Jaid: Hi guys! Here's the new chappy. I hope you enjoy! Response to the readers down at the bottom as usual.

Jad: Ahem. Aren't you forgetting something?

Jaid: Huh? *blank look*

Jad: -__- You've done three chapters and still have to put up a disclaimer!

Jaid: Ooooh! That!

Jad: Yes, that.

Jaid: You do it.

Jad: *sigh*

Naga: You should've just ignored it. Then she would've gotten in to trouble.

Jaid: I just love the way you watch out for me Naga.

Naga: My pleasure. Feh.

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Jad: Jaid doesn't own anything related to Duel Monsters or Yu-Gi-Oh. She only owns the kids. Scales, Ankh (and to some extent, Shadi's personality) belong to Indigo. So, please don't sue. All you'd get is Jaid's leftover Christmas candy and her extra pair of glasses (which is currently in pieces).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Seto Kaiba was just leaving for home when his cell phone rang.

"Kaiba."

"Oh, hi Seto!" Serenity Bakura's cheerful voice greeted him. "I just wanted to notify you about-"

"Excuse me, Serenity." Seto had caught his secretary giving him the "urgent call" look. "Could you hold on?"

"Sure."

"What is it?" Seto asked Anne, his secretary.

"It's your son on the phone. He sounds a little panicked." She said. Kaiba frowned as he picked up his desk phone. Satoshi was seldom "panicked."

"Hello?"

"Dad!" Satoshi sounded relieved. "I've been trying to get a hold of somebody."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I can't get through to the Moutos. I tried giving my cell to Tyler and having her call them, but nobody answers and-"

"Slow down." Seto ordered. "Why do you want the Moutos?"

"I had to take Hitomi to the hospital. She couldn't breathe-"

"Is she all right?"

"I don't know, they took her back-"

"All right, I'll try and get them. You just relax for a minute."

"Yes, sir."

"Don't leave the hospital, I'll be there shortly." Seto hung up without waiting for answer. He was about to leave when he remembered Serenity still waiting on his cell phone. Picking it up, he said, "Serenity?"

"Yes?"

"I'm afraid I can't talk right now. I'll call you back later.'

"Oh, okay. Talk to you then. Bye!"

"Bye." Seto hung up, then dialed another number on his phone. There was a busy signal. He sighed mentally and continued on his way out of the office building.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Uncle Akhair! Uncle Akhair!"

Ankhkare and Shadi looked up to see a small red head running towards them joyously. When she reached them, she threw her arms around Ankhkare's midsection in a hug.

"I was waiting for you!" she exclaimed. Ankhkare smiled gently and the two of them followed Shadi into the house. There, Ankhkare and Shadi deposited some groceries on the table, which Ankhkare proceeded to put away with some help from Kasumi.

"Seuin?" Shadi called, wondering where the spirit of the Scales had gone. "Scales?"

He stopped and knocked on the a bedroom door. "Scales, are you in there? Ankh and I need your help in putting things away."

"That red-headed runt is here. Make her help." Scales came through the door muffled.

"You could help too, once in a while." Shadi reminded him.

"This is not once in a while." Scales snapped back. Shadi sighed and decided to give up for the moment. Going back to the kitchen, he heard Kasumi telling Ankh about her day. He smiled slightly as he saw the folder on the table. Just inside was a note from Isis, telling him to enjoy the text and to make sure and tell her all the mistakes! Shadi decided to put it away in his room for later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Okay, well, I have to go." Miya said. "Make sure you tell me when we can go, okay, Brian? Bye." The red-head put away the phone, on its kitchen mount.

"That took you long enough." Tea commented wryly. "What do you two find to talk about?" she asked from the sink, where she was preparing some fish for supper.

"Stuff." Miya briefly answered, heading for the staircase. Tea shook her head and looked at Kysen who was playing a video game in the living room.

"Come set the table, Ky." She said.

"But mom-"

"But mom nothing. Get your butt over here now." Tea said sternly.

Kysen gave a loud moan. From the study, Yugi's voice called, "Better listen to your mom, Ky!"

"Yes, sir!" Kysen called back, a little gloomily. He took some plates out and began to slam them around the table. Tea shot him a glare, then looked washed off her hands and walked to the study.

"Have you heard from Hitomi yet?" she asked. Yugi looked up from the document he was typing.

"No. She should be home soon though."

"Hmm." Tea turned and went back to the kitchen, just as the phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Tea." It was Seto.

"Hi, Seto. What's up?"

"I guess you haven't heard." Was his dry reply.

"Heard what?" Tea poured some frozen veggies into a glass bowl.

"That my son took your daughter to the ER a little over an hour ago."

The bag fell from Tea's hand and frozen peas scattered over the counter and floor.

"Dad! Mom made a mess!" Kysen shouted, setting down glasses.

"What?" Tea asked, gripping the phone. "Why did he have to take Hitomi to the hospital?!"

"He said she couldn't breathe. I'm here now and I've been trying to call you."

"Miya was on the phone." Tea explained numbly. "What hospital are you at?"

"St. Mary's. The one on the west side of the mall."

"We'll be there in a minute." Tea said, then hung up. "Yugi!"

"What?" her husband was in the doorway in an instant.

"We have to go-"

"To the hospital, I heard. What's wrong with Hitomi?"

"I'm not sure." Tea grabbed her purse as Yugi grabbed the car keys. "Ky, tell Miya to come down and finish dinner. We don't know when we'll be back."

"Okay." Kysen answered, looking a little nervous at the way his parents ran out of the door. He stood at the garage/kitchen door, watching as they drove away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tyler sat at Tairyn's table, staring gloomily at Satoshi's phone. "He hasn't even called!"

"He probably thinks you're trying to contact Hitomi's parents." Tairyn pointed out. "Look, you both should get home."

The twins glanced at each other. "Yeah, I guess." Terry said, and stood.

"I'll get someone to drive you back-"

"We'd rather walk." Terry cut her off. "Thanks."

Tairyn nodded. "I'll keep the phone. I'll be seeing Satoshi tomorrow."

Terry nodded, then he and his sister exited.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hello?" Tristan stuck his head in the door. "Anybody here?"

"Daddy!" Kasumi pushed away from the table and ran towards him. Laughing, the brown-haired man scooped her up.

"Sorry about just walking in, but nobody answered the door." He explained.

"It's all right." Ankh said, smiling. "I think Shadi's in his room reading and Scales has locked himself up, so…"

"I think your doorbell's broken too." Tristan commented. "I hope she wasn't any trouble."

"No, not at all."

"Okay, well, see you around."

"Bye!" Ankh waved to them, then retreated back inside. Walking to a bedroom door, he knocked.

"Yes?" Shadi called.

"The doorbell's broken."

Shadi opened the door. "What? It was just fine this morning…" he trailed off and the two of them looked at each other for a few moments. Shadi sighed.

"Scales!" he called.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hitomi?"

She heard her name called, but Hitomi did not want to open her eyes. So she grunted in response.

"Hitomi, can you hear me?"

It sounded like Satoshi. 'Can't he leave me alone? I'm tired; I want to sleep.' Her groggy brain thought. She felt a hand on her shoulder and then another smooth away the hair on her face.

"Hitomi?"

With a soft groan, she forced her eyes open. Satoshi stood above her, but he was blurry.

"What do you want?" she muttered.

"How are you feeling?" he asked.

She took a moment to think about the question. "Tired."

"Can you breathe okay?"

Hitomi thought for another few mintues. "Yeah."

"Okay. They want to take some X-rays. Can you stand?"

"Whatever." She grumbled and struggled to sit up. Satoshi put an arm around her back and helped her. Hitomi slid off the bed and wavered, nearly falling if Satoshi hadn't caught her and held on.

"I think we need a wheelchair." He said to the nurse. The woman nodded.

"Just a minute." She left the room quickly. Hitomi groggily leaned her head onto Satoshi's shoulder.

"Why do I have to stand here?"

"They have to get you a chair."

"Oh." Hitomi blinked. "I've never been…in…a…" she trailed off, struggling to keep her eyes open. Satoshi tightened his hold, afraid she might really collasp again and tear her IV out.

"Hey, stay awake, all right?" he said quietly. She looked up at him and dazedly smiled.

"Okay." She said softly. Satoshi felt his heart quicken when she smiled and then leaned more against him as her legs went weak.

'It's just the medication.' He thought. 'She's not really smiling at you, dolt! And the only reason you're holding on to her is to keep her from falling! But then again, it is nice to finally-oh damn. Where's the blasted nurse?'

The 'blasted nurse' walked through and helped Satoshi put the girl in a wheel chair.

"We'll be there in just a minute sweetie." She said to Hitomi. The girl nodded, the smile gone from her face and replaced by a dazed look. Satoshi walked close behind, pulling along the IV.

"You're going to have to stand here." The nurse told him as soon as they entered the X-ray room. Hitomi looked with slight interest at the large bed X-ray. The nurse steered her in front of a small one however.

"Okay, hon, we need you to stand up." The nurse said patiently. Hitomi, too tired to care, shakily stood and leaned against the X-ray machine.

"I need you to stand up straight, to the side, like this." The nurse gently turned her towards the left. Hitomi obeyed.

Satoshi watched worriedly as the nurse walked near the back and took the X-ray. After that was done, she refilled the machine and then directed Hitomi to raise her arms and stand facing the machine.

"All right dearie, we're done." She said, walking back to Hitomi. The dark-haired girl collapsed in to the wheelchair, nearly missing it. Satoshi walked over quickly and helped her re-seat herself.

"Can I go back to sleep now?" she mumbled.

"In a few minutes." The nurse answered, pushing the wheelchair. In a bit, they were back in Hitomi's room. Satoshi helped Hitomi up and then helped the nurse put her back in the bed. The nurse left with the wheelchair.

"I'm cold." Hitomi mumbled. Satoshi drew up the blanket.

"Is that okay?" he asked. Hitomi nodded, eyes closed. A few minutes later, she tried to move.

"What's wrong?" Satoshi asked.

"Don't, like sleeping on my back." Hitomi slowly answered. "On my side."

"Here." Satoshi gently turned her so that she was on her side, the arm with the IV on top. "That better?"

The girl nodded. "Thanks, 'Toshi." She mumbled and seemed to go to sleep.

"Your welcome." Satoshi whispered, stroking her cheek and then sitting beside the bed.

"She all right?"

Satoshi turned to see his father. "She's sleeping."

Seto walked into the room. "I got a hold of her parents. They should be here soon."

Satoshi nodded, looking at the petite girl. Seto looked at his son, then looked back at Hitomi.

"She's something else, isn't she?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." Satoshi agreed.

"How long?"

"Huh?" Satoshi looked at him.

"How long have you had feelings for her?" Seto asked. Satoshi looked down at his hands.

"I'm not sure." He finally answered. "But…I really do love her."

Seto leaned back in his chair. "Your still very young."

"I know."

Seto looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "All right." He stood. "You're old enough to know, I suppose."

"But too young to care, right?" Satoshi grinned. Seto smiled wryly in response.

"I'm going to go wait for Yugi and Tea. They'll be in a frenzy." He said, walking towards the door.

"Okay." Satoshi watched him go, then turned back to Hitomi.

" 'Toshi?" she mumbled.

"What?"

"Did you mean it?" she forced open her violet eyes.

"You heard?"

"Sorta…" she trailed off and the glazed look came back into her eyes.

"Yeah." Satoshi whispered, covering one of her hands with his own. "I did."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Well, it's about time you two got home."

The twins were met with their frowning mother in the entryway. They could hear the TV on in the living room.

"Hitomi's in the hospital." Tyler murmured.

"What?" Mai's irritated frown became concerned. "Why? Did you guys have an accident?"

Terry shook his head. "She just sorta, keeled over."

"Huh." Mai blinked. "Okay…"

There was a pause.

"Did you call her parents?" Mai asked.

"We tried." Tyler told her. "But it was busy."

Another pause.

"Dinner's waiting for you two." Mai finally said, standing to the side. The twins shuffled towards the kitchen. Mai walked towards the living room where Joey sat, watching the TV. Monique was on the floor, dressing her Barbie dolls.

"They tell you why they're so late?" Joey asked as Mai sat on the couch next to him.

"Yeah. Apparently, we have something of a crisis." Mai murmured. "Hitomi's in the hospital."

Joey looked at his wife. "Car accident?"

Mai shook her head, sending the blonde curls flying. "Terry said she 'sorta keeled over'."

Joey blinked. "Oh." He looked at the TV for moment, then looked back at Mai. "Is she okay? Do Yugi and Tea know?"

Mai shrugged. "Ty tried to contact them, but no luck."

Joey stood. "I suppose I should go down there then. I'll stop by Yugi's on the way."

Mai nodded as he walked out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Seto!"

The tall man turned at the sound of a female voice that was obviously in distress. Tea and Yugi reached him. Tea looked almost frantic; Yugi's face was tight.

"Is she okay?"

"I've seen her and she just seems sleepy from meds. Calm down." Seto said. He looked at Yugi. "The doctor said he'd be back in a few to tell us what was wrong."

Yugi nodded. "Come on, Tea." He prodded her to a chair.

"I don't want to sit, I want to see Hitomi." She protested.

"We have to talk to the doctor first." Yugi's voice was calm and slow, as he worked on settling his wife down. Seto turned away, and glanced at the clock. He grimaced slightly and pulled out his cell phone, dialing a number.

"Hello?" a maid answered.

"This is Kaiba. Is my wife home?"

"Yes, sir." There was a pause and then Seto heard Isis' soft, cool voice.

"Seto?"

"I'm sorry we're late; I'm here at the hospital."

"With Satoshi, I assume."

"Yeah."

There was a pause.

"Do you need me to come down?"

"No, I'll try to get us both home as soon as possible. I just didn't want you to worry."

"All right."

He heard the smile in her voice and couldn't help but smile a bit himself. Isis knew from his words and tone that they both were all right and there was no need to worry at all; she probably hadn't been worried in the first place. Isis had soon learned that Seto could take care of himself, as could Satoshi.

"I'll see you when you get home then." Isis said.

"Bye."

"Bye."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Are you two just going to stare at the phone all night?" Rebecca Hawkins Kaiba demanded. Tairyn and Mark looked at their mother.

"She really looked bad, mom." Tairyn said. Rebecca's face softened.

"I know, but sitting here isn't going to help. You both need to come and eat, then we'll try and find something out, okay?"

Mark glanced at his sister. He was pretty hungry, despite the ice cream he had had at the mall. "Okay."

Tairyn stood more slowly as Mark left. Sighing, she left the room with her mother.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shadi, Ankh and Scales looked at the broken door bell.

"You just smashed it?" Shadi asked. Scales only glared. The first man sighed.

"We can get it fixed, right?" Ankh asked.

"Why would we want too?" Scales wanted to know. "It's irritating."

"But it lets us know when people are at the door."

"That's why it's irritating."

"No-"

"Both of you stop." Shadi interrupted. "We'll just write a note asking people to knock. I'll ask Isis if we can fix it tomorrow."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joey sat at the dining room table with the two remaining Mouto kids.

"You don't have to stay, Uncle Joey." Miya said. "I can take care of Kysen just fine."

"I know." The blonde man said. "I just don't like leavin' you alone like this."

The two of them exchanged looks.
"I suppose you could stay if you wanted." Miya said slowly.

"I'd rather."

Miya nodded, then got up and began rising off dishes. Kysen slipped off his chair and walked up to Joey. Joey picked the little boy up.

"Is everything going to be okay?" he asked.

Joey smiled. "Yeah, I'm sure everything's fine." He said confidently. Kysen smiled, seemingly reassured and hopped down to go play his video game.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Hitomi opened her eyes and yawned. She felt much better now. Looking over, she saw her parents. Tea smiled.

"How are you feeling, hon?" she asked softly.

"Okay. Still a little hazy." Hitomi answered. "What time is it?"

"Three in the morning." Yugi answered a hint of a smile on his face.

"Oi." Hitomi blinked, rubbing her eyes. "I guess Satoshi went home then, huh?"

"Yes, quite a while ago." Tea said.

"So," Hitomi tucked some hair behind her ears. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing that can't be fixed, thank God." Tea told her. "The doctor said your asthma got irritated by that cold you had and gave you an attack."

Hitomi frowned. "Oh."

"And he also said you had low blood sugar from not eating-" Tea shot her daughter a stern glance. "And you probably were suffering from insomnia."

Hitomi thought than nodded. "Yeah, I guess that sounds right."

Yugi gave a low chuckle while Tea looked at her daughter aghast. "Hitomi, if you're friends hadn't been there, you could have died!"

"But I didn't. I'm going to be fine, right?" Hitomi asked innocently.

"Yes, you are." Yugi cut in before Tea could answer. "But first, we're going to discuss some things. Such as, have you been using your inhaler lately?"

Hitomi twisted a piece of hair around her finger. "I use it before I exercise or play basketball. I didn't think I had it that bad; that I had to use it even if I wasn't active."

"That's what we thought too." Tea admitted.

"But I don't have bad asthma." Hitomi looked confused. "And I thought it was supposed to get better as I got older."

"The doctor said that sometimes it gets worse." Yugi said.

"Oh." Hitomi sighed.

"So they're going to give you some medication to take home with you and we're taking you to Dr. Weiss as soon as possible." Tea continued.

"Second thing," Yugi went on. "Why haven't you been eating?"

Hitomi shrugged. "I'm not hungry."

Tea sighed.

"And sometimes I forget." Hitomi said. "Food just isn't that important. I just get concentrated on something and I forget everything else. Sometimes I just don't feel like eating, even if I am hungry."

Her parents sighed.

"Gee, this sounds familiar." Tea commented dryly. Yugi gave her a look that said 'Not now.'

"Third thing, why didn't you tell us you hadn't been sleeping?" Yugi asked.

"I thought most people had trouble sleeping." Hitomi answered. "You do."

Yugi smiled wryly. "I know, but it's not quite classified as insomia. And sometimes if I really need sleep, then I take something for it."

"I don't like pills."

"Too bad." Tea said wryly. Hitomi scowled.

"Honey, this is serious." Her mother said. "We don't want this to have to happen again."

"I know." Hitomi looked down at her hands.

"That means, from now on, you use your medication when you have chest pain, you eat regularly, and you tell us when you're not sleeping." Tea went on. Hitomi nodded.

"Okay." Tea stood. "You try and go back to sleep. Your dad and I will take you home in a few hours, hopefully."

Hitomi nodded again and turned on to her side. Closing her eyes, she heard her parents talking in low voices behind her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

By ten o' clock that morning, a blue car drove into the Mouto garage. The Wheeler twins, Morgan, Remi and Satoshi were waiting out front. As Yugi and Tea drove up, Hitomi in tow, Miya and Kysen ran towards the garage.

"Are you okay?" Miya asked.

"Did they have to cut you open?" Kysen wanted to know. Hitomi grinned at her siblings.

"Yes, I'm fine and no, they didn't."

"Oh." Kysen said in disappointment.

"But, they did give me an IV in the arm." Hitomi bared her arm. In the joint, there was blue and purple bruising from the needle and tube.

"Cool." Kysen looked up at her. "But not as cool as getting cut open."

Hitomi rolled her eyes. "You're so bloodthirsty!"

"Come on, Princess." Yugi said, helping Hitomi out of the car. The teens looked at their friend anxiously. Hitomi caught Tyler's eye and mouthed "call me" Tyler grinned and nodded.

"Miya, I want you to stick around this morning." Tea said. "Your dad and I were up past three this morning and we both need a couple hours of sleep."

"Okay." Miya shrugged. "Can Brian come over?"

"That will be fine." Tea climbed the stairs after Yugi and Hitomi.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Jaid: I hope you all liked it! I'm trying to come up with some sort of plot. For now, I'm just concentrating on Christmas and the Satoshi/Hitomi romance. ^__^ I am trying to think of something…maybe Shadi could get saddled with all the teens and have to take them to Egypt or something. I'm sure Scales would just love that! Lol

Just to be neat, the stuff that happened to Hitomi was based on recent personal experience. So is the rest of the stuff that happens a little bit later. (I still have a bruise from that IV…)

Iris Omega: You reviewed! I'm so happy! Thank you, nin mellon. It means a lot to me to have you read something even if you don't know much about the anime.

Kita: Thanx! Um, I hope that means you liked it…

Indigo: Oh goody! I'm glad. ^__^ And you're putting it on your favorites?! Gosh, you really know how to make a person's day! Hee, hee, if I have my way, Scales is going to hate snow a lot more. The snowball war is coming up! Do you think I'd let those three get out of it? Lol