Chapter 10: Valentine's Day Troubles

February 2003

The three couples were planning to go out together for Valentine's Day. Yami and Yugi were walking to class when a teen in all black rounded the corner. "You Yami?" h easked, glaring at them.

"No. You must be mistaken." Yami said, noticing the gun on the teen's belt.

The teen pulled out the gun. "Want to try that again?"

"Yeah, I'm Yami." Yami admitted, eyeing the gun. "What do you want?"

"You slapped my girl." The teen aimed the gun at Yami's chest.

"Yami wouldn't do that!" Yugi protested.

"Shut up!" the teen demanded. "Elise, she said you slapped her when she tried to get a book from the library."

"Elise Jenkins? She hit on me and then got mad when I said I had a girlfriend." Yami protested.

"Don't lie to me!" the teen shouted. He fired the gun, hitting Yami in the chest. Yami fell back, hitting the ground.

"Yami!" Yugi cried, kneeling beside Yami as the teen ran away. "Lay still." He instructed.

"Damn, this hurts more than I'd expect." Yami panted, looking down at his chest where red bloomed on his white uniform shirt.

"No joking, Yami. You've been shot." Yugi removed his jacket and pressed it to Yami's chest.

Tea rounded the corner and gasped, running over. "Yami! Please tell me you weren't shot." She begged.

"Shot in the chest." Yugi explained to Tea.

Tea touched Yami's cheek. "Fight, honey. You can beat this." She told him.

Yami's eyes closed as he passed out. Tea held his hand until the paramedics took him away.

Joey and Luna were walking to her class when the shooter rounded the corner. "Hey, jackass. Here's for my girl!" the teen shouted. He fired at Joey, hitting him in the shoulder.

Joey stumbled, slamming into the nearest locker. His head banged into it as he clutched his useless arm to his stomach. "What the hell was that for?" Luna shouted, turning on the teen.

The teen pointed the gun at Luna's head. "Stay out of it and you won't get hurt."

Luna gave a small sigh of relief as the teen left. Luna went to Joey, who was on the floor, half conscious. "Joey, can you hear me?" she asked.

Joey opened his eyes slowly, groaning. "What happened?"

"You were shot. You'll be okay." Luna promised.

"Don't let them take my arm…" Joeys eyes drifted shut again.

Luna and Yugi called 911. Paramedics arrived and took the teens to the hospital. Two others were shot.

Luna, Yugi, and Tea were sitting in the OR waiting room when Grandpa came in. "How are they?" Yugi asked.

"In surgery. Yami was shot in the chest, Joey in the shoulder." Tea answered. "I'm so worried. He could die. This happened on my birthday, too!" she wailed.

"It's your birthday? Oh I'm so sorry." Luna hugged her. "Does he know?"

"Yeah. I hope he doesn't forget." Tea worried.

"It's more important that he makes it." Luna squeezed her hand.

A nurse entered the room. "Mr. Mutou?" she asked.

"How is my grandson?" Grandpa asked, standing up with Yugi.

"It's about Joey. He's going to be fine. His shoulder will heal in time." The nurse explained.

"How is Yami?" Yugi asked, tears in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I don't know. A nurse will tell you when there's word. So you want to see Joey? He's awake."

"Have the nurse tell us when Yami's out. Let's go to Joey." They followed the nurse to Joey's room.

Joey was sitting up in bed, his left arm in a sling. "Luna…" he smiled as they came in. "Grandpa, Yugi, Tea."

"How do you feel?" Luna asked, going over.

"Tired…Where's Yami?" Joey asked, realizing that they were missing one. They exchanged looks. "What?"

"He was shot, too. In the chest." Tea managed to say over the lump in his throat.

"Oh God, is he okay?" Joey asked, eyes wide.

"We don't know." Yugi moaned.

"He's gotta be okay. He's gotta be." Joey moaned, wincing.

"You okay?" Luna asked, concerned.

"Yeah, just this damn shoulder." Joey put his good hand to his shoulder.

"Here." Luna grabbed the trigger for the morphine and put it in his right hand. He pressed the button until he relaxed. "Is that better?" she asked.

"Thanks." Joey sighed, drifting off to sleep.

A few hours later, a nurse came in. "Are you Yami Mutou's family?" she asked Joey was asleep.

"How is he?" Grandpa asked as the others looked over.

"He's in ICU. He's on a ventilator. He'll be lucky if he makes it. For now, though, he's alive." The nurse answered gravely.

Tea and Yugi began crying. "Can we see him?" Grandpa asked, choked up.

"Follow me." The nurse left with everyone but Luna following. She led him to the ICU to a room. "He's in here."

"Thank you." Grandpa led them in.

Tea wailed at the sight of Yami's pale fragile form. She ran over and took his hand. "Oh Yami…" she murmured, kissing his cheek. "Don't leave me."

Yugi went over hesitantly. "Hey, big brother. You better make it. I can't live without you guiding me." He said, taking Yami's other hand.

Yami's hand twitched in Tea's. "Yami?" she asked, looking at his hand then up at his face. Yami's eyes were open. "Yami, you're awake." She kissed his cheek again.

Yami squeezed her hand as if to assure her. He turned his head as Yugi looked up Yami squeezed his hand. "You can't talk because you have a tube down your throat to help you breathe." Yugi explained.

Yami mimed writing. "You want to say something?" Tea found a pen and paper and handed it to him. Yami wrote something down. 'What happened?' You were shot in the chest. You have to fight. I can't lose you." Tea began crying, her head on his arm.

Yami wrote, "I won't die."

"I love you so much." Tea murmured, kissing her forehead. "Get some rest."

Yami closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A few days later, Yami had improved. He was off the ventilator and out of ICU when Tea returned to see him that afternoon. She'd come to see him every afternoon after school. "Hey, look who's feeling better." Tea hurried over and gave him a quick kiss. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better. The doctor says I'll be as good as new, but I have asthma. I'll just use inhalers." Yami explained.

"I don't care. I just want you healthy." Tea sat on the edge of the bed. "I love you."

"I love you too." Yami was released a few weeks later.

April 2003

April arrived with the World Championship. The preliminaries started and Hailey, Luna, Joey, Seto, Yami, and Yugi all made it through.

All of them made it to the finals. It came down to between Yugi and Yami. Yami won. "I did it!" Yami cried.

"Good job, honey." Tea kissed Yami.

"Good duel, Yami." Yugi shook his brother's hand.

"And our champion is: Yami Mutou!" the announcer cried. He gave Yami the trophy.

"Thank you." Yami smiled. He waved to his screaming fans. He turned to Tea as they left. She looked unhappy. "Jealous?"

"You have tons of screaming fans. Of course I'm a little jealous." Tea scowled.

Yami stopped and kissed her. "I love you, not them. At least not that way. So no worrying about it."

"Okay." Tea nodded. "Let's go home."

June 2003

June arrived with the three couples anniversary. Yami invited Tea over to the Game Shop while Yugi, Joey, and Hailey went out. "Hey, what's all this?" Tea asked, entering the kitchen. The lights were off and candles were lit. She kissed him.

"I thought we could have a nice candlelit dinner. What do you think?" Yami asked, putting his hands on her waist.

"It's so romantic." Tea sighed. "What's for dinner?" she asked, putting her hand on his neck.

"Well, I made some spaghetti." Yami stepped back, letting go of her waist.

"Oh, I love spaghetti!" Tea's eyes lit up, the candles reflected in her eyes.

"I know you do. I'm your boy friend, remember?" Yami led her to the table and served the food.

After dinner, Tea played footsie with Yami, startling him. "You know, I was thinking…"

"About what?" Yami asked.

"We should take our relationship to the next level." Tea smiled seductively at him.

"I thought you wanted to wait for a special occasion." Yami protested.

"I think our first anniversary is pretty special. Did you change your mind?" Tea asked.

"No, if I'd known you were going to, I would have bought protection." Yami laughed nervously.

"We have time. I don't have to be home until ten." Tea got up. "You get the protection and I'll meet you in your room."

"The quickest run to the drugstore in history." Yami said as he left. Tea laughed.

When Yami was gone, Tea snuck out to her car. She pulled out a bag and went back inside Yami returned as the rain started. He was soaked to the bone by the time he got inside the house. "Tea?" he called, brushing a bang out of his eyes. He blew out the candles.

"Up here!" Tea called.

Grinning, Yami took the stairs two at a time. Tea was laying on the bed in a piece of sexy lingerie that was blue to match her eyes. "Holy crap." He gasped.

"You like?" Tea asked, then noticed he was shivering. "You're soaking wet." She went over with a towel and slowly undressed him. She dried vigorously. "We don't want you to get sick."

Yami leaned in and kissed her, pulling her body against his still slightly wet one. "That'll warm me up. How about a shower?" he murmured.

"I don't want my first time to be in a shower. But we can shower together." Tea suggested.

Yami grinned. "Let's go then."

Wrapping a towel around his waist, he led her to the bathroom. "What about my shower stuff?" Tea asked. Yami turned on the water.

"You can use mine." Yami suggested. "Join me." Turning, he dropped the towel and got into the shower.

Tea undressed and stepped in, shutting the door behind her. She drank in his lean body, his flat stomach that had a little bit of black hair trailing from his belly button to his groin. "Wow." She murmured, blushing.

Yami took in his own view of Tea. He put his hand on her narrow waist, pulling her close to him, kissing her. "I love you." He murmured.

"I love you too. Remember, not in here." Tea reminded him.

"I know." Yami grabbed a sponge and sqirted soap on it. He began washing her body, trying not to linger on her personal areas. Tea closed her eyes with a sigh. "You like that?" he asked softly.

"Yes." Tea whispered with another sigh.

Tea took her time washing him, teasing him. She noticed his arousal matched her own. "Okay, that's enough foreplay. Let's rinse off."

They rinsed off and dried. They went into the bedroom naked and made love. An hour later, Tea dressed and went home.