In this chapter, Yami apologizes to Yugi about what had happened the day before...

Chapter 6: Apologies

Right after midnight, Yugi started to stir. He slowly got up, not wanting to disturb everybody else. To his surprise, he saw that Yami was awake, sitting on top of a rock far away. He decided to approach Yami, to see why he wasn't asleep. Since there was a slight breeze blowing in Yugi's direction, Yami didn't notice the boy until he was right beside him.

"Yami?" Yami turned his head.

"Yugi, why aren't you asleep?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you," Yugi replied. "I woke up, and I saw you here." He then sat down beside Yami. "What are you doing?"

"Just… thinking." Yugi shifted his gaze to where Yami was looking at. It was the moon of the dark world, which shined a rosy color down at the desert.

"It's a very pretty moon tonight, isn't it?"

"Yeah…"

"You know, it's been so long since I last saw it…" For a long time, the two just looked absent-mindedly at the crescent moon. Yami's voice then broke the silence.

"I'm so sorry…" he whispered.

"W-what for?" asked Yugi, who was shocked at what had been said.

"I'm just so sorry I put you all through this…"

"Why? What do you mean?"

"Don't you get it? I put your life in danger. I could've lost you and Ryou, and it's all my fault!" Yami's expression seemed to change into anger.

"But it was okay in the end, right?" Yugi said, trying to calm his friend down.

"If it weren't for Ryou, you both would have died!"

"Is it because… then you would have died too?"

"About my life, I couldn't care less. But I dragged you into this mess, so I should be the one in danger, not you!"

"But we chose to come, right?"

"But it's not fair! I was so selfish! I shouldn't have asked you to come in the first place. First, my master dies because I didn't protect him well enough. Then, feeling lonely, I come and take you here so that you can suffer the same fate as he? I acted too recklessly, and look at what could have happened yesterday!" Something seemed to glitter on Yami's face.

"Then… I guess that you're saying that we're getting in your way, and that you could do this alone without us?"

"No…" Yami was now whispering again. "I can't do anything alone. I need you, but it just isn't fair…" More glitter was on his face now.

"Listen." Yugi said. "We had a choice, and we all agreed. I agreed with my heart. You asked Joey if he wanted to go back, and he said no. Kaiba would never agree to something he didn't want, and Ryou… nobody ever cared about him until now. He's happy with us, don't you see? Besides, you said that both worlds would be in danger, so we would still be in danger even if we weren't here."

"I really don't know what to think now…" Yami then felt Yugi's arm around his shoulder.

"Yami, if we ever want to go back, we'll tell you. But now, were all in this together, and it isn't going to change. Understand?" Yami nodded, and wiped something from his face.

"Okay. But I'll protect you for the rest of the time we're here. I'll protect you with my life, and have my word." There was another short silence. "You know, I'll never be able to do anything alone. I've never accomplished anything without the help of somebody else. I've never been alone until my master died…"

They then just sat there, arms around each other's shoulder.

"May you… tell me a bit about your life?" Yugi asked softly. Yami sighed.

"First, when I was created, I was in a pack with many others of my kind. I was strong and I learned quickly, so when I got older I easily became alpha. But one day, when the pack was hunting, fate changed my life. The king of the Dark World had been away, and when he was returning rebels attacked him. I told my pack to defend him, and we won. So, to show his gratitude, he took me in the palace and he became my master. Then one day, he died and somebody else took the throne. And because of the law that everything owned by the former king would be inherited by the new king, he took me as well…" His voice trailed off. It seemed to be an unhappy memory that he didn't want to recall.

"I'm sorry about that… It must be hard."

"It has nothing to do with you," Yami replied dryly. "It's all right now because I have you all." He gave a forced smile. "You should be going back to sleep now."

"But what about you?" asked Yugi once he got off the rock.

"I… I'm coming." He jumped and landed beside Yugi. The two then walked back to where the others were still sleeping and they fell asleep beside one another.

There will be more action in the next chapters. But from now on, every few chapters, Yami will have a little moment with one of the other characters. Bonds will start to form and friendship will start to grow as the story progresses. Anyways, I hoped you liked this chapter even though it was also a little short. Please review!