Just one more week of summerschool.............ahh! too long...noo....

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"What do you mean?"

"The officials say it's suicide."

"Suicide? Are you kidding me?"

"I assure you, Miss, this is no joke."

"But how?"

"They were found together in his office dead by his secretary, later inspectors said they found traces of cyanide in their systems."

"Oh."

"Michael's wife will handle the funeral, I've given her your number."

"WIFE? He failed to mention that...Oh, okay."

"I'm sorry about the news, but, good night," he hung up.

Lily sat on her bed and stared blankly into space. Dead, she couldn't believe it. They couldn't have committed suicide, could they? Together, at the same time? That was preposterous, wasn't it? But they can't be GONE, I mean, they have to still be here. That's too random, they were fine last I spoke to them...wife? Why didn't he tell me he had a wife? He was supposed to be in England, studying. Fulfilling his dream, but no. He had to go and work for dad. It just doesn't make sense...

She tried to sleep, but to no avail. She decided to take a walk outside, get some fresh air, clear up her mind a bit. Dead, gone, suicide, wife; these four words danced in her mind, pushing her into confusion. She just walked a little bit and then stopped to lean against the wall and just think a little bit more. She had to make sense of things. She started to head back to her apartment until she realized she was lost. The darkness hindered her ability to recognize things. There were street lamps, but they provided minimal light.

She blindly walked around, but a man grabbed her just as she recognized that she was in the alley near Yugi's grandfather's game shop. She was choking in a headlock and tried to scream and fight back by kicking and punching and just resisting in general. Her unsuccessful attempts just angered him more, causing him to beat her body against the wall. He tried to molest her but she kicked him hard in the groin and ran off. Unfortunately two seconds later four more guys showed up in front of her. As she tried to scream because she couldn't get around them, they grabbed her and slapped her, telling her to shut up. They threatened to kill her, but she resisted anyway. Consequently, they knocked her out after beating her repeatedly; her body hurt too much from the bruises to fight back, and she bled from her cheek and mouth from where she had fallen. That night she became the victim of gang rape and was left to die.

The next morning Yugi was taking out the trash when he heard a cell phone ring. Noticing that nobody was around, he found it in a purse on the floor and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm looking for Lily."

"Lily? Uh, she's not available right now."

"Can you tell her to call me back? I'm Mike's wife, Jenny, at 534-9983."

"All right."

Lily? Maybe if I look in the phonebook, I can call one of her friends or something...Seto Kaiba, that means she's the one from school...I guess I'll just return this to her on Monday...

As he turned to leave, he noticed something pink and green. Because it looked so out of place, he decided to check it out. To his horror, he discovered it was Lily, her face cut and dried blood streaks on her face. Her shirt was ripped and her pajama pants as well, her bruised midsection showing. She was unconscious and after checking her pulse, Yugi knew she was still alive. He switched with Yami so that he could carry her. (he's stronger, right?) He drove Lily to the hospital and she was admitted into emergency. He waited there for the doctor's news on her situation for quite a while and decided to call Kaiba with her phone, since he didn't have his number.

"Lily," Kaiba said with a grin, "anxious to see me already?"

"Kaiba?"

"Who's this?"

"It's Yugi."

"YUGI?!? What the hell are you doing with Lily's phone?"

"She's hurt. I think she was attacked or something. We're at the hospital right now."

"I'm on my way," Kaiba hung up and raced to his sleek, black motorcycle. He sped through the streets and weaved between hindering cars. It took him five minutes to get there, and as he was in the elevator, he straightened up his appearance. When Yugi gave him the news, he broke into a sweat and started to worry; now he had to regain his composure and hide his fret from his rival.

He was admitted into her room, and found Yugi and the doctor there; immediately he demanded, "Is she going to be okay?"

"Well, she's suffered much, a broken arm, broken rib, bruises, internal blee—"

"Just answer the question doctor."

"With plenty of rest and care, she'll be fine."

"Good," Kaiba exhaled.

"Oh, by the way, some lady called Lily earlier this morning; her name was Jenny, I think and I wrote down her number somewhere..." Yugi trailed off and dug in his pockets. "Oh, here you go."

"Uh, okay."

Yugi's phone went off, and he stepped out of the room to answer it, "Hello?"

"Hey Yugi," Tea chirped.

"Oh, hey Tea."

"You sound tired, are you okay? We went to the shop and you weren't there."

"Yeah, I'm at the hospital."

"Hospital? Are you okay?"

"Oh, yeah, yeah, I'm fine."

"::exhale:: so why are you there?"

"Lily, well she, it's a long story, and I don't even know most of it...I think I should stay a little bit more, make sure she's okay and stuff, you know?"

"Oh, is she okay?"

"Uh, she should be. I'm not sure if she's regained consciousness yet."

"Well, I think I'm gonna go do some Christmas shopping with the guys, see you later then?"

"Okay, bye."

Yugi decided to stay, because he felt obligated to explain how he found her to Kaiba; it seemed like Kaiba was the only person she really knew, she didn't even have other numbers in her phone. He was also curious to know what happened. Why would she be there, and who did that to her? The doctor informed him that she was raped, but Kaiba had cut him off before he finished the list of injuries. Who would want to hurt a young girl like that? He hoped to find out soon.

Yugi told Kaiba how he found her and all that he knew (besides the injuries, since he wasn't so excited about hearing them). Then he informed him that he was going to get some coffee and maybe a bagel, leaving him alone to talk to her sleeping form.

"Lily...I am going to find out who did this to you, and they will be sorry they touched even a hair on your head..."

He held her hand from her unbroken arm and kissed it.

"You'll be okay, you'll heal..."

He kissed her forehead and caressed her cheek.

"You scared me, you know? I came here, and saw you just lying there, and I was completely helpless...I wanted to take away all those injuries...I can't begin to imagine the pain you went through... I can't believe I'd admit this, but I was scared, I wasn't this scared besides the times Mokuba had been in danger...if anything happened to you, I don't know what I'd do..."

He lightly squeezed her hand.

"I...you know, you're so angelic when you sleep, so at peace, so different from your energetic self when you're awake. That's what I like about you, your energy and joy that just radiates you...you've told me about your pain and loneliness, and yet you've overcome that and managed to be happy and get on with things...I know I haven't let go of my past, but when I'm with you all the pain of it is temporarily forgotten, it's so easy to enjoy life with you...and I...you've changed my life, so much, and you don't even know it. I haven't opened up to you that much, but you've really brought something great in my life, and I think that I, well I really care about you..."

His eyes were so much softer and its gaze caring and a teensy bit warm. His schoolmates would have been shocked at the way he played with her hair, the way he fixed her bed sheets, the way he gently kissed her cuts and scrapes, the way he looked, longing her to wake up...You'd think she was in a coma.

Lily started to move a bit and her eyes blinked open to a loving boyfriend, "Hey," she croaked.

"How are you feeling?"

"My arm really hurts...and I can't breathe well..."

"The doctor says you have some broken bones...what happened last night?"

"I don't really remember and I'm guessing I'm in a hospital? I'm kind of tired, can I go back to sleep?"

"Of course," he stood up.

"Seto...if you're not too busy, could you stay? Please?"

"I don't intend on leaving, I'm just going to grab something to eat."

"Oh, yeah, go."

When Kaiba stepped out, he went back to his old image, and the Yugi, after waiting outside, entered Lily's room.

He spoke first, "Lily, are you feeling better?"

"Not really," she chuckled, "but thanks."

"What happened?"

"I don't know, actually, not even how I got here..."

"Actually, I found you this morning and brought you here since you looked in pretty bad shape."

"Oh, I guess I owe you thanks. You know, you shouldn't really be worried about me, don't spend the start of break here, go on and have fun. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure? The doctor said that you were raped and I'm surprised you wouldn't remember such a traumatizing event."

"The doctor told you that?"

"Yeah."

"Well, don't believe it, because it's not true."

This comment shocked him, "The doctor wouldn't lie, he's got no motive to do so."

"I assure you, that did not happen. Now, I thank you for bringing me here, but please leave. I don't need you here. Oh, and don't tell anyone about my situation."

"Fine, I'll leave, but remember this Lily, if you keep on pushing people trying to be nice to you away, one day you'll regret it. Everyone needs friends, even Kaiba has his brother, and someday you'll need them, and you'll find that they can't help you because you've isolated yourself. It may sound cheesy, but you'll run out of strength to fight by yourself one day."

"I am fine."

"Just remember no one is strong enough to take on life by him or herself."

She dismissed his little lecture and returned to slumber. Kaiba just sat next to her. Mokuba came with his laptop so he could to some work, and he would occasionally stop and just watch her, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale...

Several hours later, she woke up again and smiled when she saw the two Kaiba brothers' faces. She tried to sit up, but struggled, and Kaiba pressed the button thingy to bring her to a sitting postion. She immediately saw a huge Snoopy stuffed animal and several balloons, orange, green, and yellow, and smiled even wider, "Awww, that's sweet of you guys."

"Well, look at that Mokuba, seems like we successfully cheered her up."

"Uh-huh."

As her stomach grumbled, she said, "What time is it?"

"1:25"

"No wonder why I'm hungry."

"Oh, I think some woman called."

"Who?"

"Here," he handed her the paper.

"I don't know any Jenny."

"So don't you do me a favor and get me some real food, not this cafeteria crap?"

"Yeah, let's go Mokuba," and they left.

As soon as they closed the door, she reached over to her bag and pulled out her phone to dial the number...

"Hello?"

"Hi, this is Lily, did someone call me?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm Jenny, and the funeral is next Saturday. I've arranged for your flight to San Francisco, just tell them this code: C34F663"

"Uh, okay, well, I'm actually kind of injured, but I'm sure I'll be able to get out before then."

"Yeah, I mean, you are? I hope you get better, well, bye!"

Well, she sure had a lot of energy for a recent widow.

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Hah, well isn't everything so suspicious. hehe, or maybe it's just nothing and i'm just playing mind games...but either way, reviewing is nice... :D