipped to Mercedes' backseat while Malik started to drive.

I sighed heavily as sleep tried to take control of my mind. I tried to stay awake but that was kind of hard. "Right away when we're home I'll take a nap. Damn our history classes, those are so boring." I complained to myself and started to drift into a dreamland.

"FUCK YOU VOLVO! IT WAS OUR TURN TO GO FIRST, NOT YOURS! WE HAD GREEN LIGHTS AND YOU HAD DAMNED RED ONE YOU FUCKING BASTARD!" Malik's yelling got me awake right away. I saw flash of dark purple car going from our right side. Again I slipped into a dreamland. Every noise got blurry and calming. I just wanted to be like this for awhile. I really hoped that no surprises would come across our way.

Suddenly a loud crash sound and scream woke me up, but I shut my eyes when shards of glass hit my face. I felt a strong pull and car was thrown sideway. It felt weird and it hurt like hell. Last thing that I felt – before my vision got black and my senses numb – was that something wet fell across my forehead.

It was so warm and soft. I felt so comfortable that I decided to sleep some more before even trying to figure out where I was or what time it was.

"Is he still sleeping?" I heard the most beautiful voice ask from somewhere beside me.

"Yeah. Both Ryou and Yugi are unconscious. Only Malik's awake already. You must have a pretty tight skull Malik!" Unknown melodic voice sang playfully from my left side.

"Shut up snow-bunny." I heard Malik growl.

"What did you-?!"

"Malik!" I yelped as I shot up from my place to reach for him. I had completely forgotten about that crashing sound and horrible scream… "Are you alright?! Is Ryou alright?!" I felt really panicked, but I couldn't start to walk because my vision was stained with black spots. I felt like fainting again.

Someone gently laid a hand on my shoulder and pushed me down to mattress. "Calm down Yug. I'm okay, and so is Ryou." Now I recognized Malik's voice. It was relieving to hear it sound so cheering but calm.

After a couple of seconds I sat up again, slowly this time. I shook my head to clear my thoughts. "…What happened…?" I croaked. My throat was surprisingly dry.

Malik gave me a glass of water and sat beside me. "Something banged on the side of our Mercedes'… I'm not really sure about what it was. Everything's so blurry." He murmured while holding his head with his bruised tanned arms. It looked terrible.

"Malik, your arms…" I whispered while caressing his scars and bandages.

"Oh, these? It's okay. You should worry about yourself thought. You hit your head pretty hard."

I fingered my bandaged forehead and then gazed at Ryou who lay on my right side on the couch. I smiled gently to his sleeping peaceful face.

"He hit his chest kind of hard… but don't you worry about him." I turned to face the speaker. Beside me stood Bakura Yamiyama in his all glory. I had to admit that Ryou had made a great choice having a crush on Bakura, although his friend wouldn't yet admit or know it.

I looked around to see that we were in our house. I turned to face Bakura again, avoiding his strong gaze. "Did you bring us here?" I asked from him.

"Yes we did. Don't you worry, it was no problem to us." He said emotionless.

"Bakura." I heard Atemu say with a command like meaning.

Bakura just grunted as an answer and looked over at Ryou's sleeping form again, his chocolate brown eyes softening a bit.

I looked around, searching Isis. "Where's Isis?"

"Your caretaker is on her way to home. We called to her and informed about condition so she should be here soon." Atemu replied while he gave me some painkillers which I took and swallowed right away.

I jumped a bit when someone's phone started to ring. Bakura growled a bit and drew out his phone. He answered on it without looking like he knew already who it was.

I heard Malik groan beside me. "Is it him again?!" He whined.

Bakura nodded to him and moved to kitchen to talk privately.

I turned to face Malik. "Who is it?"

"It's Mariku for sure." He informed. "He's death worried about me and calls to Bakura every minute! Seriously!" Well I could believe that. Mariku seemed to secretly take care of Malik who didn't notice it or just ignored him.

"WE DON'T OWN THEM EVEN A SHIT!" I heard Bakura yell from kitchen. His angry voice was startling powerful.

I caught Atemu glaring meaningfully at Bakura, who noticed then that I and Malik too stared at him so he kept his voice low again. It really bothered me. Had he talked about us or someone else? And if had talked about someone else then how'd it had any kind of connection to us? Then I remembered what Malik had said earlier: "Something banged on the side of our Mercedes'…" Something… "Malik, what did you see when that incident happened?!" I cried out startling both Malik and Atemu, and Ryou who shot up from sofa and hit his head on bookshelf above him.

"Outch. Outch. Outch." He repeated while clutching his head.

I turned back to Malik's side.

He sighed and massaged his forehead, trying to remember. "Well… I'm not very sure what I saw. It was so fast and… furry."

"A bear?" I asked slightly terrified. We had some bears in the woods but those never came to city.

"Yeah, something like that. It was strong too so it probably was bear." Malik replied while nursing Ryou's head.

"Yug, maybe something was chasing it. It was obviously startled, other wise it wouldn't have ran to city. Bears are afraid of noises and humans." Ryou said. He winced slightly when Malik wrapped the bandages around his forehead.

"Yes. That's the reason for sure." Atemu agreed.

"But still…" I said silently. "What possibly could have terrified bear so much that it had to escape to our town? Bears are strong creatures. Is there anything in our forests that's stronger and more dangerous than bear?" No one answered to my question so I assumed they had no idea, and neither did I.

Door flew open and Isis ran to us worried expression on her face. "Are you okay?! What happened?! How?!" She demanded so many answers that I couldn't really say anything to them. Besides no one of us knew what had happened for real.

Malik smiled and hugged her big sister to calm her. "Don't worry. We're alright."

She answered with a smile, but when her eyes sifted to Atemu and Bakura – who had just got back from living room – her smile turned into a frown. "Why are Yamiyamas in here?" She demanded.

Thought she was being rude, Atemu gave her a small smile and spoke politely. "We are very sorry to come to your house without your permission, but our… friends needed first aid. So we brought them here. There's no need for hospital because they had luck and survived with a couple of bruises." His beautiful crimson eyes sifted to me then. "Still, Yugi and Ryou should be careful. Yugi has broken ankle and Ryou got small concussion of brain. So please make sure that they both will take their painkillers and rest as much as possible."

Isis had nothing more to say to that. Atemu's report was carefully explained and everything had been informed to big sister.

Atemu gave me a gorgeous smile and with that he and Bakura left, waving their hands as a good bye.

Rest of the day was dull and silent. No one really spoke. It was kind of creepy at first but it was just getting worse what more time we spent together that evening. Finally when it was eight o'clock I got to slip into my own room. I sighed in relief when I locked the door and walked over to my computer. First I checked my emails, and smiled when Joey's name popped on the screen in a message:

"Hi Yug! I heard 'bout your car accident. Hope ya, Malik and Ry are OK. Firstly 'cause I'm really worried 'bout ya guys. Secondly 'cause I'm your budd'. And thirdly 'cause I'll be reaaaaally lone' in school, ya know. Oh, and if I'll catch tha' one who dared to crash ya I'll kill it for sure!

Hope ya get well soon!"

Regards, Joey

I smiled at the message. It was simple but told to me how worried he was. I started to type back to him.

"Thanks for worrying about us Joey. And don't panic but I have broken ankle and Ryou got small concussion of brain so we won't be coming to school tomorrow. Ryou probably will get there day after tomorrow if he's feeling okay… but I can't because Isis is too worried. She fears that I'll fall on the sidewalk or something like that. Luckily you got Malik. He got only few bruises and twisted wrist, nothing bad. Hope you two won't kill each other tomorrow. And please report to me and Ryou about Malik and Mariku's situation. Mariku seems to make a move on him any time soon. Feeling better already!"

Regards, Yugi

I mentally thanked Jonouchi again for being our friend. Friends like him were needed in this world.

Next I decided to make my history and biology homework. It took me good hour and 29 minutes to finish those. After that I glanced at the clock on my computer screen. It was 21.57. And that meant I had to go sleep before Isis got into my room to check if I was asleep or not. I slipped under my blanket and pulled it over my head. I peeked from under it a bit to see beautiful silver full moon illuminating my room. It was very pretty. Suddenly hit my broken ankle on the wall beside my bed. I cried silently in pain and held my ankle gently, careful not to give too much pressure. I massaged it softly to shoo away the pain. After a couple of minutes I felt better but more tired. I closed my eyes to test if I could fall asleep right away, but I just dozed off. Soon I was somewhere between dream and reality. It was kind of weird because I saw Atemu right in front of me. It was pleasant and most gorgeous sight I had seen. He was smiling gently down at me and leaning forward to do something. His eyes closed and his lips brushed my neck where the pulse was heard clearly.

I jumped up when a small "thud" sound came from the end of my bed. I glanced at the person standing there for a moment before reaching the lamp on my nightstand. Then I turned back to see who it was but the figure was already gone, like that person hadn't ever been there. I sighed softly and lay back down. "Just what was that? Hmm… maybe there wasn't anyone and I had just seen my owns." I figured out that it would be the most likely to happen, so I decided to ignore that weird happening and sleep.

Breep! Breep! Breep! Breep! Breep! Bree-!

I groaned as I slammed my alarm clock shut. Slowly I sat up and yawned wide. After that I slipped out of my bed, but I had to sit back down because of pain that was pouring to my leg. "Oh yeah." I then remembered last evening. "My ankle…" I glared at my bandaged ankle, hoping that it would whimper in fear and the pain would run away. But no, nothing happened. I lay back down and let myself fall asleep again.

"Yugi!" I heard Ryou calling. "Little help here?"

I sat up and tilted my head on the left side. "I wonder what's wrong." I took a glance at my clock: 08.13. I then hobbled to my bedroom door and was greeted by a weird scene: Ryou was laying there unconscious and conscious at the same time? But that was of course impossible, so I kneeled beside him and shook his shoulder a bit. He groaned and his eyes looked really hazy and tired. It was like he was blind.

"Yug, can you fetch me some aspirin? My head hurts and my vision is stained with black spots."

I nodded and carefully to not hurt my ankle more, I got downstairs and then hobbled to kitchen to get aspirin. After I had found it and was back upstairs beside my friend I tugged his medicine to his palm. He smiled a bit, rolling on to his back and sat up carefully. Then he swallowed the aspirin.

I gently brushed some of his hair behind his ear to see his face better. Ryou was sweating a bit and his face was heated. "Did you catch a cold?" I asked worried.

He shook his head and smiled to me. "It's a side-effect of concussion. So don't worry about it, okay?"

I smiled back to him and then moved my hand in front of his face to test if his vision was clear again.

Ryou huffed irritated and swapped my hand away. "I'm alright now!" He murmured stubbornly.

We sat there for awhile without doing or saying anything. Just when my phone started to ring we jumped a bit as it broke the silence. Clumsily I got to my room and reached for my phone which was ringing on my computer table. I answered to it while watching Ryou who walked in, playing with his white hair.

"Hi Yugi!" I heard Malik say. His voice seemed somewhat anxious.

"What's wrong Malik?" When I asked that, Ryou stepped closer to me to hear Malik's answer.

"Well… It's just…" He huffed, clearly annoyed. "Yug, and Ryou – I know you're there too, so what do you think I should do with a freak who looks at me like he would bounce on me and such my breath away who happens to sit behind me?!" He screamed silently.

Ryou took my phone. "Malik, calm down! He can't be so bad… Uh, we're talking about Mariku right?" He confirmed. We heard a silent "yes" being said. He nodded to himself and smirked a bit. "Then it's okay right? You're going hot for him! And Mariku has a huge crush on you clearly!"

"That's the problem! He's practically ready to chase after me if I try to struggle away from him!" Malik yelled so loud that Ryou dropped my phone.

I picked up phone and spoke to him with as calm tone as I could manage. "Relax Malik. He's not going to kill you. Mariku's just the type to not cover his true feelings. Accept it. And, I and Ryou both know that you're not the type who needs someone stalking carefully and step out from the shadows slowly. You just can't like someone like that for some reason."

"And…?" He asked.

"Well, you need someone who will just jump on you and not give up before you're all his! Simple! Mariku is that kind of person! He would probably do anything to be with you! He's not going to give up. And you know what? I think that you don't even want him to give up, because you're already so keen on him." With that I shut the phone and threw it on my bed.

Ryou watched out of the window, lost in his thoughts. Then he turned to look at me confused. "I don't really get it Yugi."

I tilted my head a bit and stared at him puzzled.

"Malik hasn't taken interest to anyone in years! And now when he likes Mariku he won't admit it!" He explained, still confused.

I smiled a bit to him. "Malik's just so stubborn. He's probably scared of Mariku because he loves him. He's afraid to start a relationship because it might end up bad."

Ryou made an 'oh' sound. He seemed to agree with me about Malik.

"Now then." I thought while flopping on my bed. "I wonder how Malik is doing with Mariku right now…"

Elsie-Vive: "Thank God I got this chapter ready! It was fun to write but I had small problem with how to make that ending to it. Well then, next chappie will come up next month! Stay tuned and R&R!!"