Declaimer: I don't own Yo- Gi- Oh!.

Warnings: Blood, angst.

Mindless Babble:

"Hello, Mr. Motou!

"Oh, hello, Tea. I sent Yugi to the bank to make a deposit, but Joey and Tristan are upstairs with Yami."

Tea smiled. "You mean Yami let Yugi out of his sight voluntarily?"

Grandpa chuckled. "Well, Yugi is a smart one. He got Yami involved in teaching Joey some more tactics and then took off!'

"I'll bet Yami didn't like that much."

"Nope. But what can he to do about it?"

Tea was still giggling about it when she walked into her friend's room. The three boys were on the floor; cards spread out in front of them. The tall Egyptian was kneeling on one knee, staring at the cards on the floor with the same intensity that he showed at every duel he ever fought.

Joey slapped a card down and grinned broadly. Yami nodded his approval and stood up.

"You're getting better, Joey."

"Thanks!" Then he noticed Tea standing in the doorway. "Oh, hey, Tea! Come on in. I just finished mopping the floor with Tristan."

"Only because I felt sorry for ya!" replied Tristan, shuffling his deck.

Forestalling the upcoming argument, the young woman addressed Yami. "Hey, there! You still with us?"

Yami seemed startled. "Oh, I'm sorry, Tea. Yugi was just expressing his boredom at having to stand in line."

"That sounds like Yugi. I'm up for a game. Yami, would you…?" Tea was interrupted by a gasp of pain from the Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. "Yami?"

The spirit dropped to his knees as the pain wracked his chest. He wrapped his arms around himself in a protective hug. He was able to whisper one word before his head hit the floor as he passed out.

"Yugi."

Joey was the first to react. He quickly crawled over to Yami and rolled him over. His breath caught in his throat at the amount of blood the covered the former Pharaohs chest.

"I didn't think he could bleed."

Joey looked over his shoulder at the shaken brunette. Tea was pale and trembling, in fear or horror, he couldn't tell. Tristan stood up and took the young girl into the hallway, telling her to go get Yugi's grandfather while he went to get the first aid kit.

When he returned he found that Joey had taken off his jacket and was using it to try and stop the bleeding. Tristan knelt down opposite to him and opened the kit. He found a pair a scissors and used them to cut open Yami's shirt. Peeling back the wet shirt, the two boys were finally able to clearly see the injury. It was a perfectly round hole that just missed the bottom rib on the right side. It was still bleeding quite profusely. Tristan looked once again in the first aid kit and found a gauze pad. He tore off the paper wrapper pressed it down on the wound. While Joey applied direct pressure, Tristan dug around for a roll of gauze. A hand appeared next to his face holding a brand new package of it.

"I had it downstairs," Mr. Motou said, eyes on Yami, but seeing his grandson instead.

Tristan took the roll and nodded his thanks. He turned his attention to Tea, who had come back into the room with Mr. Motou and pulled her down next to him. He then grabbed a roll of medical tape and started cutting short strips of it, handing them to the girl.

"Ok, Joey, when I tell you to, start pulling the gauze back. Tea, I need you to hand me these strips of tape. I'm gonna try to close that hole."

Tea paled even more but nodded. Mr. Motou walked out of the room, returning a short time later with a bowl of warm water and some washcloths. He knelt next to Joey and tried to clean some of the blood as Tristan pushed the skin together and butterfly it together. What seemed like hours, only took about ten minutes. After closing the wound as best as he could, Tristan and Joey placed a clean gauze pad over it and used the roll to loosely secure it to Yami's body. After cleaning up the remaining blood, they lifted the spirit's body onto Yugi's bed where Tea covered him with a spare blanket.

They stood around the bed for a few minutes before it finally sunk in. Joey was the first to break the silence.

"To repeat what Tea said, I didn't think spirits could bleed."

"I don't think they can, Joey," replied Mr. Motou, looking a little sick. "But Yami is connected to another that can."

"You think something has happened to Yugi?" asked Tristan, worriedly.

As if to answer, the doorbell rang. The four conscious people jumped at the sound. Tea nodded at the men and they took off down the stairs. Mr. Motou answered the door with Joey and Tristan flanking him.

The cop at the door looked slightly horrified at the sight that met him. That was when the three of them realized that they were still covered in Yami's blood.

"Ummm… the boys were… uhhh… helping me prepare some ribs for dinner," Mr. Motou replied to the officer's unspoken question. "Can I help you?"

"Are you Mr. Soloman Motou?"

The old man swallowed the lump in his throat. "Yes, I am. Has something happed to Yugi?"

"I'm afraid he's been taken hostage and kidnapped."