Ranko: Oh my, goodness! I am so sorry for that last post on this story! Sorry for freaking some of you guys out! I still love this story and plan on continuing it.
Yami: Ranko was half asleep when she posted that.
Yuugi: And also she was reading the newest chapter (this one) when she was half asleep and thought it was crap.
Yami: So, I guess that explain everything?
Yuugi: (nods)
Ranko: I feel so bad now. Let's just answer the reviews so I can wallow in my self-misery…
Yami:…Lawl?
SokiKuro: Don't worry about not reviewing! I know how life goes. Anyway, I don't know, I think I still dislike Heba. I need a bit more convincing before I completely feel back for him. I think that Atemu has leukemia or something along those lines. I am looking forward to Yami and Yuugi getting together but it is taking forever (stupid character development)! Please continue to review!
hermoine331: I'm sorry, I just had to answer this review! You made me feel so loved! Thank you so much and please continue to review! I'm happy to know when people appreciate my stories! Just tell me you love my stories and we'll be friends forever ;)
Goshikku Hime wa Yami-san: "I love you, you love me…" Oh, Barney. Anyway, your review made me laugh because I thought of that! Thanks so much and please continue to review!
CandyFiend: "No, don't do that…damn it, I told you not to do that." I love your reviews! They just make me smile =) Thank you so much for being awesome and please continue to review!
Daemon Luciel: Yours was the longest review so I had to answer it ;) I got all of your reviews for all of the chapters at once and I was so overwhelmed! Thank you muchly! Yami and Yuugi will get together (eventually) but first there has to be character development (stupidest thing ever)! I feel the same way about Heba and Atemu, I'm not sure if I like Heba yet. Thanks for being awesome and please continue to review!
Yami: So, yeah, you know what I'm going to say. Ranko twin owns nothing, no surprise there.
Yuugi: And you also know what Ranko is going to say…
Ranko: Is it, "enjoy?"
-/-
Yuugi took a deep breath and then sighed it out, carrying a bouquet of flowers tucked in the crook of his elbow. He quickly put on a smile and pushed the door to Atemu's hospital room open. "Atemu?" he called quietly, afraid that the young man might have been asleep.
Luckily, the tanned boy was sitting up in his bed reading a book when Yuugi came in. He looked surprised at first, shocked even, but he recovered quickly and he looked pleased that Yuugi was here. "Oh, Yuugi, it's you," he said smiling, marking the page in his book and putting it on his bedside table.
Yuugi approached his bed and sat down at the chair that was always pulled up to Atemu's bedside. He felt uncomfortable sitting where Yami usually sat but he pushed those thoughts to the back of his head and continued to smile at Atemu. "I'm sorry, did I come at a wrong time."
Atemu snorted, a trait that Yuugi thought didn't fit the man's personality that well. "Yeah, because I'm so busy sitting in my room bored out of my mind."
This startled a laugh out of Yuugi. "Just thought I'd ask."
Not a moment passed before Atemu said, "I'm glad that you did come Yuugi."
Yuugi tilted his head to the side cutely. "Oh, why?"
"I wanted to apologize about what happened the other day," he said with no shame in his voice but his face flushed a deep red. Yuugi remembered that day three days ago. It was probably one of the scariest days of his life. He still remembered Atemu's desperateness, Yami's anger, and then meeting Heba.
He didn't know which was worse, that day or the day afterwards when Heba came to the Game Shop.
Yuugi didn't let any of these thoughts show on his face and smiled sympathetically at Atemu. "I understand, you were delusional from the fever, I'm just glad that you're better."
Atemu breathed a sigh of relief, but that relief was short lived whenever Yuugi said, "I just want to know one thing, who is Heba?"
Of course, Yuugi already had a vague idea of who Heba was; he just wanted to see Atemu's reaction.
It wasn't a good one.
Despite his tan complexion, the man paled considerably. "Why would you ask a silly question like that? He's no one, I don't even know who he Heba is," the man said in a failed attempt to maintain his composure.
Yuugi furrowed his eyebrows together. "Obviously he is someone or you wouldn't have called me by that name whenever you were sick the other day."
"Why are you here, Yuugi?" Atemu asked. The shorter boy was taken aback with hearing Atemu say this for once and not Yami. "Not to be rude," the man quickly continued, "but you have school today and I really don't want you to be late."
Yuugi nodded his head sullenly. He could tell that Atemu felt uncomfortable talking to Yuugi about this. Talking about Heba must still be sensitive for the man. Yuugi inwardly shook his head. He put the flowers on Atemu's bedside table and got up to leave.
"You're right, I can't afford to be late for another one of my classes or else my grandpa will be upset with me. I'll see you after school, Atemu," Yuugi called as he left the man's room.
Atemu sat up in his bed a few moments longer, looking a bit awe struck. Then he got out of bed and went to his window where he watched Yuugi disappear in the direction of the school building.
Atemu smiled and shook his head. He went back over to his bed and picked up the bouquet of flowers. Attached to the flowers was a small note.
To: Atemu Sennen
From: Heba
Atemu's eyes widened and he threw the bouquet of flowers across the room; the flowers exploded when it hit the wall. Atemu fell to his knees, breathing hard and trying to get that stupid voice out of his head.
"I love you, Atemu. Nothing will ever change that."
Atemu started to cry; the only time he would ever cry was when he was alone so no one could see how weak he actually was. His heart would be breaking at this moment if Heba hadn't have taken it away when he left.
Meanwhile ~
Yuugi ran the rest of the way to school, hoping to get there before they closed the front gates. He quickly checked his watch and saw that he would make it just in time if he didn't slow down.
He didn't know what to think or feel after that conversation with Atemu this morning. Atemu seemed like such a normal guy, he would never guess that he was as sick as he was from just looking at him.
Yuugi had to admit though, it was stupid of him to bring up Heba in front of Atemu, but who could blame him really? Yuugi had been dragged into the twins' life whether he liked it or not and he wanted to know what he was getting himself into.
Yuugi did something very cruel to Atemu though. He wrote Heba's name on the card in the flowers. He wanted to stay long enough to see Atemu's reaction when he saw the name on the card, but Yuugi could guess that it was probably not a good one.
Now he felt like a horrible person; he shouldn't have done that.
His thoughts were abruptly cut short whenever he made a collision with someone who was turning the corner sharply and was also running very fast. They knocked each other off their feet and Yuugi was lucky that he didn't crack his head open on the sidewalk.
Before Yuugi even had a chance to register the pain in his backside, he was helped to his feet by the person he ran into…or ran into him. "Hey, are you okay?"
Yuugi blinked whenever the voice of the person sounded familiar to him. He looked up through his bangs and saw Yami looking at him but not really looking at him. Then he registered the hands on his shoulders…Yami's hands. Yuugi inwardly cringed and shrugged them off of him.
"What the hell? What was that, Yami?" Yuugi asked, forgetting his rush to get to school.
Yami looked like he wasn't paying attention to Yuugi much; it looked like he wanted to run away. He didn't even look hurt whenever Yuugi brushed his hands off his shoulders. "Sorry, I didn't see where I was going; I'm kind of in a rush."
Yuugi blinked and then remembered his own purpose for running. "Oh, shit! I'm gonna be late for school!"
"Yami-darling!" A high pitched voice, with a slight accent, called from a short distance away.
Yami turned around fearfully, spotting what he was running from. Out of instinct, he snatched up Yuugi's wrist and he sprinted in the direction of the school dragging Yuugi behind him.
Yuugi's short legs had trouble keeping up with Yami's pace and when he complained about this Yami stopped only for a moment to put Yuugi on his back so he could carry the boy piggy-back. He then continued his run, going faster than he did whenever he had Yuugi running beside him.
Whoever had been chasing them had obviously given up or this person had fallen behind. Yami ran through the front gates, with Yuugi on his back, right before they closed them. He huffed for breath and set Yuugi back down on his feet.
The two boys exchanged looks and then started to laugh. "What the hell was that?" Yuugi asked, his eyebrows raised.
Once Yami regained his breath, he pointed in the direction behind them. "That…was me running away from someone who has been obsessed with my since elementary school. Her name was Vivian Wong."
The name rang a bell in Yuugi's head. "Oh yeah, she used to be mine and Anzu's friend. That is, until she thought she was too good for us when she met some guy from another school." Yuugi gave Yami a look and if Yuugi didn't know any better, he would have thought he was blushing.
"Yeah, well…" Yami said sheepishly.
Yuugi soon remembered who he was talking to and suddenly felt very uncomfortable. He had had enough of this awkward moment and said, "Well, I better get to my class. I don't want to be more late than I already am." Before Yami could respond, Yuugi was already gone, running to Kujaku-sensei's classroom.
Of course, he had to go out in the hall and hold buckets of water for the rest of the class period. He sighed in annoyance and imagined if Yami was doing to same thing. Yuugi snorted; of course he wouldn't be doing this, his charm would get him out of it…wait, why was he thinking about Yami?
Yuugi shook his head to clear himself of those thoughts when new ones came to his mind. Some of those thoughts made Yuugi shout in surprise as he came to a sudden revelation.
He did know one person who could tell him who Heba was if it wasn't Atemu; Yami. Yami was so close to Atemu that it wouldn't surprise him if he knew everything Atemu knew. As much as he hated to admit it, Yami could help him in this situation.
Just before the end of the period, Kujaku-sensei let him back in the classroom and Yuugi went through the rest of his morning classes, waiting anxiously. When they were dismissed for lunch, Yuugi bolted out of his seat and went to search for Yami. The only time in his life when Yuugi would willingly search for Yami.
Who he found instead was Heba…standing at the front gates of the school, leaning against the brick wall. The boy's tan skinned seemed to glow in the afternoon light. The two spotted each other at the same time and Heba smiled shyly, walking over to Yuugi. Yuugi stood there, still in complete shock.
"Hey," Heba said meekly.
"H-hi," Yuugi said, cursing himself for stuttering.
Heba sighed. "Listen, I'm sorry for what happened the other day. You know, me and Yami fighting in your shop; that was uncalled for. And about…just running away like that."
Yuugi smiled sweetly at the boy. "Oh, don't worry about it."
"But I didn't come all the way here just to apologize to you," Heba continued. "I wanted to tell you that whatever Yami says about me to you probably isn't true. He thinks I'm such a bad guy; I made a lot of wrong choices in the past that I regret with all my heart." Heba looked pained as he put a hand to his heart. "I loved Atemu and I…" Heba shook his head. "And I hurt him; that is why Yami hates me so much."
Yuugi had to resist gaping at Heba. The boy looked so hurt and the look in his deep amethyst eyes told Yuugi that Heba still loved Atemu.
Heba shook his head. "I'm sorry for wasting your time; I just wanted to tell you that." And without another word, Heba walked off.
"Yuugi!" Ryou called from across the courtyard. He trotted up to Yuugi and hugged his friend from behind; Yami and Bakura were trailing behind the smaller boy. "Who was that you were talking to?"
Yami and Bakura exchanged looks, knowing exactly who that was.
Yuugi didn't answer; he just continued to look down at his feet. Ryou grew concerned for his friend and turned Yuugi around to face him. "Yuugi?" He noticed that there were tears in Yuugi's eyes. "Oh God, Yuugi, what's wrong?"
Yuugi quickly wiped his eyes before anyone else could see his tears.
"What did he say to you, Yuugi?" Yami asked.
Yuugi wanted to snap back at him with, "Why do you care, you bastard?"
Instead, Yuugi grabbed Yami's arm and dragged him off to an empty bench under a shady tree. "Hey! What the hell?" Yami cursed. "Yuugi, what is your problem? What is wrong?"
Yuugi ignored all of Yami's questions. "You have to help me," Yuugi said desperately.
Yami blushed a deep red but Yuugi just thought it was the sun. "Wh-what? Need help with what? What are you talking about? You're acting really weird today."
"You have to help me get Atemu and Heba back together," Yuugi said.
-/-
Ranko: Can I apologize any more for what happened the other day? I realized after I posted that, that this is my baby, I just can't let it go.
Yami: You're so melodramatic.
Yuugi: But as a way of saying sorry, Ranko presents to you a small piece from the third installment of the Shadow Game series: Checkmate.
Ranko: Make sure to review and tell me hoe stupid I was.
Checkmate
"You've invited me to come—and here I am," Yuugi said, standing across from Yami.
Yami smiled and crossed his arms over his chest, as if they were old friends having a normal conversation. "Yes, and you're off to a bad start. Couldn't eve avoid this simple trap. Don't even know what Game you're playing."
Yuugi knew exactly what Game they were playing. It was the same Game they he and Yami have been playing ever since they first met in the game shop. It was a strategic game of chess that had went off for far too long. "Whatever it is, it's the last Game and I'm going to checkmate you," Yuugi said.
