After her chores, Kitty hurried up to her room and took out her sketchbook. She began to draw a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. She didn't hear her father slam the front door shut as he entered, or her mother's cry as he threw her to the floor.

When Kitty had finished with her picture, she looked at it. Was it good enough to show her friends? What grade should she give it? It really was cute. It looked kind of alive. She could hear it's mew in her mind and it made her sad to know she could never hear another kitten again for the rest of her life.

Pushing that aside, she decided it was worth an 'A'. Whether or not she got an 'A' on her original picture, she imagined that her friends would believe this was a class 'A' drawing. She took a blue colored pencil and wrote a simple 'A' inside a circle at the top of her paper after signing her name on it.

She held it at arm's length and smiled. It was good and she liked it almost as much as she liked her original one. She put it safely in her notebook and looked at the time. 8:23 p.m.

Her father would be home by now. Not wanting to go downstairs for fear of what was inevitable, she opened her bottom clothes drawer. Inside were a number of sandwiches she had made and brought up when her father wasn't home for an occasion such as this.

She pulled out two and quickly ate them in case Alan decided to come upstairs. She then changed and got ready for bed. Sliding under the covers, she turned off the lamp by her bed. She closed her eyes and she felt all her worries float away. All but one. She repeated the same thing she did every night. She hoped against hope that her father wouldn't kill her in her sleep...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

She had made it through the morning and the night without added bruises and that was the first time in a long while. She now sat in art class, her notebook in front of her, ready to switch out the cat for the original drawing.

Mr. Origato entered the room and Kitty prepared herself. She was anxious to see what grade she got and she wanted him to hurry up and pass out the papers. Biting her bottom lip, she tried not to look as anxious as she felt.

Her teacher leaned on the desk and shuffled through his papers. "Morning class," he said and they all said hello back.

- Come on, come /on/! Give it to me! Let me /see/! - Kitty thought, sitting on the edge of her seat.

"Before I begin to hand out your papers, let me show you all something," Mr. Origato said.

Katrina sighed and put her chin in her hand, drumming her fingers on her cheek. - Oh, come /on/! Can't you do that /after/ we see our grades? -

"We have a student here who is extremely talented and imaginative," he said, finding the paper he was looking for and pulling it out. "This," he said, holding it up. "Is an 'A+'."

Katrina stared at what he was holding up and her face went beet red and her jaw dropped. - No, no, no, no, - she thought, putting a hand over her face. Everyone was looking at /her/ drawing! No one was supposed to see it except the teacher!

Yugi looked at it and knew instantly who was the artist.

It was a drawing of Yami as pharaoh. He had a band around his forehead that had the Sennan Eye on it and gold bands around his forearms and wrists. He wore gold earrings in the shape of ankhs and a long flowing cape. Around his neck was the Millennium Puzzle. Yami stood with his arms folded and a serious expression on his face. All in all it was a very detailed, and exact drawing.

- Impressive, - Yami said, looking at it through Yugi's eyes. Yugi could tell his counter-part was both flattered and intrigued.

He turned his head to Kitty, a slight grin on his face and his eyebrows raised. She was scarlet in the face and had sank down in her seat. It was obvious no one but her and the teacher were intended to see it.

Then, the girl behind Yugi tapped him on the shoulder. He turned to look at her and she whispered, "That looks like you!" She gave a giggle and Yugi felt blood rush to his face.

"No, that doesn't look anything like me," he said quickly, turning around and sinking in his seat like Kitty.

- Great, now the entire school is going to think Kitty has a crush on me! - Yugi thought and Yami chuckled.

Kitty watched Mr. Origato pass out the grades and stared at the one on her desk. As well as the 'A+', he had written, "Excellent" on it. She quickly hid it in her notebook, feeling somewhat sick. She'd never be able to face Yami or Yugi ever again! This was going to be a long day.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Kitty was the first out the door at the end of art and after she left, she disappeared. Yugi left with Bakura and they were both heavily immersed in conversation.

"What was your grade?" Bakura asked.

"A 'C'." Yugi held up a very poor drawing of the Millennium Puzzle. "What'd you get?"

"A "C-," he said, holding up his own picture of a frog.

Yugi nodded. "Did you see Kitty's drawing of Yami?"

"Yes, it was great!" Bakura replied.

"Yeah, it was. But everyone thinks it's /me/ in that picture!" Yugi said.

"I can see how they would make the mistake," Bakura said.

"So can I, but..." Yugi was cut off by someone tapping him on his shoulder. He turned to see a girl from art.

"Are you and that deaf girl dating or something?" she asked, grinning.

Yugi blushed and Bakura held in a laugh. "No, and that wasn't me in that drawing!"

The girl giggled. "It sure looked like you."

"That doesn't mean it was. She... she just likes my hair so she copied it, that's all," Yugi said, trying to come up with something.

"Right," she said with a laugh. Rolling her eyes she went back to her friends.

"See?" Yugi asked. Bakura nodded, fighting a laugh. Yugi sighed and heard a soft chuckle inside his mind.

They walked to the cafeteria and sat down with Tea, Tristan and Joey.

"Hey Yug," Joey said. "Where's Kitty?"

"I don't know. After art she just ran off," Yugi said.

"Huh? Why?" he asked.

"Because... well, do remember the cat she said she drew in art?" Yugi asked, leaning on the table.

"Yeah! I want to see it!" Joey said.

"It's not a cat," Yugi said. "It was... a drawing of Yami as pharaoh. It was really good, but..."

"A drawing of Yami?" Joey exclaimed. "Why'd she lie about that?"

Tea shook her head and sighed. "Joey, you can be so dense."

"What? I wanna' see it!" Joey said.

"Well we can't see it if we don't know where she is," Tristan said.

"I know where she is," Tea said, standing.

"Where?" Joey asked.

"Where all girls go when they're embarrassed," she said, heading toward the cafeteria doors.

"Where's that?" Joey asked.

"The bathroom you idiot," Tristan said, hitting his friend in the back of the head.

"Oh! Hey!" Joey exclaimed, hitting Tristan in return.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tea entered the girls bathroom and looked around. "Kitty?" she called. - What am I doing? She's deaf, she can't hear me! -

She walked down to the last stall and saw two sneakers under the door. - How do I get her attention? - Tea wondered.

Getting an idea, she dropped her backpack to the floor and pulled out a piece of paper and a pencil.

"Kitty? If that's you, open the door," she wrote, then slid it under the door. She saw a hand pick it up.

A few seconds later the door opened and Kitty stood there, her face rather red.

"Hi," Tea said and Kitty smiled weakly. "Uh, Yugi told us about your drawing."

Kitty flushed some more and attempted to close the door, but Tea stopped her. Katrina looked up at her and Tea smiled.

"Can I see it?" she asked.

Shrugging, Kitty bent down and pulled her notebook out of her backpack. She pulled the drawing out and showed her friend.

"Wow! So /that's/ what he'd look like as pharaoh! Pretty cute, huh?" Tea asked, handing the picture back to Kitty.

Katrina stared at her. "Uh," she signed. "I... I guess so."

Tea giggled. "Sorry. You just draw him really well."

"Thanks," Kitty signed, looking at her friend quizzically. She put her drawing away and replaced her notebook in her bag.

"Come on and eat lunch," Tea said, bending to pick up her own backpack.

Kitty shook her head. "I can never face them again. Everyone will think I like him!"

"That's ridiculous," Tea said. "Joey's too dense for that thought to even cross his mind. That's why he and Mai still aren't together."

Kitty giggled despite herself. "I bet Yami saw it too," she signed, going red.

"I'm sure he's both impressed with your talent and flattered that you chose him to draw over someone else," Tea said.

"What if /he/ thinks I like him?" she signed.

"Yami knows better than that," her friend reassured her. "Come on, let's go back."

Kitty nodded and put on her backpack. "Everyone else thinks I like /Yugi/," she signed.

"That will all go away in a little while," Tea said, leading the deaf girl out of the bathroom.

They walked to the cafeteria and the boys were all surprised to see Tea come in with Kitty.

When the two girls sat down, Kitty looked everywhere but at Yugi. She had already resigned to the fact she would take the bus home to avoid Yami.

"There you are!" Joey said. "Let me see that picture of Yami! Yug was saying it was really good!"

Kitty blushed and let her hair fall in front of her face as she bent down to get her notebook. She pulled out the drawing and placed it in the center of the table.

"Whoa!" Joey exclaimed. "That looks just like him! Except for all the Egypt stuff of course."

At that the entire table erupted into laughter, Kitty included.

- She has an extraordinary talent, - Yami said, looking through Yugi's eyes at the drawing.

"Yami likes it," Yugi said.

Kitty looked away from him and busied herself with putting away the drawing so they wouldn't see the blush that had formed across her cheeks.

Then, the bell rang and they all got up to go to the rest of their classes.

==================================================================================

Kitty closed her locker quickly and practically ran to the doors. She had to get to the bus before Yami caught up with her. She glanced behind her only to see the rest of the swarm of teens trying to get out. Tomorrow was Saturday and they couldn't wait for the weekend to start.

Pushing through, she made it outside and ran to the school bus to see Yami waiting by it for her. His back was toward her and she quickly turned around and ran back to the school.

- Maybe if I don't show up, he'll just go home, - she thought hopefully. Looking around, she decided to cut across the lawn behind him and just run. Maybe if she was fast enough he wouldn't notice.

- Here goes nothing! - she thought as she started. Watching to make sure Yami didn't turn around, she made it to the road and ran as fast as she could. - If I can just make it around that bend without him seeing me, I'll have done it! Then I'll have all night and all day before I have to face him again! -

Kitty looked over her shoulder and her heart sank. Yami was behind her and he looked very determined to catch up with her.

- Oh, no. I've just made a pharaoh mad at me! - She turned her head back around just in time to see the tree before she ran into it. She managed to give a tiny scream and fling her arm in front of her face before she collided with the tree. She stumbled backwards, holding her nose.

- I don't remember that being there before, - she thought painfully. She felt Yami stop her backwards momentum. - Oh, no. - A blush crept across her cheeks as he came around to look at her.

"Are you all right?" he asked. His face was expressionless as usual, but his eyes danced with laughter.

Kitty pulled her hands away from her nose and looked at them. She breathed in relief when she saw they weren't bloody. She nodded and signed, "Just a bruised ego."

Yami chuckled. "I expected you to try something like that."

"You knew I was going to run into a tree?" she signed without thinking. Realizing what she had said, she went furiously red and tried to correct it. "Forget I said that."

Yami laughed again and put a hand on her shoulder. Kitty felt her heart jump and she screamed at herself, - No way! He's a /pharaoh/! He's /dead/ for crying out loud! He's just... walking around and stuff. Oh, geez, that was a brilliant line. -

"I'll walk you home," Yami said, starting to her house.

Kitty stared at him, then caught up with him. "You... you're not mad at me?"

Yami chuckled. "No. Your running into the tree erased any trace of anger I may have had."

- Thank heaven for my ability to run into things. - "Oh, well, that's good I guess," she signed. - Gee wiz, can't you come with /something/ better than that? -

"If you're nervous about what I thought of your drawing, I thought it was very well done," he said to her.

Kitty blushed and signed, "Thanks." But that wasn't really what she was worried about. She hoped he didn't think she liked him. /That/ would be bad. Then again, as long as he didn't say anything about it, he could know if it was necessary. He didn't strike her as the type to continuously bring it up.

"I've taken a lot of art classes," she signed.

"It's not just art classes, Katrina. You have true talent. There are no lessens that can teach you how to draw like that," Yami said.

Kitty beamed, feeling her face grow even warmer. She looked away from him to try to hide it.

- You're really gaining her trust, Yami! - Yugi said. - Maybe she'll tell you what's been going on. -

"Katrina," Yami said, placing a hand on her shoulder to make her stop. She looked at him and felt her heart start to race at his touch.

- Oh, God, let go of me! - she thought, knowing perfectly well she didn't want him to let go.

"I know you didn't get that scar from a surgery. What really happened?" Yami asked, his face serious.

- Yami! What are you doing? - Yugi cried. - I meant maybe she'd tell you on her own! -

Kitty backed away from him, her eyes wide. - No! He can't know! Not him! - "I... I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. I won't tell anyone, you have my word. I don't want to see you get hurt," he said.

Kitty stared at him, her eyes reading his. "You already know, don't you?" she signed.

Yami nodded. "I know what goes on in your house, yes. I don't know enough to help you. You have to tell me Katrina."

She looked at him, wondering whether or not she should tell him. She looked away from him and signed, "I can't now. There's... not enough time."

He put his hand on her shoulder and her eyes met his. "Tomorrow then. Meet me at the park. You can tell me then," he said.

She nodded, unable to make her hands form words. Yami began to guide her home once more and she followed, scared of having to tell him what had been happening.

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a/n: Next chapter Yami will learn everything about Kitty and her father. Please read and review!