Pikazoom: I liiiiiiiiiive!!!!
Yami/Yugi: Noooooooooooooo!!!!
Pikazoom: Muahaha...and it's time for...YAMI ANGST!!! *does the manga-kaiba laugh* WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Yami: O_O *faints*
Yugi: *watches him fall over* Yami?! O_o Don't leave me alone with her!!!
Pikazoom: Disclaim!!!
Yugi: She doesn't own Yu-gi-oh...
Note: School's starting soon, so I may not update for awhile (like now, sorry!). Not to mention I haven't been very happy lately...so who knows when I'll write, but I'll try hard! =D
To my reviewers:
All: I HAVE REACHED 49 REVIEWS!!!! NEXT STOP 50!!!!!!!!!!!! *does the manga-kaiba laugh* WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'm also on several people's favorites list! Thank you guys!!!!!
AnimeFan-Artemis: Noooooooooooo! You had to change your name?! Eeeeeeeeevil...*plots revenge against FF.net* Anyways, now Seto can't breathe...O_o (Seto: +_=) Thank you for your review! *hands her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Kauly123: Favorite stories? THANK YOU!!!! *cries tears of joy* THAT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY!!!! *stuffs a Yami inflatable floaty thingy into her arms*
Dee-why-Cee-aRe: Self-insertion??? *doesn't understand* Ohhh...you mean my calendar, huh? Well, boredom and strange imagination does that to you. -_- *gives them a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Kami Beverly: I think it's safe to assume you were Beverly but had to change your name, huh? Well, that being said, I should write so you don't kill me O_o''' *hands her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Sailor Pride and Yumi-chan: Muahahaha...kill? I might...no, I'm joking. My story doesn't involve the supernatural (which means no ressurection for Yami). Yay! Thank you for your words of wisdom! I do believe you are...Yami Tenchi, ne? You're on my favorites list =D Here, take these. *gives them each a Yami inflatable floaty thingy* Take them to the beach, and glomp them as the tide carries you away! ^_^
Ssjmiraitrks: Ah, DBZ based name, ne? Anyway, thank you for your review! *hands them a Yami inflatable floaty thingy* O_O I'm on your favorites list, aren't I? THANK YOU!!!! *GLOMP*
Pixy stixs: Yep, they're shy! It makes the mushy romance last longer (muahahaha...). Just joking...I think... O_o *hands them a Yami inflatable floaty thingy as I laughs maniacally*
Crouching Tigress: Thank you for your review and your words of wisdom! O_O You reviewed all of my chappies in a row! *stuffs all the gifts from previous chapters into her arms as well as a Yami inflatable floaty thingy* Enjoy!
Kaiba-fan: You reviewed again. ^_^ Thank you. It's nice to know I have continuous readers (that goes for the rest of you too). *gives her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Dark Anubis: Awww...don't listen to your Yami. I'm sure your stories are great. ^_^ *gives them each two Yami inflatable floaty thingies*
Amethyst Sin and Phiona: Thank you for the proverb! O_o lots of rabid fangirls.. *gives them two Yami inflatable floaty thingies and a bunch for the rabid fangirls*
Darknesswithinonesheart: Yes, we all hate Anzu (prepare to hate her more in this chapter). Thanks for the words of wisdom! Yours is in this chappie! ^_^ Btw, Seto and Yami won't kiss for awhile. =/ *hands her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Coon Queen: First time reviewer! Yay! Oh, you want a Seto gift??? Okay, I'll give you something... *pulls out an extra Seto inflatable floaty thingy and gives it to her* Hmmm... you can have this too! *gives her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Note: Phwa! My PC crashed! I lost part of what I was writing, but luckily, I send my fic back and forth between my Mac and PC (I e-mail myself attachments! XD XD)
Crippled Chapter 6: Change
Yami sat contently in his wheelchair looking through his deck. Suddenly, he flipped the cards face down and shuffled. Maybe he should test Seto's theory himself. What card to look for? Suddenly, he decided on the Black Magician. Yami had a strange favortism toward the card.
'Believe...' he thought, closing his crimson eyes. He placed his hand on the top of deck and quickly drew the top card. Holding the collectible monster to his face he slowly opened one eye.
"Haha! I did it!" the teen bounced around happily in his chair. Shuffling the magician back into his deck, he attempted to draw it again and again. After pulling the same card five times he thought about what Seto had said. "I guess that means I believe in my deck, huh?" he said out loud, almost as if he was talking to Seto.
"YAMI! Come quick!" Yugi yelled. The younger teen ran down the the room, but skid from the doorway when he halted to a stop.
"Yugi? What's wrong?" Yami asked, trying to roll his way up to the room's entrance as best as he could. The younger brother skid back to his door and grabbed his elder brother's wheelchair handles and hauled him out to the tv screen as fast as he could. Yami blinked in confusion but turned to the news report.
"The accident happened when a number of large crates fell onto several workers unloading them. The crates have injured five and killed one," the television roared.
Everything after that was unheard as Yami's eyes painfully widened. "SETO!!!" he screamed, clutching the sides of the tv. Being shown on the electronic box were ambulances loading victims into the back. Yami's favorite brunette was being loaded in, a gash on the right side of his beautiful forehead. Blood was running down the side of his handsome face.
At first, Yami wouldn't stop yelling at the poor television. Then, he sat there staring at the box when the news report was finished. He couldn't believe it. Seto had gotten into an accident. What if he came out like him? Crippled? Or what if...he was one that was killed? Suddenly, Yami buried his face into his slender arms and cried. He barely felt someone wheel him back to his room and put him on the bed, nor did he hear Mokuba come over to the Game Shop, asking to stay for awhile with tears in his eyes. The crimson-eyed teen just cried himself to an awful sleep.
~~~Dream~~~
"Where are you going?" Yami asked, attempting to roll himself over to the brunette. However, he couldn't budge an inch.
Seto hesitated before turning around and smiling brightly at him. "I'm going...someplace wonderful." he said, pointing to the dark sky. With that, he entered a wooden coffin next to him and whispered, "Goodbye..." The coffin ascended to the sky.
"Wait! Don't leave me here alone!" Yami cried, the tears sliding down his cheeks. Suddenly, all other sounds stopped and all that was left was Seto's last words.
In a flash, Yami began falling as the ground vanished from under him. He finally hit another ground. All around him was black. Even the soil. He shielded his eyes as a bright light blinded him. Then, he flung into unconsciousness as something tackled him.
Waking up, he realized he was at the hospital. It was the same room as the one where he'd found out...about THAT...
"Seto?" Yami whispered. "Seto?" he asked again, his voice cracking a little. He pleaded the name over and over again but no one came to comfort him. He finally stuffed his face into the pillow and cried, and there was no Seto to comfort him...
~~~End Dream~~~
Yami let out a strangled cry as he awoke. Panting and sweating, one might add. It was an awful nightmare. He didn't want to go back to sleep. He was afraid. He didn't want to feel pain and sadness. Seto had taken away those awful things and replaced them. Replaced them with happiness. Yami was afraid of what Seto had gotten rid of.
Wiping his eyes and face of salty tears, he looked at the clock. It was 5:24 am. He still had about an hour until he usually woke up! He threw the covers off and ripped another day off of his calendar. It read, "Step up to an oppurtunity. If you don't, you'll regret it!" ~Darknesswithinonesheart. Yami looked at it. What was up with these weird aliases? (*throws angry glares at her muses* Don't insult the reviewers!!! *whacks them with mallets*) Shaking his head, he began to lower himself into his wheelchair. At first, he noticed that his arms hurt. He remembered that he'd been practicing moving around on his own when Seto had left.
'Seto...' he thought sadly, his eyes watering. Yami tried to shake off his depression and rolled slowly to the kitchen, sniffling a little along the way. It would be a little while until Jiichan woke up. He had planned to eat breakfast, but the wheelchair made him too short to reach even the Mutou family's low counters. Pain hit him again. Bad memories of his accident flooded his mind, followed by images of the news report. Seto had taken away his painful memories, but now, they resurfaced without him. Suddenly, he was reminded of something else.
"Seto could cook..." he thought out loud to himself. He remebered their cooking project earlier in the year. They had been ordered to cook something. Set into partners, Yami was with Otogi. Currently, Otogi hung out with Yugi's crew. Nobody was absolutely sure why he hung out with underclassmen. Rumor was he was dating one of them *cough*honda*cough*. Anyway, Seto had managed to come out with a beautiful spaghetti dish on his own (his partner was uncooperative) while Yami and Otogi...well, they burned the stove. However, their extra credit desert allowed them to scrape by.
Yami shook his head. This wasn't helping! He'd come here to temporarily forget about Seto, Obviously, that wasn't working. Sighing, he sat there, waiting for Jiichan to wake up so he could be fed. In the mean time...he didn't know what to do. He sat there in his chair until he fell sound asleep, his spiky haired head lolling to one side...thankfully, he didn't having any nightmares.
~~~
"Yami?" Jiichan asked, shaking his elder grandson out of sleep. The said teenager made some strange gargling noises and groaned before opening his large eyes.
"Jiichan?" he asked, shaking his head in order to wake up.
"What are you doing in the kitchen???" the concerned grandfather said.
"Oh, I woke up early, and I came in here. I couldn't reach the cereal, so I went to sleep," he sweatdropped. That last line sounded pretty pathetic.
"Oh...so, what would you like?"
"Hmmm...how about Corn Pops? (Yugi: she doesn't own this either)" the crimson-eyed teen suggested. His grandfather nodded and pulled a bowl from the cabinet. "Hey Jiichan? Could we...visit Seto afterschool?" he asked timdly,
In truth, Yami was afraid to see Seto. What if something awful had happened to his best friend? Biting his lip, he fought back images of the brunette with a large wound on his forehead from last night. He secretly admitted that he'd hate for Seto's beautiful appearance to be destroyed.
The cobalt-eyed teen had a natural grace to him. It was funny that no one seemed to noticed that...even Yami didn't notice at first. His walk was smooth and flawless. His eyes were a brilliant blue and pierced through yours thoughts. If Seto was a model, people would be drooling at his picture.
"I guess we can," Jiichan answered after giving it some thought. "But...they might not let you in. You know that, right?"
"Well...yes. But they would at least let Mokuba in. He's family, and I know he wants to see him too," the elder Mutou child said.
"Yes. That's true. But you'll have to ask Yugi to take you..."
"Yugi?" Yami blinked.
"Well, you can't move around in that wheelchair by yourself now can you?" Jiichan raised an eyebrow.
Yami winced. It sounded like..like they were replacing him. Like they were replacing Seto. They were just talking about him! Didn't Jiichan care at all? Yami furiously swiped at his eyes. He wouldn't cry...he wouldn't...
"No...no I suppose not," the teen said softly, eyes on his lap.
~~~
"Hey Anzu!" Yugi waved. She turned around, smiling, about to reply, and then she ran away. "Hey...why'd she run away?"
"...me," Yami answered glumly.
"Huh? I thought she liked you, Yami," Yugi asked.
"Well, that was before..." Yami pointed to the non-existant limb, wincing.
"O-oh. Sorry Yami," the younger brother said, biting his bottom lip.
"It's okay Yugi. I know you want to hang out with your friends, so don't let me stop you," the crimson-eyed teen turned around, putting on a false smile.
"You miss him, don't you?"
"I-"
"I can tell, Yami," Yugi interrupted, "I'm your brother. You don't have to lie to me," he frowned.
"..." Yami was silenced. "I...I'm sorry Yugi. I didn't want to make you feel...guilty or anything."
"Though," Yugi said, winking, "I'm left to wonder how much you like him."
"Wha-what?" Yami said, his face burning. Was his younger brother was implying that he was gay? Well, it wouldn't be so bad. Seto's nice. And handsome. And hot. And has nice blu-ARGH!!! What was he thinking?! Seto was his best friend, nothing more!
"I wouldn't mind adding him to the family," Yugi laughed. Looking at his elder brother's gaping face he said, "Aw, come on Yami. I know you like him!"
"Well...I don't really know what I think of him," Yami confessed.
"Oh. Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Yugi reassured, pushing his brother into his classroom.
Life without Seto was normal. Nothing odd happened...but it sure felt strange. Especially at lunch. He ate with Yugi and his friends, and conversations often cut him out. Yami felt...lonely for the first time in a long time. People stared at him, but they never tried anything. Being the friend of a celebrity had its advantages.
But Yami never saw Seto at the hospital. He was always too afraid and Yugi too busy. Soon, one week had past, and Yami was fed up. He suddenly wanted solitude, and he started to wheel himself around. In a short amount of time, he'd gained a lot of speed. However, with about three weeks until the tournament, tension was rising between duelists.
~~~
"Hey you!" A red-haired teenager came up to Yami.
"Y-yes?" Yami asked, very flustered. No one but Yugi and his friends talked to him, so this was surprising.
"You're the one being trained by Ryu to duel, right?" the boy sneered and stuck his acne-loaded face in front of Yami's flawless one. (hehe...acne- loaded...couldn't resist...)
"Well, I wouldn't say trained...he just taught me," Yami looked up at the interogator.
"I don't want you dueling at the tournament. Do I make myself clear?" the red-head asked.
"What?! No, I want to duel!" Yami protested. A fist flung out and punched Yami in the side of the head.
"There's a warning. That prize money will be mine!" and the boy stomped off, leaving Yami in shock and pain.
~~~
Life was getting harder and harder for Yami. Everyone seemed to have assumed that he was a great duelist because he was friends with the famous Ryu the Dragon Master. In truth, Seto hadn't told him much. Just the basics. Not that anyone listened.
His bruises were adding up, followed by multiplying. Jiichan was feeling a little ill lately, and he didn't want to worry the old man with his problems. Yugi was totally oblivious to the situation. The only visible mark was the bruise on Yami's head, but he'd swayed the boy's judgement into thinking he'd hit something. Finally, with only one week left until the tournament, Yami decided to see Seto. Seto always listened...no matter if he was hurt, Yami was sure he'd listen.
A/N: Is this a short chapter? I can't tell @_@
Yami: *mutters* the less you write the better.
A/N: DIE!!!! *grabs her scythe*
Yami/Yugi: Noooooooooooooo!!!!
Pikazoom: Muahaha...and it's time for...YAMI ANGST!!! *does the manga-kaiba laugh* WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Yami: O_O *faints*
Yugi: *watches him fall over* Yami?! O_o Don't leave me alone with her!!!
Pikazoom: Disclaim!!!
Yugi: She doesn't own Yu-gi-oh...
Note: School's starting soon, so I may not update for awhile (like now, sorry!). Not to mention I haven't been very happy lately...so who knows when I'll write, but I'll try hard! =D
To my reviewers:
All: I HAVE REACHED 49 REVIEWS!!!! NEXT STOP 50!!!!!!!!!!!! *does the manga-kaiba laugh* WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! I'm also on several people's favorites list! Thank you guys!!!!!
AnimeFan-Artemis: Noooooooooooo! You had to change your name?! Eeeeeeeeevil...*plots revenge against FF.net* Anyways, now Seto can't breathe...O_o (Seto: +_=) Thank you for your review! *hands her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Kauly123: Favorite stories? THANK YOU!!!! *cries tears of joy* THAT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY!!!! *stuffs a Yami inflatable floaty thingy into her arms*
Dee-why-Cee-aRe: Self-insertion??? *doesn't understand* Ohhh...you mean my calendar, huh? Well, boredom and strange imagination does that to you. -_- *gives them a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Kami Beverly: I think it's safe to assume you were Beverly but had to change your name, huh? Well, that being said, I should write so you don't kill me O_o''' *hands her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Sailor Pride and Yumi-chan: Muahahaha...kill? I might...no, I'm joking. My story doesn't involve the supernatural (which means no ressurection for Yami). Yay! Thank you for your words of wisdom! I do believe you are...Yami Tenchi, ne? You're on my favorites list =D Here, take these. *gives them each a Yami inflatable floaty thingy* Take them to the beach, and glomp them as the tide carries you away! ^_^
Ssjmiraitrks: Ah, DBZ based name, ne? Anyway, thank you for your review! *hands them a Yami inflatable floaty thingy* O_O I'm on your favorites list, aren't I? THANK YOU!!!! *GLOMP*
Pixy stixs: Yep, they're shy! It makes the mushy romance last longer (muahahaha...). Just joking...I think... O_o *hands them a Yami inflatable floaty thingy as I laughs maniacally*
Crouching Tigress: Thank you for your review and your words of wisdom! O_O You reviewed all of my chappies in a row! *stuffs all the gifts from previous chapters into her arms as well as a Yami inflatable floaty thingy* Enjoy!
Kaiba-fan: You reviewed again. ^_^ Thank you. It's nice to know I have continuous readers (that goes for the rest of you too). *gives her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Dark Anubis: Awww...don't listen to your Yami. I'm sure your stories are great. ^_^ *gives them each two Yami inflatable floaty thingies*
Amethyst Sin and Phiona: Thank you for the proverb! O_o lots of rabid fangirls.. *gives them two Yami inflatable floaty thingies and a bunch for the rabid fangirls*
Darknesswithinonesheart: Yes, we all hate Anzu (prepare to hate her more in this chapter). Thanks for the words of wisdom! Yours is in this chappie! ^_^ Btw, Seto and Yami won't kiss for awhile. =/ *hands her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Coon Queen: First time reviewer! Yay! Oh, you want a Seto gift??? Okay, I'll give you something... *pulls out an extra Seto inflatable floaty thingy and gives it to her* Hmmm... you can have this too! *gives her a Yami inflatable floaty thingy*
Note: Phwa! My PC crashed! I lost part of what I was writing, but luckily, I send my fic back and forth between my Mac and PC (I e-mail myself attachments! XD XD)
Crippled Chapter 6: Change
Yami sat contently in his wheelchair looking through his deck. Suddenly, he flipped the cards face down and shuffled. Maybe he should test Seto's theory himself. What card to look for? Suddenly, he decided on the Black Magician. Yami had a strange favortism toward the card.
'Believe...' he thought, closing his crimson eyes. He placed his hand on the top of deck and quickly drew the top card. Holding the collectible monster to his face he slowly opened one eye.
"Haha! I did it!" the teen bounced around happily in his chair. Shuffling the magician back into his deck, he attempted to draw it again and again. After pulling the same card five times he thought about what Seto had said. "I guess that means I believe in my deck, huh?" he said out loud, almost as if he was talking to Seto.
"YAMI! Come quick!" Yugi yelled. The younger teen ran down the the room, but skid from the doorway when he halted to a stop.
"Yugi? What's wrong?" Yami asked, trying to roll his way up to the room's entrance as best as he could. The younger brother skid back to his door and grabbed his elder brother's wheelchair handles and hauled him out to the tv screen as fast as he could. Yami blinked in confusion but turned to the news report.
"The accident happened when a number of large crates fell onto several workers unloading them. The crates have injured five and killed one," the television roared.
Everything after that was unheard as Yami's eyes painfully widened. "SETO!!!" he screamed, clutching the sides of the tv. Being shown on the electronic box were ambulances loading victims into the back. Yami's favorite brunette was being loaded in, a gash on the right side of his beautiful forehead. Blood was running down the side of his handsome face.
At first, Yami wouldn't stop yelling at the poor television. Then, he sat there staring at the box when the news report was finished. He couldn't believe it. Seto had gotten into an accident. What if he came out like him? Crippled? Or what if...he was one that was killed? Suddenly, Yami buried his face into his slender arms and cried. He barely felt someone wheel him back to his room and put him on the bed, nor did he hear Mokuba come over to the Game Shop, asking to stay for awhile with tears in his eyes. The crimson-eyed teen just cried himself to an awful sleep.
~~~Dream~~~
"Where are you going?" Yami asked, attempting to roll himself over to the brunette. However, he couldn't budge an inch.
Seto hesitated before turning around and smiling brightly at him. "I'm going...someplace wonderful." he said, pointing to the dark sky. With that, he entered a wooden coffin next to him and whispered, "Goodbye..." The coffin ascended to the sky.
"Wait! Don't leave me here alone!" Yami cried, the tears sliding down his cheeks. Suddenly, all other sounds stopped and all that was left was Seto's last words.
In a flash, Yami began falling as the ground vanished from under him. He finally hit another ground. All around him was black. Even the soil. He shielded his eyes as a bright light blinded him. Then, he flung into unconsciousness as something tackled him.
Waking up, he realized he was at the hospital. It was the same room as the one where he'd found out...about THAT...
"Seto?" Yami whispered. "Seto?" he asked again, his voice cracking a little. He pleaded the name over and over again but no one came to comfort him. He finally stuffed his face into the pillow and cried, and there was no Seto to comfort him...
~~~End Dream~~~
Yami let out a strangled cry as he awoke. Panting and sweating, one might add. It was an awful nightmare. He didn't want to go back to sleep. He was afraid. He didn't want to feel pain and sadness. Seto had taken away those awful things and replaced them. Replaced them with happiness. Yami was afraid of what Seto had gotten rid of.
Wiping his eyes and face of salty tears, he looked at the clock. It was 5:24 am. He still had about an hour until he usually woke up! He threw the covers off and ripped another day off of his calendar. It read, "Step up to an oppurtunity. If you don't, you'll regret it!" ~Darknesswithinonesheart. Yami looked at it. What was up with these weird aliases? (*throws angry glares at her muses* Don't insult the reviewers!!! *whacks them with mallets*) Shaking his head, he began to lower himself into his wheelchair. At first, he noticed that his arms hurt. He remembered that he'd been practicing moving around on his own when Seto had left.
'Seto...' he thought sadly, his eyes watering. Yami tried to shake off his depression and rolled slowly to the kitchen, sniffling a little along the way. It would be a little while until Jiichan woke up. He had planned to eat breakfast, but the wheelchair made him too short to reach even the Mutou family's low counters. Pain hit him again. Bad memories of his accident flooded his mind, followed by images of the news report. Seto had taken away his painful memories, but now, they resurfaced without him. Suddenly, he was reminded of something else.
"Seto could cook..." he thought out loud to himself. He remebered their cooking project earlier in the year. They had been ordered to cook something. Set into partners, Yami was with Otogi. Currently, Otogi hung out with Yugi's crew. Nobody was absolutely sure why he hung out with underclassmen. Rumor was he was dating one of them *cough*honda*cough*. Anyway, Seto had managed to come out with a beautiful spaghetti dish on his own (his partner was uncooperative) while Yami and Otogi...well, they burned the stove. However, their extra credit desert allowed them to scrape by.
Yami shook his head. This wasn't helping! He'd come here to temporarily forget about Seto, Obviously, that wasn't working. Sighing, he sat there, waiting for Jiichan to wake up so he could be fed. In the mean time...he didn't know what to do. He sat there in his chair until he fell sound asleep, his spiky haired head lolling to one side...thankfully, he didn't having any nightmares.
~~~
"Yami?" Jiichan asked, shaking his elder grandson out of sleep. The said teenager made some strange gargling noises and groaned before opening his large eyes.
"Jiichan?" he asked, shaking his head in order to wake up.
"What are you doing in the kitchen???" the concerned grandfather said.
"Oh, I woke up early, and I came in here. I couldn't reach the cereal, so I went to sleep," he sweatdropped. That last line sounded pretty pathetic.
"Oh...so, what would you like?"
"Hmmm...how about Corn Pops? (Yugi: she doesn't own this either)" the crimson-eyed teen suggested. His grandfather nodded and pulled a bowl from the cabinet. "Hey Jiichan? Could we...visit Seto afterschool?" he asked timdly,
In truth, Yami was afraid to see Seto. What if something awful had happened to his best friend? Biting his lip, he fought back images of the brunette with a large wound on his forehead from last night. He secretly admitted that he'd hate for Seto's beautiful appearance to be destroyed.
The cobalt-eyed teen had a natural grace to him. It was funny that no one seemed to noticed that...even Yami didn't notice at first. His walk was smooth and flawless. His eyes were a brilliant blue and pierced through yours thoughts. If Seto was a model, people would be drooling at his picture.
"I guess we can," Jiichan answered after giving it some thought. "But...they might not let you in. You know that, right?"
"Well...yes. But they would at least let Mokuba in. He's family, and I know he wants to see him too," the elder Mutou child said.
"Yes. That's true. But you'll have to ask Yugi to take you..."
"Yugi?" Yami blinked.
"Well, you can't move around in that wheelchair by yourself now can you?" Jiichan raised an eyebrow.
Yami winced. It sounded like..like they were replacing him. Like they were replacing Seto. They were just talking about him! Didn't Jiichan care at all? Yami furiously swiped at his eyes. He wouldn't cry...he wouldn't...
"No...no I suppose not," the teen said softly, eyes on his lap.
~~~
"Hey Anzu!" Yugi waved. She turned around, smiling, about to reply, and then she ran away. "Hey...why'd she run away?"
"...me," Yami answered glumly.
"Huh? I thought she liked you, Yami," Yugi asked.
"Well, that was before..." Yami pointed to the non-existant limb, wincing.
"O-oh. Sorry Yami," the younger brother said, biting his bottom lip.
"It's okay Yugi. I know you want to hang out with your friends, so don't let me stop you," the crimson-eyed teen turned around, putting on a false smile.
"You miss him, don't you?"
"I-"
"I can tell, Yami," Yugi interrupted, "I'm your brother. You don't have to lie to me," he frowned.
"..." Yami was silenced. "I...I'm sorry Yugi. I didn't want to make you feel...guilty or anything."
"Though," Yugi said, winking, "I'm left to wonder how much you like him."
"Wha-what?" Yami said, his face burning. Was his younger brother was implying that he was gay? Well, it wouldn't be so bad. Seto's nice. And handsome. And hot. And has nice blu-ARGH!!! What was he thinking?! Seto was his best friend, nothing more!
"I wouldn't mind adding him to the family," Yugi laughed. Looking at his elder brother's gaping face he said, "Aw, come on Yami. I know you like him!"
"Well...I don't really know what I think of him," Yami confessed.
"Oh. Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually," Yugi reassured, pushing his brother into his classroom.
Life without Seto was normal. Nothing odd happened...but it sure felt strange. Especially at lunch. He ate with Yugi and his friends, and conversations often cut him out. Yami felt...lonely for the first time in a long time. People stared at him, but they never tried anything. Being the friend of a celebrity had its advantages.
But Yami never saw Seto at the hospital. He was always too afraid and Yugi too busy. Soon, one week had past, and Yami was fed up. He suddenly wanted solitude, and he started to wheel himself around. In a short amount of time, he'd gained a lot of speed. However, with about three weeks until the tournament, tension was rising between duelists.
~~~
"Hey you!" A red-haired teenager came up to Yami.
"Y-yes?" Yami asked, very flustered. No one but Yugi and his friends talked to him, so this was surprising.
"You're the one being trained by Ryu to duel, right?" the boy sneered and stuck his acne-loaded face in front of Yami's flawless one. (hehe...acne- loaded...couldn't resist...)
"Well, I wouldn't say trained...he just taught me," Yami looked up at the interogator.
"I don't want you dueling at the tournament. Do I make myself clear?" the red-head asked.
"What?! No, I want to duel!" Yami protested. A fist flung out and punched Yami in the side of the head.
"There's a warning. That prize money will be mine!" and the boy stomped off, leaving Yami in shock and pain.
~~~
Life was getting harder and harder for Yami. Everyone seemed to have assumed that he was a great duelist because he was friends with the famous Ryu the Dragon Master. In truth, Seto hadn't told him much. Just the basics. Not that anyone listened.
His bruises were adding up, followed by multiplying. Jiichan was feeling a little ill lately, and he didn't want to worry the old man with his problems. Yugi was totally oblivious to the situation. The only visible mark was the bruise on Yami's head, but he'd swayed the boy's judgement into thinking he'd hit something. Finally, with only one week left until the tournament, Yami decided to see Seto. Seto always listened...no matter if he was hurt, Yami was sure he'd listen.
A/N: Is this a short chapter? I can't tell @_@
Yami: *mutters* the less you write the better.
A/N: DIE!!!! *grabs her scythe*