The Sealing of a Soul
Part Six
Lost Memories
Yami paced the floor of the waiting room, his nerves driving him insane, the sounds of Yugi sobbing filling the background. Yami sighed, looking at the clock once more. It nearly three am, and still they had not heard anything since Shinta had been pulled in for emergency heart surgery. The doctors did not expect him to survive.
"Shhh, shhh, he'll be fine, Yugi. Shinta's a strong kid, he'll pull through." Yami whispered, sitting next to Yugi, trying to comfort him, even as his own heart was tearing itself apart.
"But it's all my fault! If I had told someone, he wouldn't be here!" Yugi sobbed, burying his face in his hands, tears rolling freely. Yami was half way frightened that his former aibou was about to drown himself.
"It's not your fault, Yugi. I should have noticed something was wrong before now as well. I shouldn't have seen something...." Yami trailed off, his composure slipping as he remembered when he had come home that night so long ago, to find his beloved wife unconscious on the floor. Her heart had been too weak, and now Shinta was suffering of it as well.
"Mr Mouto?" a doctor entered the waiting room, pulling off his face mask. Yami stood up anxiously, desperately frightened by what he might be told. So many what ifs ran through his mind in that moment that he was afraid that he might never hear what the doctor was telling him.
"Yes, how is Shinta, is he okay? Will he be okay!?" Yami demanded, resisting the urge to shake the man senseless.
"Please, calm down Mr Motou. Shinta suffered a massive heart attack, he's lucky to have survived. However.... he won't be able to survive the next one. His heart is very weak, and though we have put him on the transplant list, the chances of a donor becoming available for someone his age and size are very slim. I'm sorry." the doctor tried to break the news to Yami softly, Yugi sobbing even harder, coming quite close to actually drowning himself in his own tears as he hiccuped convulsively.
"Is.... how long, please...." Yami asked, tears beginning to stream down his face. The doctor sighed, shaking his head.
"There's no way to tell, exactly. But, unless he gets a donor soon, not long. We've put him on some machines, but I seriously doubt that he'll last more than a month, maybe a year, at most." the doctor sighed, looking down at Yugi who was now balling full out, unable to control his sorrow. His precious hikari was dying, and he could do nothing to help him.
"Please, may we see him?" Yami asked softly, afraid to speak up, lest his voice crack, his heart already shattered.
The doctor nodded, leaving the two to comfort each other.....
//Aibou?// Yugi asked mentally, looking through the glass at his precious hikari. Shinta stirred, his eyes fluttering briefly as Yugi walked into the room, slumping into the chair set up next to Shinta's bed.
/Yugi? Where am I? What happened?/ Shinta asked faintly, his mind still heavily drugged. Yugi sighed, trying to think of a way to explain to his aibou what was happening.
//You're...... you're in the hospital. Oh, Hikari!// Yugi sobbed mentally, tears streaming down his face, a heart monitor beeping softly in the background.
/Yugi, what's going on!?/ Shinta demanded, the heart pace speeding up slightly. Yugi tried to control his emotions, unaware of the change in his aibou's heart rhythm.
//You had a heart attack. The doctors...// Yugi could not bring himself to finish off the sentence as the tears began to stream silently from the tiny red head's eyes.
/I'm not going to live, am I?/ Shinta asked, and Yugi could not bring himself to answer, his face puffy, eyes bloodshot.
"Yugi..... I'm.... sorry...." Shinta whispered, struggling to catch his breath from tiny effort speaking required, his monitor beginning to lag.
"No, Shinta, it isn't your fault!" Yugi sobbed, clutching his aibou's hand as his tears dropped upon the bed.
"No... I..... made..... you... promise....." Shinta gasped, sweat beading on his face, the heart monitor beginning to go wild, ignored by both young boys.
"Shinta, please, you must live!" Yugi begged, the millennium puzzle glowing lightly on the bed, next to Shinta's chest.
/I'm sorry Yugi, but I'm just so tired.../ Shinta's thoughts were beginning to fade as his heart began to strain.
//NO!!! Shinta!! Please, my aibou, you can't die, I can't live without you!// Yugi sobbed, clutching Shinta's hand. Shinta smiled faintly, his mind slipping into the darkness of unconsciousness.
"Shinta!" Yugi sobbed, Yami entering the room only to see his former aibou sobbing, his son's eyes closed, his face peaceful, the heart monitor steady....
"But, what's wrong with him!?" Yami demanded of the doctor, glad that Yugi was not in the room to hear the painful explanation of what was happening to Shinta.
"We, we don't know for certain. He seems to have been under a lot of mental strain, and the only way his mind could deal with it was to shut down entirely. But, it seems that it is now unwilling to wake up. He may be afraid of facing whatever it was that gave him that mental strain.
"Tell me, did anything sudden happen before he slipped into his coma? Did he get a new teacher, was he raised a grade level?" the doctor was asking the questions in Shinta's best interest, Yami knew, but he also knew he could not reveal to the doctor what the true cause of the mental strain might be.
Yugi.
"No, nothing. But, the transplant was successful, yes? Maybe he's just resting, he might wake up, maybe?" Yami asked hopefully, trying to figure out a way to break it to Yugi that he must not, under any circumstances, contact his son mentally.
The phone rang, causing Yami to jump suddenly, the doctor smiling apologetically as he answered it, his face brightening as he set it down once more.
"Well, Mr Motou, it seems that maybe you were right after all. Shinta seems to have woken up!" Yami bolted for the door, not caring how rude he seemed. His precious son had just woken up after three long months of sleep.....
"Well, you seem to be a healthy young boy, if a bit short!" the doctor smiled, Shinta laughing as the doctor rubbed his head of unruly red hair. Yugi stood behind Yami nervously, afraid that coming to close to Shinta may cause mental strain, as Yami had explained.
"Shinta, do you remember me?" Yami asked. He had been warned before hand that Shinta may not remember something's. There was no telling how a person in a coma might respond to reality once they awoke.
"Yes, Dad, I remember you!" Shinta smiled. Yami sighed with relief, Yugi taking a step forward.
"And me, do you remember me?" Yugi asked softly.
Shinta stared at him for a moment, examining him, looking the short blonde over, and finally shook his head, breaking Yugi's heart at the same time.
"You look kinda like Dad, but no, not really. Am I supposed to?" Shinta asked, glancing questioningly at his father......
Sorry that it was such a cliffhanger! ^_^
I've been so busy with my new web site, that I haven't really had time to write and update the story!! ^_^;
Gomen, Gomen!!! ^_^;