A/N: *hiding behind her chair* Um, yeah, updating is going to get harder because I'm extremely busy in all my classes at school, and I'm tutoring elementary kids some days after school now, but hopefully I'll still have time to write. ^_^

Little Angel

Chapter 8

Yugi woke up to the familiar sound of the fountain and felt the warm sun on his face. He sleepily tried to roll over, but found himself quite entangled in the arms of his lover. Yami sighed in his sleep, his grip on Yugi tightening slightly, and Yugi let himself bask in the glow that they shared for a few moments. He closed his eyes and could still see the starry sky, hear the gentle wind in the trees, feel Yami's lips on his… If he lost all but one memory, that was the one he would keep.

His eyes fluttered open as he felt Yami shift. He was surprised to see that the human's eyes were open, but he was looking at some random point on the wall rather than at Yugi. His lips were barely moving, softly whispering something unintelligible.

"Yami?"

The human didn't respond. Yugi shook him slightly, starting to become frightened.

"Yami, please, you're scaring me…" When the strange behavior didn't stop, Yugi grabbed his face with both hands and cried, "Yami!"

His crimson eyes blinked and suddenly focused in on Yugi's terrified face. Confusion emerged, and Yami sat up partially.

"Yugi, what's wrong?"

"You… your eyes were open, but you weren't awake… and you were whispering something…"

Yami frowned. "Whispering what?"

Yugi shook his head. "I couldn't tell."

Yami was about to ask another question when the two of them heard a knock at the door. The two looked at each other anxiously for a moment, then Yugi slowly rose and went to the door. When he came back there were two older angels whom Yami vaguely recognized from the Council that they had visited. They looked quite businesslike.

"We have investigated the case of the human that has somehow found his way into our lands," one of them began ceremoniously, "and have discovered that the only way he can return is to consciously go back. He will not return because of some other outside influence."

Yami and Yugi stared at each other. Yami felt joy well up in his heart; if it was his choice entirely, then he immediately knew what he could choose.

"So that means…" Yugi said breathlessly, hardly daring to believe it, "That Yami can stay here, right?"

The two angels looked at each other in bewilderment. "Well… no," one of them finally said. Yugi's smile disappeared.

"What?"

"There are only two choices available: either the human must move on to the continuing life of his immortal soul, or he must return to his life on Earth."

"But…" Yami stood up. "You said it was my choice."

The angels looked uncomfortable. "Yes, but… Well, the Councilor believes that keeping a human here would upset a delicate balance that has long existed between our worlds. Upsetting this could cause unknown side effects, particularly to you. We are not sure how your consciousness will handle being outside of its element."

Yami's eyes widened. Side effects… his strange episode this morning?

"We are… under orders to make sure that you depart these lands as soon as possible."

At this, Yugi could no longer stand it and a sob escaped his lips. The two angels startled and Yami turned to him with an aching feeling in his chest. Yugi had his face buried in his hands, trying to hold back another sob. Yami went to him and put his arms around him, but was surprised when Yugi pushed him away.

"Yugi…?"

"Please, no… I can't bear it…" Yugi sobbed. "I can't… I can't watch you go…"

When Yami tried to approach again, Yugi turned and ran into the garden, disappearing into the trees. Yami's first instinct was to follow, but the firm hand of one of the Council angels gripped his shoulder.

"You must come with us."

Yami just shook his head, his body suddenly feeling very weak. He barely noticed as the two led him outside and, clutching his arms, lifted him off the ground as they took flight.

The angels eventually landed in an area that seemed strangely familiar to Yami. An enormous yet delicate-looking gate was to one side of him, and a long road led out away from it towards the horizon.

"You must go down that road in the opposite direction of where those people you see are traveling. That will lead you home," The angel's calm voice said behind Yami. The human turned, tears stinging in his eyes. He was about to say something when a voice called out to him.

Yami spun around just in time to see Yugi land in an ungraceful stumble, his face flushed from flying so hard and fast. One of the alarmed Councilors tried to tell him to go home, but Yugi pushed past him. Twisting his arm out of the unknown angels grasp, Yami embraced his angel, who had tears pouring down his cheeks.

"Yami, I don't want you to go… I don't want you to go…" Yugi sobbed out brokenly, hugging Yami with both his arms and his wings. Yami, suddenly finding it hard to speak, hugged Yugi back as tightly as he could, burying his face in the angel's soft hair.

The older angels were quite thoroughly confused. No one had known that the angel and the human had grown this close so fast. One of them softly placed a hand on the human's shoulder. "You must go," he said quietly. Yami stood frozen, but in his embrace Yugi sniffed softly, then gently pulled back. He looked up into the crimson eyes that he loved so much, then reached a hand back toward his soft wings. Yugi plucked a small, white feather off of his wings. Placing it in Yami's hands, the small angel said softly, "I love you, Yami."

Yami stared at the feather in his hand, then suddenly pulled Yugi close to him for a bittersweet kiss that tasted like tears. "I love you, my angel…" Yami whispered softly as they broke the kiss, then he stepped away to follow the road that led back to Earth.

As he walked, Yami suddenly began to feel a dull ache in his head and chest, and his vision began to darken. The last thing that he saw before everything around him faded away was a white-winged angel with tear-filled violet eyes standing by a silver gate, one slender hand held out in a last gesture of longing.

Jounouchi sat by his friend's bed in the hospital, half-asleep on Seto. Yami had been asleep for almost a month, and the doctors were beginning to have doubts of his recovery. With nothing better to do at the moment, Jou had decided to come and stay with Yami for a while. The blond was just about to fall asleep when his sister, Shizuka, and Honda came into the room. Jou opened his mouth to greet them, but nothing came out as the steady beeping of the heart monitor began to increase rapidly.

Yami's hands clutched at the sheets so hard that his knuckles turned white, and his breathing was becoming quick and heavy. "I'll get the doctor!" Shizuka ran out of the room as Yami began to mumble incoherently. Suddenly, the mumbling became a scream, and all the occupants of the room heard the name loud and clear, "Yugi!"

Crimson eyes flew open, and the boy bolted into a sitting position. He had a handful of blanket in a tight fist over his chest, and his breath was coming in short, labored gasps. He whispered the name again, staring dazedly ahead of him.

"Yami? Yami!" Jou tried to get a reaction out of Yami, and was just about to grab him by the shoulders and start shaking him when Yami look his blond friend in the eye. His eyes were filled with tears. Jounouchi was surprised, to say the least, and Seto even more. Neither of them had ever seen Yami cry. Yet tears were running down his face, falling onto the starched white sheets.

Yami shook his head slowly from side to side for a few moments, then turned his gaze away from his friends. The hand tightly closed over his chest slowly opened as Yami looked down at his fist as if it didn't belong to him. He seemed to look at something grasped in his hand, then closed his eyes against a sudden onslaught of tears.

"Yugi…" Yami whimpered softly, then he fell back onto the bed, burying his face in the pillow. His shoulders shook as he cried silently, hugging the pillow tightly and curling up under the sheets. Jou, on instinct, reached out and put a hand on Yami's shoulder. After a few moments, the sobs subsided and Yami fell into a light, dream-filled sleep.

A/N: I had to get to the angst sometime! Please review.