Chapter Twenty-Six:

Yami found himself shoved up against the wall beside the door to the apartment, which remained open, looking up at Sentoryou as the older man leaned over him, one hand still clapped over his mouth and the other holding his wrist. Sentoryou's face was enraged, but even as Yami looked up at him, the anger seemed to disappear. His hand left his mouth and instead rested against the wall beside his head.

"Shadow Flare, I'm not a man who likes to be messed with."

Yami said nothing, still looking up at him. He knew he should be afraid. He was being held up against the wall by a man who was bigger and stronger than he was, his Puzzle upstairs on his dresser. But for some reason he wasn't, because for some reason Sentoryou didn't look like he was there to hurt him.

"Why did you do it?"

"Buck."

"What?"

"Buck. I saw you with him, there at the Fire Room."

Sentoryou's brow furrowed and his hand let go of Yami's wrist, coming up against the wall on the other side of his head. "My nephew? What does he have to do with anything?"

"Buck is your nephew?"

"He's my sister's boy. What does he have to do with you drugging me and stealing my computer and briefcase?"

Yami blinked. So Kaiba had not only rifled through Sentoryou's possessions, he had stolen them as well. Naturally Sentoryou thought he had done it, since he hadn't seen Kaiba there at the hotel.

"I...I needed to know something."

"Why didn't you just ask me?" At Yami's silence, he smiled a little crookedly. "I see, because you didn't trust me. Fair enough. I trusted you too much."

"Sentoryou--"

"What does Buck have to do with anything? Did he do something to you? I love my nephew, but I don't pretend he isn't a troublemaker, like my sister does. What did he do?"

Yami didn't know what to say. Sentoryou was a good actor, he'd give him that. He looked truly concerned and confused. But he could be acting, and Yami knew better than to say too much about Takanawa, Buck, and Kaiba.

"Nothing."

Sentoryou blinked and frowned. His eyes searched Yami's and rather than looking angry, he sighed.

"I'm never really going to have a chance with you, am I?" he asked sadly.

Surprised, Yami stared at him. He hadn't been expecting...

They were both so absorbed that both jumped at the sound of a loud, angry voice.

"What the--Who the hell are you?!"

Joey was hurrying in through the open door, Yugi right behind him. Sentoryou jerked back and Yami stepped away from the wall. Here would be a chance to admit everything to Joey and Yugi, to get Sentoryou off his back for good.

"Um, Sentoryou...maybe you should go."

Everyone looked at him, but he adjusted his coat and looked at the floor rather than at them. Sentoryou glanced at him before turning and walking out the door. Joey revolved on the spot, keeping his face to Sentoryou, his fists clenched at his sides. However, he let Sentoryou walk out, just slamming the door shut. Yugi rolled up to Yami, looking concerned.

"Are you okay?"

"Yami, was that that guy from the Fire Room?"

"What?" Yugi asked. "Did something happen?"

"Yes, yes, and no. I'm fine, really. Yugi, that was Sentoryou Oka. He's a...fan from the club."

"Oh." Yugi's face turned red.

"Yami, is he messing with you?" Joey asked. "If you need some help getting him to back off--"

"No, Joey. It's fine. There's nothing to worry about." His friends stared at him for a long time. Yami hung up his coat, smiled, and headed into the kitchen. "We were going to get lunch, weren't we?"

Yugi and Joey followed him into the kitchen and though Yami could sense that both were still worried, neither made another comment. Yami busied himself making sandwiches and adding potato chips to the plates, well aware of their eyes on him. Why couldn't he bring himself to tell them everything?

'Because even though you know they'll help you, you can't stand the thought of the way they'll look at you.'

Yami paused for a moment, cursing the betrayal of his thoughts, though he knew it was true. He also knew what else was true; he'd have to go and see Kaiba.

******

"Hey, Yami! Mm, that smells good!"

Yami smiled at Yugi as he wheeled himself into the kitchen. He was just taking out a cooked ham from the oven, the table already laden with the mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, gravy, and biscuits of their Christmas dinner. Joey followed right after him, also taking an apprectiative sniff of the air.

"Yeah, that does smell good! Man, I'm starving."

"You always announce that, Joey, but we're never surprised."

Joey dug his knuckles into Yugi's hair with a playful growl before opening the refrigerator to grab the water jug and fill the glasses on the table. After that, they settled down to eat.

Once the meal was over, Yugi brought out the Christmas cookies he had proudly made himself the night before. The drop-sugar cookies were taken with egg nog in the living room and they passed out their gifts to one another. Yami hesitated for a second before handing over an envelope to Yugi.

"What's this?" Yugi opened the envelope, then gasped softly. "Yami!"

"What?" Joey asked, leaning over Yugi's shoulder to read the check Yugi was holding. "Whoa! Holy--"

They both looked up at him. Yami set down his glass and looked at them steadily. Yugi just looked shocked, but Joey's face was rapidly turning to anger.

"I thought you were done with him!"

"I was."

"Y-Yami, I thought you weren't going to worry about it?" Yugi asked weakly.

"No. Yugi, Kaiba can afford it. And we are going to accept it," Yami added sternly to Joey over the top of Yugi's head. "I'm going to work it off, it's not for free."

"Doing what?" Joey said tightly.

"Whatever Kaiba Corp. needs doing, I suppose."

"But...But why would Kaiba just give you a check for five-hundred thousand dollars?" Yugi asked. "I mean, even if you were going to work it off--"

"I convinced him," Yami said shortly.

Sometimes having the reputation he did worked. Yugi and Joey both seemed to take this as Yami had used his Shadow powers. A grudging smile tugged at Joey's lips, even though the anger hadn't left his eyes.

"You can't trust that bastard."

"I'm aware of that. I can also take care of myself, Joey." He looked down into Yugi's eyes. "Aibou, I couldn't just stand by while you suffered. I want you to walk again, almost as much as you do. Don't worry about the debt I have to Kaiba, just take the money and get the surgery."

Yugi's violet eyes were now brimming with tears. He smiled and reached out for a hug, squeezing Yami tightly. "Thank you."

//Anytime, Aibou.//

"Okay," Joey sighed. "If it's for Yug', then I'm all for it, I guess. Even if we have to deal with Kaiba."

Yugi turned his head to look at him and even at that angle Yami could see a thoughtful look in his eyes. He stood up, using the excuse of clearing the glasses and cookie-plate from the coffee table.

"We'll talk to Dr. Ashford on Monday morning, when his practice opens again."

"Yami--"

"I know, Joey. If it gets to be too much, I promise I'll let you hit him."

Joey's laughter followed him into the kitchen. Once in there, he shut his link to Yugi and began rinsing out the glasses. So here he was again, about to steal for Kaiba. And after all this time, Kaiba hadn't come anywhere closer to finding out who this Takanawa was. So much for the unlimited resources he was always going on about. Sentoryou had seemed like a possible link, but the more Yami thought about it, the less he thought that was true. Kaiba had been right; Sentoryou had never made a mention of Takanawa, and Takanawa didn't seem to know of his existence. Perhaps it was a coincidence after all.

Still, three months later and he was still stealing things. There had to be another way of going about this. Just placating Takanawa was not working. Kaiba trying to find him using Kaiba Corp. was not working. There had to be another way.

And also, here he was lying to his friends, his family. Again. And they believed him.

The shatter of the glass surprised him. He hadn't even realized he was gripping it so hard, but now the top of the cylinder had broken, slicing into the meat at the base of his thumb and the pads of his middle and ring fingers. Blood welled out and swirled with the water down the drain, so bright red. Yami stood there, watching as the red water twisted along the basin of the sink, the pain slamming up his arm with every pulse of his heart.

Mechanically he picked the pieces of glass out of the sink and threw them into the garbage can. His blood had dripped on the counter and the floor and he picked up the dish towel, wrapping his cut hand in it. It was the same hand he'd cut smashing the case in the galleria. And he felt the same detachment as he had then. What was wrong with him?

Holding his wrapped hand to his chest, he used the other to clean up all traces of blood from the counter and floor before slipping out of kitchen and heading upstairs, careful not to let either Yugi or Joey see him. In the upstairs bathroom he cleaned his cuts with antiseptic, seeing that they were deep and bloody, but hardly life-threatening.

"Yami, what happened?!"

Yugi had followed him up the stairs. Joey was still in the living room; Yami could now hear the TV. Yugi wheeled into the bathroom, his eyes wide as they surveyed Yami's hand.

"I hit the glass on the partition in the sink and it broke. I'm all right, it's not--"

"Here, let me help."

Yami was having difficulty using his left hand to put on the bandages. Yugi wheeled forward and did it himself after thoroughly inspecting the cuts.

"Why didn't you tell us?" Yugi looked up at him, brow furrowed.

"There was no reason to worry you." Yami looked away from Yugi's face, pretending to inspect the tightness of the dressings. He hadn't gotten them, because he didn't want them to know he was becoming so stressed out, he wasn't paying attention to what he was doing. They had enough to worry about themselves.

"Maybe we should take you to the hospital."

"No. It's fine, it's just a couple of little cuts."

"You're having some bad luck with glass," Yugi muttered. He didn't seem to notice Yami's guilty blanch. "Are you sure you don't want to go to the hospital? You could probably use some stitches."

"I'm fine, Aibou, really. It's late and cold and you've already got it bandaged up. I'd really just rather go to bed."

He hated the way Yugi was looking at him. He could tell he was starting to be suspicious, concerned. That was not what he wanted. He had to get out of there. Hopping up from the side of the tub, he forced a smile on his face.

"Thank you, Aibou. Good night."

Yami walked past him and into his bedroom. Closing the door, he leaned against it and closed his eyes for a long moment before opening his eyes and looking down at his hand. It still hurt.

He walked over to the closet and pulled open the door. The case of beer that had previously been hidden in there was gone, but Yami had replaced it with another. Forcibly pushing down the nagging voice that told him it wasn't a solution to drink, he opened one and drank it down. It wasn't until the fourth one that his hand no longer hurt and neither did his head.

It was then he got undressed and crawled under the covers, turning off his light.

tbc…