Yeah I know, this chapter's a little late. I sorry?

I don't really have much to say here, so on with the fic!

Enjoy! ;3

*In Japan, they go to school six days a week with only Sunday as their day off. Yup, they go to school Saturday!

Kaiba watched the many worn down buildings that passed him that were almost all covered in sloppy graffiti with stupid or obscene pictures on them. He always passed them when he was being driven home, but he'd never really noticed how completely fallen apart they looked; he usually had much more important things to focus on. However, as of the moment, everything that needed to be done in preparation for the Kaibaland Grand Opening Ceremony that was just one day away was done. He already knew the few lines he had to say, as did all the other participants. Everything in Kaibaland was working now; the rollercoaster had been fixed, and the "must be this tall to ride" board had been repaired as well.

Yes, at the moment the only thing the CEO had to do was to look over a few papers once he got home and verify that everything was indeed in order as he thought. Kaiba's eyes scanned over a few more works of "art" plastered on the deserted buildings, though he had to squint a little to see them because of the rain that was coming down. He saw one picture shine in the moon light of two detailed skeletons holding hands like a couple. As he tried to understand the point of that picture he saw another piece of graffiti, this one just words. It said "sory about ur wall bich" in messy handwriting. Kaiba rolled his eyes. As if the joke wasn't bad enough, the person who decided to put it there was also apparently incredibly stupid and had the writing skills of a five year old. On the wall next to that one was another picture. It looked like a poorly drawn man holding what Kaiba hoped was a lopsided bone, but something told him that it wasn't. The graffiti seemed to just go down-hill from there and Kaiba found himself getting bored of looking at them. By this time the rain had picked up and it was too difficult to make out what was on the walls anyway.

Just when Kaiba was about to look away from the window, he saw a flash of red, black, and blond pass by. He snapped his head over to where he thought he'd seen the familiar combination but when there was nothing more than another wall there he shifted in his seat to rotate his head and look through the back window of his vehicle. Lo and behold, there was Yami standing smack dab in the middle of the downpour. Almost immediately after seeing the small teen, Kaiba barked out an order for the driver to stop the limo before they got too far away. He watched Yami for a few seconds to see if he planned to move or just stand there like an idiot and get wet. When he didn't move, Kaiba shoved the door open and grabbed his briefcase as he stepped out, using it to shield the cold rain from his head.

"Yami!" he called out. The teen jumped and looked in Kaiba's direction with a surprised expression. "What the hell are you doing out here?" he demanded.

"Uh…" Yami glanced around. "I was just…I was…um…" Kaiba stood there, waiting for his explanation as to why he was standing in the pouring rain in an abandoned neighborhood on a cold November night. He quickly found his patience leaving him as Yami continued to sputter out only "uh", "erm", and "um", so he broke the continuous sounds of perplexity with a loud sigh, making sure that it was heard.

"Get in." he ordered, moving a little farther away from the door as to make room for Yami to do so. The teen looked at Kaiba for a little while as if actually contemplating whether getting in the limo would be a better idea than standing in the rain, then slowly made his way over and climbed in, flashing Kaiba an apologetic smile.

Kaiba slammed the door shut behind him and told the chauffeur to drive. He scowled in spite of himself out of the window. He'd done it again. Once again, he'd acted without thinking. He seemed to do that a lot whenever it involved Yami. He could have easily just passed by him and pretend he'd never even seen the runt. But he didn't. He hadn't even thought about doing such a thing until after the fact.

And so here he was, sitting in his limo with a cold and soaked Yami just like he was the first day he'd met him.

xxXxx

"So let me get this straight…"

Yami shifted in his seat as Kaiba gazed down at him. He'd taken Yami home with him and had him change into Mokuba's robe again as his clothes were being cleaned. Once Yami had settled onto the couch, Kaiba had almost immediately started interrogating him.

"You went for a walk earlier, wandered into that neighborhood, and got lost." Kaiba summed up what he was just told by Yami, who nodded. Kaiba raised an eyebrow and asked, "Why did you go for a walk in the rain?"

"It wasn't raining when I left."

"It's been raining nonstop since this evening. Must have been one hell of a walk for you to be out there for that long."

There was a short pause, then Yami said, "I was lost for a while." Kaiba formed his eyes into slits and frowned.

"Is that so?" he asked in a disdainful tone. "And what exactly was so confusing about that area?" Yami glanced off to the side.

"It was, um…well I was…the street names were really unfamiliar and…I guess it just kind of caught me off guard…"

"And you expect me to believe all of this? That you couldn't find your way out of that simple little neighborhood? You would have been out of there within twenty minutes at most if you had just kept walking forward! Now tell me, Yami, what is so damn difficult about that?"

Yami stared at Kaiba with his brows furrowed and his jaw clenched, like he was holding something back from spilling out. Kaiba waited in anticipation for the answer he thought Yami was about to give him. A few moments passed, and Yami looked away again.

"…Why would I lie?" Yami asked. Kaiba frowned again and leaned against the arm of the loveseat behind him.

"Why indeed?"

Yami seemed to almost physically shy away at that statement. Silence grew heavily between them, being broken only when a clap of thunder rumbled outside. Yami reached up with his left hand and scratched the back of his head, clearly uncomfortable. The motion caused Kaiba to instinctively glance in that direction momentarily, but once he did, he did a double take. In a swift motion, he grabbed Yami's left hand.

Yami started, surprised by Kaiba's sudden action. He stared wide-eyed at the brunette, and Kaiba stared at the hand he'd just grasped. They stayed that way for a short while, then Yami spoke up saying, "Wha-".

Before he had the chance to finish even one word, Kaiba pulled his hand down until his arm was fully extended out, and yanked the sleeve up. Silence settled around them, not even thunder sounding to disturb it. Kaiba gazed at the arm he'd just uncovered and struggled to form a sentence due to the bewilderment he was feeling.

Finally, he was able to force out, "What is this?" Yami was quiet. Kaiba tore his eyes away from the limb and looked at Yami who seemed almost as surprised as Kaiba was.

"…What does it look like?" he countered, looking away and obviously trying to remove his arm from Kaiba's grasp. Kaiba glared at Yami and continued to hold the appendage in place.

"Yami." he said in a low voice. "Why are there cuts on your wrist?"

All along about halfway down his left arm, there were many cuts all going horizontally. Most of them looked old and a few were just scars, but there were also three fresh looking slices imbedded into his flesh. As soon as Kaiba had seen them, a wave of different emotions had surged through him. He wasn't quite sure why he was so concerned about this, but he was.

"Yami." he repeated sternly. The teen flinched and slowly looked up at Kaiba with his eyes widened slightly and his mouth ajar. He stared at Kaiba for a little bit, then inhaled like he was about to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of doors being opened. Kaiba whipped his head to the left to see who dared disturb them.

"Mr. Kaiba, the clothes you asked to be washed are finished." a maid stated as she stepped into the room. Kaiba looked at Yami and he looked back nervously. Reluctant, Kaiba released Yami's hand. The tri-colored haired teen practically jumped up out of his seat and across the room to obtain his clothes. The maid handed then to him and bowed, then left. Yami headed toward the room he had used previously to change.

"There's a first-aid kit mounted to the wall in there. I suggest you use it unless you want those to get infected." Kaiba said. Yami paused on the way to his destination, but continued without saying anything.

After a long wait, Yami returned in the black jacket, gray shirt, and navy blue jeans he'd been wearing before. He avoided Kaiba's gaze as he quickly said, "I'm going to go home. Bye." and walked to the double doors leading out of the room. Kaiba growled at him for trying to leave so suddenly and speedily went to the doors as well. He beat Yami to it and stood there with his arms folded, blocking the way. Yami halted to a stop right in front of Kaiba and stood there in silence as if expecting Kaiba to move. When he didn't, Yami said, "Excuse me, Kaiba." and tried to step around him, but Kaiba easily foiled the attempt by stepping in the same direction.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Kaiba asked, holding up a mass of key chains held together by a black and red lanyard. Yami looked up at what Kaiba was holding and reached to take it, but Kaiba pulled it away before he could grab onto it. "First, tell me-"

"I don't want to." Yami interjected. Kaiba glared down at him. "Please, Kaiba." Yami gazed at Kaiba, red orbs flashing an emotion that Kaiba couldn't quite put his finger on. Whatever that was that had stirred in those eyes, it made Kaiba feel uneasy.

Kaiba closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He couldn't look into those eyes any longer.

"Listen," he began, "whatever the reason is, doing something like that sure as hell isn't going to solve anything. Sure, maybe it helps you deal with whatever is causing you to feel like that's necessary and it might feel satisfactory in that instant, but wouldn't it feel all the more satisfactory if you just dealt with whatever drove you to do it? Don't be a coward, and face the problem head on!" Kaiba reopened his eyes to see that, thankfully, the emotion that had been lingering on Yami's face was gone completely and replaced with a look of shock. It was understandable; Kaiba was a bit shocked that he'd said that as well.

What shocked Kaiba even more was that Yami flashed him an incredible smile once he got over the initial surprise.

"You're right."

Kaiba blinked. "Say what?"

Yami laughed. Shit, did he say that out loud? Kaiba suddenly felt a little humiliated, something he absolutely despised and rarely ever felt, which only cause him to feel even more so.

"I SAID: You're right." Yami reiterated. He sighed. "I guess I must have been acting a bit strange huh? I'm sorry, there's just been quite a bit on my mind. I'm alright though, really. But I do need to leave, it's late and I have school tomorrow you know." Oh yeah, it was *Friday. Kaiba looked Yami over, then tossed the bug bunch of key chains he'd been holding to him and refolded his arms over his chest.

"Do you plan to walk?" he asked.

"Yeah, it won't take me too long to get home." Yami tried stepping around Kaiba again, but again, Kaiba stopped him.

"You do realize it's still raining right?" As if on cue, a crack of thunder roared and shook the ground a bit. "If you walk, you'll just get wet again."

Yami seemed to ponder the thought as Kaiba turned around and pushed the doors open. He spotted a maid passing by and called her over.

"Tell Fuguta that he's to drive Yami to his house." he told her. "Yami, follow her and she'll take you to my limo. Just tell the driver your address and he'll take you home." Yami raised his eyebrows.

"Ah…" He nodded hesitantly. "Alright. I'll see you at the grand opening of Kaibaland then." Kaiba nodded as his goodbye and watched Yami walk into the hallway.

"Right this way." the maid directed Yami forward, and he complied.

"Oh." Yami stopped walking and spun around halfway to look at Kaiba out of the corner of his eyes. "And thanks."

Kaiba waited until he could no longer see Yami before he closed the doors. He ran his hand through his hair and exhaled heavily. He still couldn't believe he'd said any of that to Yami. After all, Kaiba wasn't exactly known for comforting anyone, if you can even call what he did comfort. Whatever it was, it seemed to pull Yami out from being down in the dumps. He seemed to perk right up after he'd said those things to him. In fact, he seemed to be a little too perked up. The fact that what Kaiba had said had the ability to cheer him up that quickly seemed a bit too good to be true. He wondered if he'd just wasted his breath. Kaiba sat on the couch and relaxed back as he thought about it.

Then again, who knows? It might have been a good thing that Kaiba spoke to Yami about it. Not many people would be able to identify with someone who inflicts self-harm and who knew what it was like to deal with problems with a blade and clear spot of flesh.

Kaiba gripped his wrist though his long-sleeved shirt absentmindedly.

Oh yes, he knew all too well.

My, that got a bit dark. Don't worry, I'll try to lighten things up in the next chapter.

I don't know about you guys, but whenever I read/write anything I tend to visualize everything a lot. So I had a pretty hard time writing that small part about the cuts on Yami's arm! It made my stomach ache. X3

I'm such a wussssss.

ALSO! I have absolutely no idea what it's like for a cutter, so if I got anything wrong I'm sorry! I really hope I don't offend anyone or anything…

Yeah, yeah, I know: "Write what you know Hiita-chan!" But it's part of the story! I didn't want to just graze over the subject; then it would have been such a short chappy! So I did as much research as I could, and this is the result!

Thanks for reading and sorry for the random rant but thanks for reading the entire thing! And if you didn't and are just reading this part then never mind!

I'd be super grateful for some feedback you guys! I'd like to be able to improve my writing, so let me know what you think!