Three little words explain why I am updating today as well as this coming Friday.

Over 100 reviews

(Sniffles) Can this be?! (Two tears slip out) Angels and Ministers of Grace can this really be true?!!!! HOLY HELL!!! Right, I'm fine. Really. (Runs away because is now weeping joyous tears onto the keyboard which is making alarming sounds and fizzling in protest. Returns with smeared mascara but looks happy and smug) Cool. When I got started in this writing thing I used to think double figures was an achievement. Moving on....

I bid you welcome to the 'the author didn't expect this' series! Please enjoy this and tell me when I'm flogging a dead horse so that I can tie it up and stick 'End' on it rather than drag it out in a depressing manner. Keep reviewing too because I *love* that!

Chapter 14: Sickness

YVO

//Life is going beautifully. Kiara is four months old and her first word was, rather ironically, 'ma'. I moved out of the Game Shop entirely three months ago and am now living quite comfortably with Seto and Mokuba, the latter of which is extremely pleased with the arrangement because it means Yugi visits them more.

It was quite a large decision on my part but Yugi stated that I had become a person in my own right rather than just his guardian. I felt a huge swell of pride at his words; he really has become independent of me, but I have no intentions of abandoning all of my responsibilities towards him. My soul room is still intact, although I haven't been in there in months, meaning that I still have some duties before I am totally freed from my role of guardian.//

*****

The house was silent, utterly still in the dark that consumed every crevice and corner of its structure. That is until a high pitched wailing made itself known rather effectively.

Seto groaned a little as he was dragged out of his dreams, shifting the arm over his chest slightly to wake his partner. "She's hungry."

Yami sighed, not even making a marginal attempt to open his eyes. "It's your turn. And your 'you make milk' excuse expired some time ago'."

"I got up a few hours ago. It's your turn," he replied firmly, shaking the body a bit more roughly as encouragement.

Growling slightly, Yami heaved himself out of the shared bed and shrugged on a robe, tripping on it when he tried to walk and discovered that it wasn't his. Yawning broadly, he stumbled down the hallway to the next room where Kiara was quite happily screaming her head off.

Taking a bottle from the sterilization kit on the side, Yami filled it with milk out of the fridge and moved to the crib, her cries instantly stopping as she sensed his presence. She gurgled happily and smiled as he lowered the bottle down to her, holding the end as she supported the top clumsily with her small hands.

Lifting her after discarding the empty bottle, Yami held her to his shoulder and began rubbing her back firmly, pacing the room absently as he did so. After getting the desired result, he began walking her back to the bed when she squealed a sound that was as close to a word as she would get at this hour. "Da!"

"You managed to pry yourself off the mattress then?" Yami asked without turning, knowing full well that Seto was behind him. That was confirmed when a pair of arms snaked around his waist, holding him close as he replaced Kiara in the crib, bringing the patterned blanket up to her chest and winding up the mobile, a soothing melody filling the room as it turned.

"Actually I remembered it was my turn; neither of us were in any position to get up earlier," he smirked into his hair, earning an elbow in the ribs.

"She should sleep for another four hours or so and I for one am going to make very good use of that time," Yami murmured stepping out of the embrace and padding back into their room, slipping the robe off onto the floor and climbing back under the thick duvet.

"And how might that be?" Seto asked following the other out, sitting on the edge of the bed at his waist after he was under the sheets.

Yami barked a laugh before rolling onto his side. "I'm going to sleep! And I suggest you do the same because I am *not* getting up again at such an un-godly hour tonight."

"Fine. Sleep. Mokuba's heading to the pools in a couple of hours. I think the others are going too. Do you want to come?" he asked sliping back under the covers himself and replacing his hand on Yami's side.

"That sounds fine. I take it you've already sorted this out with the sitter?"

"I didn't come to run my own company by not planning ahead."

"Don't pull the smug superior act on me; you know it doesn't work. Now kindly shut up and go to sleep."

"Cranky tonight, aren't you?"

"Be silent or I will hit you."

"But that's half the fun-ow!"

"I did warn you."

****

"You getting in the pool Yami?" Joey shouted with a laugh from the water, surfacing with his unruly hair plastered to his face long enough to call to the Game King who watched them from a lounger.

Ryou, Mokuba, Honda and Tea were also in the pool involved in what appeared to be a rather violent game of water-polo, Mokuba in the process of near-drowning Honda at present for the ball.

Seto was off with Yugi fetching ice-creams and Bakura was sat on the opposite side of the pool scowling at Yami, seemingly putting rather a lot of energy into it. That made sense though because Yami had casually shoved him into the water fully clothed just an hour ago.

Rolling his eyes, Yami nodded and stood from the lounger, pausing with a hand raised to his head at the sudden feeling of light-headedness that swamped him. //Got up too fast then. Note; don't do that again.//

Shaking off the feeling, he moved to the edge of the pool and sat on the edge dangling his legs in the water to get accustomed to the chill. Joey had other ideas though for he swan up beneath him and grabbed his ankle, pulling sharply and bringing him under-water too.

Glowering at him through the barrier of water, Yami twisted and kicked off the wall to propel himself at Joey who had had a moment of clarity in realizing that that probably hadn't been the best idea. Years of swimming in the Nile though had Yami refined and he caught up to the larger teen within seconds, Grabbing his arm and bringing the both up from the bottom.

Coughing harshly, Yami glowered at the petrified boy before shoving him away and drifting backwards with a smirk. Splashing his hand at Yami with his own, admittedly relieved smile, Joey swan back to rejoin the polo-match which if anything was now more hostile than before, particularly since Bakura saw that there was violence involved and joined in.

Treading water for a few minutes before he heard a shout from his Aibou announcing their return, Yami swam back to the ledge and hauled himself out. Once again though, as he stood his head went strange, this time almost sending him back into the water.

"Hey, are you alright? The colour just drained from your face," Yugi asked, staring up at his Dark with an ice-cream in his hand that was currently dribbling down his fingers, not that he seemed to notice.

"I'm fine. I think I need to get something to eat though. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Leaving Yugi to tell Seto that he was leaving for a few minutes, Yami headed down the smooth, winding path to the food-stand, regarding the menu for a few moments before ordering a hotdog. Holding his prize carefully as he turned, he nearly dropped it when he stepped into Mai.

"I didn't know you were coming today," he stated smiling still, bringing a free hand up to wipe away some of the grease on her forearm.

"Well now you know. Are you heading back now? I'm not getting anything; I just wanted to say 'hi'. The grease was an added bonus," she smirked with a raised brow, motioning to the hotdog in his hand.

"Yes, I'm sorry for that. Seto, Yugi and the rest are all by the pool," Yami said starting to walk at her side, enjoying her company even though they were both silent all the way back to the pool.

When they got back to the water Yami dumped the paper from his snack into the bin, turning to face Mai again who was staring at him incredulously. "Wow. You really wolfed that down," she said with a twinge of admiration.

Yami frowned slightly then gave a half shrug. "I know. It's strange, I don't really like them either."

"Well, don't get any bright ideas and get into the water again for a good hour after eating that. You'll make yourself sick."

"Don't worry Mai, I have no intention of moving out of the sun for some time now."

****

Despite waiting for well over an hour and a half before getting back into water, Yami felt positively violent when he got back out, instantly moving to Seto and lifting the puzzle up from the bundle of clothes under the lounger.

"You look terrible, Yami. Should I take you to the hospital?" the brunette asked noticing now how pale he looked, his hands trembling slightly as he gripped the puzzle in his lap.

"No, it's fine. I'm probably just tired from all these midnight-feedings. If you don't mind I'm going to go into the puzzle for a bit," Yami said, looking up from the golden-object in an attempt to be reassuring.

"Alright. I'll let Yugi know so you get some rest. I'll see you later."

Not even nodding with the way his head felt now, Yami closed his eyes before disappearing in a flash of light, sinking into the old but reassuring familiarity of his soul-room. He glanced about the darkness briefly, pleased to see that nothing had changed, before waving his hand and bringing some light to the gloom. The large bed, adorned with black, silk sheets and gold and black pillows was visible now a few meters ahead of him, Yami walked towards it the second it appeared.

Yawning as he flopped onto the smooth surface, he noted with relief that his symptoms were less severe here, as they always were in his domain. Rolling onto his back, he stared up at the endless abyss that comprised his ceiling, eyes widening slightly when he saw something above him that definitely shouldn't have been there.

It was tiny, barely noticeable which was the reason he hadn't spotted it when he had first entered. Gold in colour, the miniscule ball of light throbbed and glowed contently about his head. Unsure at what had invaded his soul room and uncertain about approaching something with the power to do that, Yami moved to stand on the bed and reached up a hand to touch the object.

Yelping in surprise and withdrawing his hand rapidly, he found that the thing was almost entirely comprised of energy to the extent where it actually shocked him, his skin still tingling from the contact. Probing the rest of his soul room with his mind, Yami found that it wasn't doing any damage or having any affects other than its presence, and as long as he didn't touch it the that itself was harmless too. Deciding to further investigate this when he actually had the energy to think, Yami cast it one more suspicious look before curling on his side and succumbing to sleep.

*****

It was an undeterminable amount of time before he awoke, faintly hearing Yugi calling to him although he stopped trying before Yami could respond, obviously deciding that he was still asleep and leaving it at that.

Feeling far more refreshed, he stretched languidly and cast his eyes upwards, noting with some dismay that the little fire-ball was still there, twinkling as happy as he had left it. Sighing, he rolled onto his side and actually shouted in surprise when he found his face practically in the robes of the person standing at the edge of the bed. Bolting upright and shoving himself backwards, Yami frowned mildly annoyed at the intruder, his heart still racing at the surprise.

"Tetsuo? What the hell are you doing here? And for future reference I'd rather you not do that," he grumbled, sitting up more regally now as he regarded the lavender-haired man before him.

Tetsuo laughed softly at his surprise, his hands moving to clasp infront of him, the markings running up his bare arms still although the ones under the scars beneath his eyes were still shifting down slowly. "I apologize Yugioh for startling you, although it was quite a pleasure seeing you so ruffled. As to why I'm here, I just wanted to see if you knew yet. My curiosity does get the better of me, this time giving me the incentive to materialize without a summoning from you."

"Knew what?" Yami asked with more civility. After all, this particular card had saved his life unknown times in the past and had saved him and his friends, not to mention Kiara, some months ago. It had earned his respect and gratitude.

Tetsuo smiled at that, a genuine smile that touched his demon-like eyes. His robes shifted noiselessly as he moved his hands back to his sides. "Obviously not yet then. It is not my place to tell you, nor would I if it were, but I shall give you a piece of information that may be worth you knowing, for 'future reference'."

Utterly confused now, Yami motioned for him to continue, hoping to gain understanding as the sorcerer spoke.

"You could have come into this room whenever you wished whilst you were with Kiara; she was tied to you on every level meaning that your metaphysical state would bring her no harm," he said simply before stepping back from the bedside, obviously preparing to leave. Before Yami could ask for an explanation for that 'explanation' Tetsuo was gone, a streak of crimson in the air slowly fading away after his departure.

//What in the name of Ra was all that about?//

TBC

Sorry it was shorter but I wanted a cliff-hanger ad if I wrote anymore in this chapter I'd loose that. Then you wouldn't be overly inclined to read the next chapter. Or review. See? I *am* an evil genius!

Oh, something for you all to look forward to (and an excuse to read the next couple of chapters), I am taking the 'gang' to the shops. That's in Chapter 18 (Yes. I have written up to there. Not finished yet but I'm there) and it's pretty much an insanity fic that takes a big detour from the going plot. Just a teaser there for you all.

(Yawns) Right, I'm tired now so my usual incessant ramblings are going be lacking any length here. Leave a review. Throw a plot suggestion/ 'would-like-to-see' at me if you like. Read Chapter 15 if it's there. If not, come back next Friday. G'night.