Damn it! Damn Malik, damn him and his fucking mind games! Had this been his plan all along? To make him hate human touch so much that he would pull away from even Yuugi's gentle touch? Of course, Malik's ultimate plan had been to hurt Yuugi any way he possibly could, and he had discovered the most effective way to do it. Through Jounouchi. Jounouchi looked away, not wanting to see the hurt look in Yuugi's eyes. It was painful enough as it was, without having to look at the tears forming in Yuugi's eyes.

Maybe if he would tell Yuugi what happened with Malik, he would understand. However, Jounouchi didn't feel like it would really change anything. Though Yuugi was probably wondering why his lover had suddenly decided to start pulling away from him. If only Jounouchi could tell him. The problem was, despite it all, Yuugi had still maintained his purity and innocence. Jounouchi didn't want to ruin that for Yuugi by telling him about his bad experience with a psychotic rapist. Jounouchi didn't want to bring Yuugi into that; though he would have to say something to Yuugi or else risk permanent damage to their relationship. That is, of course, if permanent damage had not already been done.

"Yuugi..." he said softly, sitting up. He still couldn't look in Yuugi's eyes. He was extremely pissed off at the moment. Both at Malik for doing this to them and at himself for allowing Malik to get to him. It was kind of funny, in a pathetic, ironic sort of way. The whole time he had been with Malik, all he could think of was Yuugi's gentle touch on him rather than Malik's rough explorations, and now that he was back with Yuugi again, the thought of him coming any where's near him seemed almost revolting. He still loved Yuugi though, didn't he? He shook his head. That was a problem he would have to deal with later. Right now, he would have to deal with the fact that Yuugi had come to him and Jounouchi had utterly rejected him. It almost seemed like Jounouchi was rejecting Yuugi's love for him which wasn't the case at all. At least he didn't think it was.

"Jounouchi-kun, are you feeling okay?" he heard Yuugi ask, sounding clearly concerned. Jounouchi's breath caught in his throat. What was he supposed to say? 'Sorry, but I don't want to be with you right now and at the rate I'm going I may never want to again.' He shouldn't be thinking thoughts like that. He should really stay focused on getting past this problem.

Yuugi reached out and touched Jounouchi's hand tenderly, obviously trying to comfort him. He flinched, but somehow found the power not to pull away from him. He wondered if Yuugi saw him flinch, then realized it really didn't matter much after the stunt he had pulled away earlier. It didn't get much worse than pulling away from your lover when he had come to see you after being separated for a while. It was going to take a lot of effort on his part to make up for that later. He could live with Yuugi touching his hand. He had done it before they had become lovers. Of course, there was more reason to afterwards but that wasn't the point. The point was he could live with Yuugi touching his hand, he hoped.

"Yuugi, I..." He finally chanced looking into Yuugi's eyes, searching for some inspiration to come up with a brilliant reason behind his actions. They were so beautiful, with their wonderful, violet color. Jounouchi turned away, clenching his eyes shut. Damn it, why did it have to be so hard? Couldn't he just forget the entire experience and live out his life peacefully with Yuugi? It just didn't seem possible at the moment. "I'm not feeling very well," he finished lamely, placing his forehead in his hand. It wasn't exactly a lie; he was feeling very ill at the moment. In fact, he thought the only thing that would make him feel better would be to shoot himself in the head.

"Well, you should probably lie down and rest," Yuugi suggested softly. Jounouchi could only imagine what Yuugi was going through at the moment. Hell, more than likely. He knew he would feel awful if he thought Yuugi didn't love him anymore. Actually, he knew what it felt like first hand. All thanks to that damn bastard, Malik. Jounouchi was going to have to pay Malik back real soon.

He nodded, lying back on his bed, covering his eyes with his arm. Damn it, he still couldn't look at Yuugi because he still felt so horrible about what he did earlier. He could still feel Yuugi's presence sitting on the edge of his bed. "You probably want to be alone," he heard Yuugi saying. He felt Yuugi standing up and Jounouchi suddenly panicked. If Yuugi left now, thinking Jounouchi didn't love him, some serious harm could be done to their relationship.

Jounouchi knew that during his time with Malik, all he wanted was to be with Yuugi. If, because of Malik's tainted mind control, they couldn't pursue their normal way of expressing their love, then at least Jounouchi could be able to spend time in Yuugi's company. Just being near to him allowed Jounouchi to feel the love radiating from him. Hopefully he could stay in Yuugi's company, provided he hadn't hurt him too much with he earlier rejection. "Yuugi, wait!" he managed to get out, grabbing Yuugi's wrist. Somehow it didn't seem so bad when he was the one touching Yuugi.

Yuugi froze, but didn't turn to look at Jounouchi. Jounouchi loosened his grip on Yuugi's wrist, transferring his hand down to lightly hold Yuugi's hand. "Jounouchi, I really don't think I should. You need your rest," he insisted.

Now Jounouchi was really starting to panic. Did Yuugi just call him Jounouchi? Yuugi couldn't leave him, not now. His mind rapidly searched for something else to say. "All the more reason you should stay and make sure nobody else bothers me." It was a reason for him to stay, and Jounouchi was hoping that Yuugi would buy it.

"Jounouchi-kun..."Yuugi said softly, sitting back down on the bed. Well, at least Jounouchi could look at him now. Yuugi turned to look at Jounouchi with those sad, beautiful eyes and something deep inside him stirred. He still loved Yuugi, though it may take some time to restore their relationship to the state it had once been. At least now Jounouchi knew they still had a chance. Too bad he couldn't tell Yuugi that. Hell, he couldn't even tell Yuugi what was bothering him in the first place. That presented a serious problem in itself. Still, they may have more of a problem if Jounouchi told Yuugi what had happened with Malik.

"Besides," he added, making room for Yuugi on the bed next to him, "you need your rest before the duels and I'm pretty sure I saw Anzu heading in the general direction of your room earlier." Yuugi didn't respond though Jounouchi was fairly certain he saw him smile slightly as he laid down on the bed. Jounouchi could feel Yuugi's warmth next to him, but it didn't do much to warm the chill in his heart. Damn that bastard Malik.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The first duel of the semi-finals was to take place between Yuugi and Bakura. There was still no sign of the mysterious eighth duelist, and apparently Malik had decided not to watch the first duel. Being among others would ruin his reputation. Namu was there, standing off from the others to observe the duel. Namu? That didn't seem right. Something in his mind protested against the name and stung every time he looked at the young duelist. What the hell? He had just met Namu right before Malik had taken him captive. There was nothing Namu could have done to have hurt him.

Still, something kept nagging him about Namu. There was something about the way he carried himself with confidence though earlier he had insisted he was new to the game. If he really was as inexperienced as he claimed he was, how the hell had he gotten six locator cards so quickly? Pieces of the puzzle were missing and something wasn't adding up.

Namu caught Jounouchi glancing over at him and flashed him a quick smile. Like the smile of a cat who had just wandered in on helpless prey. Jounouchi shook his head. He had just met Namu and he had no reason to accuse him of anything, let alone working with Malik. Still, there was something oddly familiar about those eyes, something haunting his memory. Before he put the pieces together, he felt the sharp pain in his head again and soon forgot about it. Namu pointed to the arena, indicating that Jounouchi should be paying attention to the duel.

Jounouchi couldn't pay attention to the duel. He was still too pissed off at Malik to really care about anything else. Including the tournament he had worked so hard to get into. Furthermore, there was still something about Namu that was nagging at the back of his mind, persisting to be discovered.

~Remember to review because it's the only way for me to get better and it's the only way I get motivated to continue stories.