Chapter Nine: Desperate Measures

Yugi stood at the front door of Yami's house, watching Serenity drive off. He sighed and shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling his cell phone resting in one of them. Yugi flinched as he realized that he had yet to call Seto. Knowing his boss, Seto would be angry at this slight but, in Yugi's defense, he had a lot on his mind. The reaper ran a hand through his hair before shaking his head. He had to stick to his priorities, he would clean his clothes and shower before talking to Seto and, even then, he would be searching for a way to piece together his balance's past. It would have been easier just to ask Yami, but he didn't have that time.

The soft click of a lock made Yugi look up, the reaper smiling as he reached out to turn the handle, opening the door to reveal Tomoya standing on the other side. The ghost gave him a nervous smile before gesturing for him to come in. "I really hope that Yami wouldn't mind this."

"You and me both." Yugi tried to laugh, but the sound just died in his throat. He looked away from the ghost, shivering as Tomoya passed through him partially to get through the door.

"I'm just going to go back to the police station. I'm worried about Yami."

"Yeah, I'll just be…here…"

Yugi jumped as a cold hand landed on his shoulder, Tomoya giving him a sympathetic look. "Everything will turn out alright. I'll come back later to tell you how he's doing."

"Thanks." The ghost nodded before walking out the door, Yugi staring at him before shutting the door and turning to look at the interior of the house, breathing a long sigh. As much as he wanted to get to the bottom of this, he needed to be in shape. Unlike the ghosts, he had a physical form that he had to keep up. It was either that or allow himself to dissolve into what his soul really looked like after two hundred forty-seven thousand years. Yugi flinched at that thought, shaking his head. That was one form that he didn't want to return to for a long while.

With a long sigh, he trudged towards the upstairs hall, hoping that he wasn't assuming too much by allowing himself this. But, then again, he could always apologize to Yami later.

He reached the linen closet with few mishaps, claiming an old beach towel for himself before stripping and wrapping the towel around his waist and wandering down to where the washer and dryer were. It took little time for him to get his clothes going and for him to trudge back upstairs and start a shower. Yugi gloried in the feeling of warm water running down his skin, allowing himself a single moment of relaxation before he forced himself onward. What was supposed to be a relaxing vacation was turning into anything but.

Then again, there was the surprising bonus of having found his balance nearly as soon as he entered this town. Yugi slumped back against the tiles with a goofy grin on his face, allowing himself to actually think of Yami as that instead of pushing the thought to the side. It was good to have a balance, good to actually be able to not worry about if he was going insane. And it just felt right; no wonder all of his friends had clung to theirs so jealously for the first few years with them.

Of course, he had know what that had felt like for a while himself with Mana. Yugi shivered at the memory of his friend, wrapping his arms around himself and digging his nails into his skin to keep from succumbing to the memories. He didn't want to fall back into his fear at the moment, he wanted to enjoy the fact that he had found Yami at all, not have the memories of what happened to Mana circling around in his head. He was in a place where his balance could be killed, something that was never supposed to happen to them. Balances were supposed to live to a good old age and then have their souls taken by their partners to become something like a reaper, but without the powers that came with it.

Yugi bit his lip before pushing away from the wall, standing fully under the spray of water again. At least he knew where Yami was now, that was enough to calm him. As long as he knew where Yami was, he would be alright.

He scrubbed at his hair, rising the shampoo out before turning off the water, stepping out of the shower to towel off, spending some time to make sure that his hair was dry enough not to damage the phone before wandering out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist again.

Yugi checked on his laundry, taking his phone from where he had left it on top of the machine and picking up his scythe, absently turning the pen-sized stick in his fingers as he dialed Seto's number. His boss immediately answered, and started shouting at him. "It's about time, Yugi! I had to call Ryou to even know that you were alive!"

"What did he tell you?"

"Everything that you told him; how these people die, the balance that died and your stroke of bad luck." Yugi flinched at that, hearing Seto sigh over the phone. "Listen, Yugi, I don't like how much they kept from us. I'm tempted to call you back and just let those reapers deal with it."

"No!" Yugi blushed at his outburst, beginning to pace to work off some of his energy. "I can handle it now. I've got a lead and I know what the creature looks like."

"Creature?"

"It's another rogue, Seto. And who is the best at catching rogues."

He heard Seto grumble over the line, bending over to move his clothes from the washer to the dryer as he waited for his boss to speak. He heard Seto sigh, the sound long and drawn out. "You sure it's a rogue?"

Yugi bit his lip, thinking back to his conversation with Solomon. It hadn't felt exactly like a reaper, nor had it felt exactly like a human or a ghost. But he knew that behavior well enough from his years of hunting down the rogues. "Scythe and everything, and it would make sense about the balance dying. A reaper can kill anything."

"Just because we can doesn't mean we should."

"Right." Yugi nodded and rubbed a hand over his face, watching his clothes spin. "But the fact that these reapers here let this go on for so long."

"Don't worry, I'm on it already. The higher ups are already shifting stuff around. What did you say that the two who brought you in were?"

"Alister and Raphael."

The line went quiet for a moment, Yugi looking away from the dryer to stare at the wall. He thought he heard a shuddering breath from Seto, his boss speaking before he could question him. "Get out of there, Yugi."

"What?" He jumped as the buzzer went off, telling him that he clothes were dry. Yugi propped the phone on his shoulder, opening the dryer and getting dressed. "Seto, talk to me. What's going on?"

"Reports were given out, but you were out of the country so I didn't think about it. Stupid." Seto cursed, Yugi hearing Kisara's gasp of surprise from the other end of the line.

"What?"

"Yugi, there weren't any reapers assigned to the area that you were in, not after Maximillion Pegasus." Yugi stopped getting dressed, one foot in the leg of his pants. "They pulled all reapers out after he went rogue and they had to hunt him down."

"H-how do you…"

"After Ryou talked to me I asked for more information about this case and I was finally given it by the head of the reapers over there. The team that we assumed would be meeting you has been dead since they tried to stop Maximillion, he took them all down before he finally went to the afterlife himself."

"So they…" Yugi jerked suddenly, stumbling back against the dryer as he tried to calm his racing heart. "Would someone named Noa Kaiba be working for them too?"

"No. That's not one of their aliases."

Yugi heaved a sigh of relief, running a hand over his face. At least Noa was just a human that was interfering, not another rogue reaper. That made three that he would have to deal with just in one town, and that was going to be hard if he wanted to protect Yami from the authorities. His had tightened on his scythe. "I have a lot of hunting to do."

"It seems that you do. I'm sure I don't have to tell you to be careful."

"No." Yugi put the phone down for a moment, pulling his shirt over his head before settling it, reaching for the phone again. "I'm only worried about what they are doing killing all of these people."

"What if they're not the ones?"

Yugi froze, staring at the wall in front of him. "That's impossible."

"Yugi, you and I are probably the only people who know that the higher ups have almost no control over the afterlife, they just can tell us which souls are going to get stuck and when. There are many things that they don't know."

"Shit." Seto didn't say anything on the other line, Yugi trembling as he tried to figure out what he should do next.

The smart thing to do would be to go after the rogue reaper that was killing these people, but he didn't know where that reaper was. So that left Alister and Raphael, also unknowns, but he could easily find them. He was sure that they were lurking out the outskirts of town, waiting for him to stumble out. All he had to do was walk out there and face them. But that would leave Yami in danger; he couldn't just leave his balance to fend for himself, not with three rogue reapers out. The ghosts would help, but it wouldn't be enough.

He had to get Yami somewhere safe, but that wasn't anywhere here. Unless he could convince the ghosts in the cemetery to hide Yami for him. He was sure that they would grant him that one request. And the reapers would be reluctant to enter the cemetery, even without the ghosts of all of the people that they had killed lingering there. Yugi nodded to himself, straightening up. He would go and find Yami, and then he would hide his balance before facing the rogue reapers. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened to Mana, because he might not come out of that encounter sane.

"Yugi?"

"Leave this to me, Seto; I'll take care of it."

"And your balance?"

"Don't worry about him. That's my business." Yugi strengthened his grip on the scythe. "But you can tell the higher ups that-AH!"

He pitched forward, falling to the floor. The cell phone skittered out of his hand, Yugi staring at it blankly as he hit the floor seconds after it, barely feeling the impact. His mind was focused far away on the faint beat of a heart, getting slower as time when on. Yugi let out a whimper, one hand reaching out like he could help the dying person only to stop as the heart stopped beating. He felt like something had snapped in him, Yugi unaware that he had screamed until the sound echoed back on him.

Yugi pushed himself off the floor, feeling his arms wobble a bit, but he forced himself onward, the grip on his scythe never loosening. He felt tears running down his cheeks as he went to pick up the phone, listening to Seto shout at him for a moment before speaking, barely recognizing his own voice. "They killed him. Those bastards killed him!"

"Yugi?" He hung up the phone, shoving it into his pocket and striding towards the door, his eyes narrowed. He would make them pay.

Yami didn't know how long he had sat there staring at the wall, coming back to himself as someone else entered the room. He vaguely remembered Joey coming to talk to him before, but he couldn't remember any of the conversation, it was lost in the endless loop of thought that he was stuck in. How could they let someone in to see him when he had killed twenty-seven people?

"Just remember, shout if you need me."

"Yes." So they had let Serenity in. Yami didn't bother to look up, shifting his gaze to the floor before settling back down, his head dropping until his chin rested on his chest. Why couldn't they just leave him alone? They thought that they were helping, but they didn't know the truth.

He had killed Tèa.

He had killed those twenty-seven people.

That rogue reaper was somehow connected to him.

Yami shivered and curled into himself. He didn't know how or why, but that creature was following him. Maybe it was a part of him; maybe it wasn't, but that fact didn't matter right now. What did was the fact that it was killing people, killing people that he had been in contact with. Maybe it was his own killing instinct that was forcing the reaper to do this. Maybe he had accidentally created the reaper in his bouts of anger, twisting some poor soul through some means that he didn't remember. The accident had to have wiped that out to.

The hows and the whys didn't matter though, all that mattered was the fact that all these people were dead, and it was his fault.

"Yami?" He felt a hand on his shoulder, tipping his head a bit so he could see Serenity. It was the only movement that he would allow himself. Serenity seemed to take that as an invitation, smiling before kneeling on the floor of the cell, her other hand resting on his free shoulder. "Listen Yami, I found your knife, the one that you lost that night. Mrs. Wong has it, she keeps it in her closet and there's still blood on it. All I have to do is tell Joey and then you're free."

He stared at her for a moment before closing his eyes. It didn't matter.

She gave him a gentle shake, a concerned sound escaping from her before she shook him harder. "Yami? Did you hear me?"

He leaned back, just far enough that he hands slid from his shoulders. Yami didn't open his eyes to see what his move had done, just listening as she gasped and then sat back, the bunk beds across from him rattling as she leaned on them. "I talked to Joey on the way in, but I didn't tell him about the knife, I wanted you to know first…to see if you knew anything else. He said that they had no evidence to keep you in here, but you weren't moving. I could open the door and let you walk out right now."

"No!" He opened his eyes, staring at her before shivering. Yami shifted on the bed, flopping onto his side before rolling to face the wall, wrapping his arms around himself. "I can't."

"What do you mean you can't? You can't stay here, there's no case."

"I can't be let out, not if I want people to live."

"Yami?"

"I've seen the thing that's killed them, and I'm controlling it."

He yelped as he was pulled onto his back, Serenity looming over him with a frown. "What are you talking about?"

Yami stared at her licking his lips before speaking slowly. "I see it, the thing that kills people. It's a figure dressed in a cowl and it has a scythe. It reaches into their chest and squeezes their heart until it stops. And I make it do it."

"That's impossible."

"It's true."

Serenity huffed before giving him a rough shake. "It's not and you know it."

"I killed them all. I was the one who killed Tèa." His eyes widened as Serenity slapped him, the red head taking a step away and beginning to pace up and down the small room as she raged.

"You're just going to let them convince you of that? You're acting like you're the only person who was lost someone here? Tèa was five years ago, Yami, but I lost Tristan today and you don't see me moping around. We have something to do and we can't just stop to throw ourselves a pity party. Now what are we going to do?"

Yami stared at her before sitting up slowly, wrapping his arms around himself again. "I don't want anyone else to die. I want this all to stop." He wanted Yugi close to him again, his body and mind already craving the calm that came with the reaper's presence. Yami shook his head before standing up, smiling at Serenity. "Thanks."

She nodded before flinging herself forward into his arms, Yami catching her awkwardly as she hugged him. He smiled before allowed himself to relax, wrapping his arms around Serenity with a sigh of relief. A flicker of movement out of the corner of his eye made him turn his head, smiling back at where Duke and Tomoya stood. He frowned a moment later, pulling away from Serenity. "Where's Yugi?"

"Oh," she paused to push some hair out of her face, "I took him back to your house. He looked like he needed sleep."

Yami glanced back at the ghosts, Tomoya blushing and giving a shrug. So the ghost had let Yugi back inside, Yami would have to thank him for that later. As long as Yugi was alright, he could relax. Yami pulled back away from Serenity, meeting her eyes and smiling. His gaze flicked up towards her forehead, his mouth falling open in shock.

The number forty-one was glowing in her forehead, carved in like the others.

He felt Serenity shake him, his gaze going towards the cell door as he felt a shiver go up his spine. "Yami? Yami, what's wrong?"

"Get down!" He pushed Serenity to the ground, ducking himself as the rogue reaper pushed through the door and into the room, missing them both and disappearing into the back wall. In a moment, Tomoya and Duke were after it, Yami hearing them both shout before they disappeared into the wall.

He reached down to help Serenity up, holding her close as he backed towards the door, listening to the shouts of the two ghosts as they fought the creature. Yami took a deep breath before pushing Serenity towards the door. "Call for the deputy, tell him that we're taking Joey up on his offer. We'll go out the back."

"Yami?"

"Listen Serenity, you need to trust me and do what I say." He looked at her, hating that she was so scared. It didn't help that she couldn't see the creature coming, essentially blind to her demise. And he would have to be the one to keep her safe. With his track record, he wouldn't quite trust him either. Yami swallowed and pulled her into a quick hug, hoping that the contact would reassure her. "You're marked as the next victim. I'm going to try and save you, alright? But you have to listen to me."

She nodded, taking a deep breath before going over to the door and shouting for the deputy on duty. Yami lingered close to her, turning his head in the direction of the new shouts. At times, he could see Duke and Tomoya as they struggled to keep the rogue reaper from getting into the room, managing to keep it away from Serenity long enough for her to finish her conversation. She drew Yami's attention back to her by tugging on his sleeve. "He says that we can go now. They won't stop us."

Yami gave her a smile before nodding that she could open the door. Serenity peered out before padding out into the hallway, motioning for Yami to follow. He was about to follow the silent order when Tomoya stumbled back into the cell, adjusting his glasses with a nervous smile. Yami paused before taking a step towards the ghost. "Tomoya?"

"I think we got him Ya-AH!" Tomoya twitched as the curved blade of the scythe pushed through his head, Yami's stomach churning as he watched the blade slice through his friend. The reaper pushed through the wall, pulling his weapon out of Tomoya and instant later, the ghost slumping to the ground. Yami heard the reaper snarl before the ghost was flipped over, the reaper tearing at Tomoya's chest before pulling out a pulsing orb. Yami felt a lump form in his throat as he watched the reaper crush Tomoya's soul before he focused on Serenity.

He cursed as he allowed himself to be pulled from the cell, grabbing her arm and turning her down the hallway that led out through the back of the police station. Yami gave her a little shove, hoping that it would encourage her into a run, especially since that creature was still following them. Serenity shot a glare at him before hurrying up, the two of them dashing down the hall.

Yami panted for breath as they rounded a corner, slamming into Serenity as she came to a stop, her mouth hanging open in shock. He peeked around her, cursing again as he found himself staring at Noa. The agent dropped the cup he had been holding, ignoring the coffee that spilled on the floor as he fumbled to pull out his gun. Yami took a step backward, about to pull Serenity with him when he heard something slam into the wall behind him.

He turned, staring at the rogue reaper for a moment before Duke rushed forward. "You son of a bitch!"

Both the ghost and the reaper disappeared through the wall, Yami trying to follow their progress with his eyes and keep Serenity out of the reaper's way. He was surprised when she took one look back at him before bolting forward, rushing for Noa and grabbing onto his arm. "He's gone crazy. He threatened to kill me if I didn't help him escape."

Noa seemed at a loss for words at the moment, eventually pushing Serenity away and pointing his gun at Yami and narrowing his eyes. Yami sucked in a deep breath and held up his hands in surrender, wondering what Serenity was doing. He didn't have long to wait.

The agent had just set himself up for the shot when Serenity hit him over the head with a fire extinguisher, Noa shouting before dropping to the ground, the gun falling from his hand. Serenity threw the fire extinguisher to the side, quickly picking up the gun and passing it to Yami as he ran up, seeming to be glad to be rid of the thing. "I didn't hit him too hard, he could be up at any minute."

"Then we should leave." He took her sleeve, ready to escort her out when he saw Duke stumble out of a wall, the reaper right behind him.

In no time, the reaper had Duke pinned to the wall, the ghost struggling to get out of its grip. Yami's eyes widened before he turned, leveling the gun at the reaper and flicking the safety off. If he shot the reaper it wouldn't kill it, but it would distract it long enough for Duke to get away. He had already seen Solomon and Tomoya die for him.

"Don't! Just run!"

"I-"

"Run, Yami!" Duke arched up with a scream, Yami feeling his hands tremble as the reaper reached in to rip out the glowing orb, once again crushing it. Yami turned away before Duke hit the ground, grabbing Serenity's arm and hurrying her out of the building.

He let go of her as soon as they were out, the two of them running down the alley behind the police station. Yami put his other hand on the gun, looking around and trying to listen for the reaper. Hopefully he would hear it before he could see it. But that would mean nothing. All he could do was shoot at it and hope to distract it from Serenity while she ran, and he would be out of luck as soon as he ran out of bullets. He couldn't harm the creature, he couldn't even touch it, but it could kill him. The only things that were able to touch it were ghosts.

Yami slowed down at the thought, coming to a stop and staring at a wall as the thought. The ghosts were the only ones who could fight it, but he doubted that any of the ghosts up at the cemetery would bother to help him. They were all as scared of this thing as he was, and for a good reason. But he couldn't just let Serenity die, Joey would be shattered by her death and he wasn't sure that he could survive seeing another friend die. So that just left one person.

He took a shaky breath, ignoring Serenity's frantic motions for him to hurry up. Instead, he checked the clip in the gun, relieved to see that it was full. At least he would have a second chance at this, as if he missed. Yami closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before pressing the muzzle of the gun against his head. He tried to ignore Serenity's scream, focusing on taking deep breaths and pushing all of his regrets away.

He would never get the chance to be proven innocent.

He would never get the chance to actually live.

He would never get the chance to see if he and Yugi could become something beyond the pull of reaper and balance.

That last one was something that he regretted the most. There was something there beyond the bond, he could feel it, but he would never get to see what it could really become. Yami ducked his head, sucking in a quick breath through his teeth before counting down, trying not to think how much this would hurt.

"No!" The gun was ripped from his hand and thrown against a wall, Yami slamming into the wall right after it as Serenity pushed him back against it. "What do you think you are doing?"

"I can't protect you like this."

"Who said I need protecting?" She was trying to sound brave, Yami could see that. But he could also feel her trembling.

He sighed and slumped in her hold, looking away. "I can't touch it or fight it, I can't do anything. Only ghosts can and all of my friends are dead."

"W-what?"

"Solomon, Duke, Tomoya," Yami reached up to wipe a tear from his eye, "they all died protecting me and the rest are too cowardly to do anything. If I could just touch that thing, I would make sure to destroy it!"

Serenity hesitated for a moment before nodding, letting go of Yami but kicking the gun away. When he went after it, she put a hand on his shoulder, shaking her head. "There's another way, a way that I could bring you back."

Yami stared at her, Serenity seeming to take that as his answer. She grabbed his hand and began pulling him through the alleys, this time heading in the direction of the hospital. Yami's eyes widened at that, looking back at her. Serenity shook the hair out of her eyes before beginning to explain. "There are some amphibians and insects that let themselves freeze over the winter, they just stop living and freeze over. But then, in the spring, they thaw out and begin to function again. Humans can't quite work like that, but it would give you a window of opportunity.

"There's a freezer in the hospital that I can cool down quickly, quickly enough to have you freeze. The thing is, it'll preserve tissue for a while and I can bring you back. It's the brain that's the important bit. I can stick you in there and monitor you...but you can only have ten minutes."

"Ten?"

"Longer than that and I'm…I'm not sure that I can bring you back." Serenity gave him a guilty look over her shoulder before shaking her head. "Officially, you'll be brain dead. And, even if I bring you back, you might not survive for long or they'll be problems and-Are you sure there's no other way to do this?"

She stopped them, turning to look at him with tears rolling down her face. "Yami…please, is there another way to do this? Because I really…I don't want to die, Yami, but I don't want to help you die. You're my friend and…"

Yami glanced down the alley, seeing the hospital waiting on the other side of the street. He looked back in the direction that they had come from. The rogue reaper could be out there anywhere, searching for Serenity and they didn't even know if it could track her. This was their only shot at saving her. He swallowed before nodding, putting on a fake smile. "Let's do this, yeah?"

Serenity nodded, grabbing his hand and tugging him into the hospital, the two of them slipping through the doors and rushing through the halls.

Yami was shocked that the place was so empty, getting glimpses of the clouds just turning pink through some of the windows. Weird, it didn't feel like it had quite been a day since he had walked into the police station, but the hours had sped by. And he wouldn't even live to see the sunset. Yami looked away from the windows, concentrating on keeping up with Serenity as she led him through the corridors, turning and walking into the lab room.

His gaze was immediately drawn to the metal door in one wall, Yami glancing up at the temperature gage before walking towards it, peering in the small window to look at the metal shelves and the glass tubes that were placed inside. Yami turned around to look at Serenity, watching her mess with some of the vials and a needle, taking a step back to lean against the door.

He tried to convince himself that this was a better way; he would actually get a chance to come back for one. But he didn't like the idea of freezing slowly. There would be a window of time when he couldn't help Serenity if the reaper attacked her, and then he would really die. Yami sighed and closed his eyes. He would rather take this route that shooting himself in the head. And, hopefully, he would retain the sense to get away from the passage of light.

Serenity walked over to him, trying to smile as she took a piece of rubber tubing from one of the tables, carefully rolling up his sleeve before tying the tube onto his arm. Yami winced at the pressure but stood still, watching as she slid the needle into his arm, injecting something into his blood before releasing the tourniquet and pulling out the needle, placing both of them to the side. "That will help lower your temperature and slow your heart rate, so you won't…"

He smiled and reached out to hug her, letting Serenity cling to him. "Thanks."

"Don't. I'm helping you commit suicide."

"Watch the clock. I'll come back when you revive me." He gave her a smile before stepping out of his shoes and socks, stripping off his jacket before making sure that he sleeves were rolled up. He wanted as many parts of his body exposed to the cold so that this wouldn't be a lingering death. Yami glanced back up at her, tipping his head to the side before walking over and opening the door to the freezer, shivering as the cold air hit him.

"Yami…you don't have to do this."

He looked back at her before shrugging and walking inside of the freezer, shutting the door behind him. He heard it click shut as Serenity threw her weight against it. Yami glanced around the small space, finding a corner to settle himself in. He was careful not to touch the metal shelves, lowering himself to the floor and curling up in a ball, unable to stop himself from shivering.

Then he felt the temperature start to drop rapidly, Yami looking up to see Serenity standing at the window. She was crying but trying to smile. Yami offered her a weak smile of his own before he slumped forward, trying to curl into a tighter ball as his muscles protested the cramped position. He could still feel Serenity's gaze on him, and he wanted her to leave. It was bad enough that she knew that she was helping him die, but he didn't want the guilt of making her watch him go along with it.

After a long while he looked up again, getting glimpses of Serenity as she hurried around the room, probably getting things ready for when she woke him up. He tried to smile at that, his head dropping back down as he tried to shiver, the effort seeming too much. He was just so tired. It would be easier to just fall asleep right here, to stretch out on the cold floor and sleep until he was warm again. Yami felt the corner of his mouth twitch up in a rueful smile. At least he wouldn't have to fight the feeling. Still, he wanted to check on Serenity one last time before giving in.

Ponderously, he raised his head, blinking as his vision blurred for a moment. Yami stifled a yawn, catching a glimpse of Serenity looking into the freezer, biting her lip. He was sure that he saw tears on her face, but he ignored them. He would apologize and figure out a way to make this up to her later. Right now, all he wanted to do was sleep.

Serenity moved away from the window, Yami allowing his head to slowly drop back down, eyes beginning to shut. Movement by the window made him lift his head a fraction, his eyes meeting crazed blue ones before Noa Kaiba moved away from the window, Yami barely feeling the fear that he should have at the appearance of the government agent.

Instead, he allowed himself to slump, arms loosening from where he had held them close to his body as his breathing slowed and then stopped.

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