Chapter Thirty-Six:

Yami woke drowsily to find himself lying in an unfamiliar bed in a room that was a sterile white. A woman in a white uniform was leaning over him and she smiled, patting his arm.

"Welcome back, Mr. Higarashi. How do you feel? Any nausea, dizziness, headache?"

"No." Yami remembered suddenly what had happened, the explosion, the injury, going to the hospital. Kaiba must have listed them under false names, for whatever his reasons were.

"Good. Okay, I'm going to check your vitals and your reflexes and we'll see if we can't get you discharged. You remember you're at the hospital, right?"

"In Osaka, I know."

"Good, no impairment of memory. Your friend didn't mention any head trauma, but one should always check. Okay, please follow my finger with your eyes. Good, now the light. Okay, that seems good."

The doctor continued a few more tests before pronouncing him fit to leave, though she warned him about straining himself until the wood had had a chance to heal, to watch out for any possible signs of infection and to change his dressings daily. She gave him a wound-care kit and a release form to sign and let him go.

He was putting his jacket on carefully when a light knock on the doorframe made him look up. He was shocked to see Kaiba standing there, looking in at him.

"You're still here?"

Kaiba's eyes narrowed. "I told you I'd put you on a plane, didn't I? Now hurry up and let's go, I don't know why you're always so damn slow."

He turned and walked away. Mystified, Yami went after him. Kaiba had said he'd put him on a plane to Chicago, but since the incident at the house and the fact that Yami had been forced to accept surgurical removal of the piece of wood, he hadn't thought he'd stick around.

Yami followed Kaiba out to where the car they'd arrived in was waiting for them. He climbed into the backseat with Kaiba, who now seemed to be pretending he didn't exist, and the car took off. Yami looked down at the bloodstain he hadn't realized he'd left on the seat. He glanced at Kaiba, who was looking out the window, and noticed the half-dozen lines of black.

"You received a lot of stitches."

Kaiba glanced down at his arm himself. "Twenty-six."

"How did you know it was a bomb?"

"Everyone but millenia-old Pharaohs know what ticking bombs sound like. They're always in the movies."

Yami blinked, but accepted that.

"Besides, Takanawa blew up Kato's hotel, so he knows how to use them. I just didn't expect him to blow up his own house. He wants to get us bad."

"He must consider you a threat, then."

"He does now."

"Where do you think he's gone?"

"I don't know."

But from the pensive look on Kaiba's face, Yami thought he knew where Kaiba feared Takanawa had gone.

"Have you managed to get in touch with Mokuba?"

Kaiba gave him a dirty look as if he was angry Yami had voiced his fears. Maybe he was, Kaiba seemed to prefer not to acknowledge anything that made him upset.

"Yes. He and Marianne are still in Oxford. Their first week at the University began on Monday. Once I get you a ticket to Chicago, I'm flying out there."

"Are you going to explain everything to them?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business."

Yami shrugged, which pulled at the stitches in his side. He didn't flinch, and remembered Kaiba's taunt. He wasn't a masochist, the pain didn't excite him. It didn't do anything for him. He felt it, but, though he knew it should, it didn't bother him. The numbness troubled him, but he wasn't going to let it upset him. He had more important things to worry about.

"Thank you, Kaiba."

The brunette looked up, eyes narrowing. "Why?"

"You could have left already."

"Don't get mushy. I told you I'd put you on a plane if you came to Takanawa's house and you did and I am."

Yami could see the warning signs of Kaiba trying to keep his temper under control and he decided not to push it. The ride continued on in silence and a hour later they were at Osaka's main airport. Kaiba paid for a ticket to Chicago and shoved it into Yami's chest, holding his own to Oxford.

"You're at Gate 12," he said shortly before turning on his heel and marching off towards his own gate.

Yami looked after him for a second before picking up his suitcase in his right hand and turning to head off towards Gate 12.

At long last he was in the air and heading towards Chicago. He pushed thoughts of Kaiba, Takanawa, and all the trouble they'd been through and looked forward towards Yugi, Joey, and whatever news awaited him.

******

Yami stepped into room 619 at the Chicago Institute of Neurosurgery and Neuroresearch at Columbus Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, ignoring the irony that the number was the same as Sentoryou's hotel room.

Joey jumped up from where he'd been sitting in an overstuffed leather chair, flipping in an anxious manner through a magazine, and lifted him right off his feet in a hug. Yami gritted his teeth against voicing the pain that slammed up his side from the puncture wound in his ribs; if he could get away with it, he'd never let Yugi or Joey know about that. They weren't supposed to be worrying about him. Though part of him was glad the pain was incredible. Maybe he wasn't numb after all.

"Yami!" Joey exclaimed. He set him down on his feet, then cupped his face in his hands, staring at him like he'd expected to never see him again. "What the hell happened? Where have you been, we've been going crazy! I was just going to go back to Japan tomorrow to see...we've been calling...what the hell happened?"

"I'll explain later, but I'm fine." Yami looked in dismay at the empty bed. "Where's Aibou?"

"Doc's checking the stitches, but in a different room. Some...Don't ask me to remember the name, too many words. They're X-raying his back and testing his reflexes. Are you sure nothing's wrong?"

"With me, no. Don't worry about me. Tell me about Aibou."

He'd tried their link again as soon as he'd gotten into Chicago and though he sensed he'd been close enough for conversation, Yugi had not responded. He'd told himself not to panic, because there could be any number of reasons he hadn't. He could have been distracted by anything, but now that Yami was here at the hospital, he wasn't going to be put off knowing a second longer.

"Okay, sit down. Anyway, we got here on Saturday, like you know. Got all set up here at the hospital and me at the Belair hotel down the street. Yugi went in for surgery on Monday at nine, just like he was supposed to. Took about seven hours. I about tore the wallpaper off the walls. He came out of it okay, went into recovery, where he stayed for the next night and day. They moved him in here on the sixth. There's not much else to tell, yet, really. He's healing good, no complications, but they won't know if they chip-thing'll take for another couple of days. Doc doesn't want Yugi stressing himself until his head heals, you know? He won't be able to try until at least a couple of weeks. Pissed him off, actually."

Yami smiled, relieved. "Good. I was worried."

"Yeah? So what happened to you?"

Yami sighed and rubbed his head. There was no help for it and he gave Joey a very truncated version of the last three-and-a-half months, omitting the car chase, Sentoryou, the bomb, and especially what had happened at the cabin. Joey's eyes got progressively wider and his knuckles progressively whiter as he gripped the armrests of his chair. Finally he exploded, leaping to his feet.

"What?! That bastard had you stealing stuff for--"

"Joey, I don't think this is something you want to be screaming down the halls, not unless you want me to get arrested."

Joey made a hissing sound through his teeth and walked over to shut the hospital door, continuing in a quieter, but no less calm voice.

"He had you stealing stuff for some mafia dick? Our apartment got trashed and you've spent the last week at a cabin on an island, hiding out so they wouldn't kill you? Did I get that right?"

"Enough, yes."

Joey stared at him in open-mouthed amazement. "Why did you do it?"

"Kaiba needed the help. He couldn't do it alone."

"Well, you should have told him to try. This is unbelievable. Why didn't you tell me?"

"For the same reason you didn't tell me everything that was happening to you. We needed the money, but I didn't want you to worry. Kaiba needed the help, but he didn't want anyone to know about it. But it's over, Joey."

"You said he's still out there."

"Yes, but we're in America, not Japan."

"So, what, you want to stay here, even after Yug' gets better?"

"We have nothing tying us to Japan. Let's talk about it later."

"Damn it, Yami--"

But Yami was saved by the door opening. Yugi wheeled in, at first looking confused, but then lighting up as he saw Yami. Yami got to his feet and crossed the room swiftly to hug him, though he did it carefully. Up close, he could see a line of stitches in Yugi's head, which crossed a spot where they'd shaven Yugi's head for the surgery. However, Yugi's hair was so thick, that standing normally a person wouldn't be able to notice anything.

"Yami! Oh, I'm so glad you're here! What happened?"

Yami glanced over his shoulder at Joey, who was looking back at him with narrowed eyes and a clenched jaw. Yugi noticed and looked between them with a furrowed brow.

"What happened?" he asked again.

Yami sighed and went through his story again. "But don't worry about it, Yugi. Concentrate on your own--"

"Don't worry about it? But Yami...oh, my gods...are you sure you're okay?"

"Everyone is fine. Please, Yugi, don't stress yourself about it."

Yugi frowned and fidgeted in his wheelchair. "But--"

"No one is hurt and Takanawa is gone."

"Yeah, but--"

"Just 'cause he's gone doesn't mean it's over," Joey said angrily.

"He doesn't even know about me." Yami didn't know if that was true or not, doubted that it was true, but he said it anyway, to calm them down. "He's only after Kaiba and Kaiba is in England now with his brother. He won't be trouble anymore."

tbc…