Hey, everybody, thanks for all the reviews. Yay. Yeah, I like my comedy, especially when it's bickering between Yami and Chaos, there will be more of that, I assure you.
Yugi heard the sound of the door turn, then click and his head shot up. Seto opened the door and was nearly tackled by Yugi. "Did you find them?!" he asked desperately. At the sound of Yugi's voice, everyone else in the house rushed towards the door.
Everyone had been on pins and needles for quite some time. Kaiba looked down and saw that Yugi's eyes were red and they were wide with anticipation. 'Maybe I should have come home sooner,' he thought as his eyes swept across everyone else. Without thought, he closed the door behind him.
"I saw Chaos," he said as he sidestepped and put down his briefcase. "And . . ."
"Just Chaos?" Yugi's voice squeaked. Seto swallowed. He debated on whether or not to tell Yugi everything.
"Yes," he finally answered. "I asked her where Yami was, and she said he was back at the Game Shop sleeping. You know, for being the ruler of Egypt, your yami's pretty lazy." All the fear from Yugi's eyes slipped away. He then sank to the floor and began to sob with relief.
Behind him, there were several sighs of relief. Seto smiled and hung up his coat. When he turned back around, he saw Tazi kneeling down next to Yugi. She hugged him and wiped away his tears. Mokuba suddenly cheered.
"This calls for chocolate ice cream!" he yelled as he ran to the kitchen. Tazi, Ryou, and even Kaiba laughed.
Yugi looked up at Seto with teary eyes. "I'm so glad he's okay," he cried with a smile. More tears streamed down his cheeks and Tazi reached over and wiped them away. Tazi looked up at him and smiled big.
"Come help me, Seto!" Mokuba called from the kitchen. "I can't reach it!" Seto rolled his eyes and stepped away from Yugi and Tazi.
"I'm coming!" Seto called as he heard a crash in the kitchen. "Just hold on a second!" He quickly walked into towards the kitchen.
Ryou stood next to Tazi and Yugi. He thought back through the last few moments. Something just didn't click for him. Ryou also went to help in the kitchen. As he walked in, he saw Mokuba telling his brother what kinds of ice cream to get out of the freezer and Seto telling him to be quiet.
When Mokuba heard him come in, he turned around and put his hands on his hips. "Don't we need Rock Road, Ryou?!" he asked the older boy. Seto looked over at Ryou skeptically. His face basically told him, 'This whole party business is just another excuse for him to have chocolate and get hyper, and that's why this fridge is so tall'.
Ryou smiled sweetly. "What would a party be without it?" he asked. Mokuba turned to his older brother.
"See?!"
"Okay, okay," Seto sighed as he handed the container of ice cream to Mokuba. He then began to mutter about sugar highs and British people. Mokuba took the carton and set it next to the other two on the counter. "I think that's enough," Seto said as he closed the freezer door.
The younger Kaiba took the three cartons and placed them farther away and began to get out bowls and spoons. Seto walked over to Ryou and gave him a fairly meaningless glare.
"You're a lot of help," he said. Ryou just grinned.
"I don't really think it would have mattered," he spoke honestly. "I just ended it sooner." Seto sighed.
"You're probably right," he admitted. He watched Mokuba run around the large kitchen. "It's just gonna be another long night," he sighed. "But I don't want him out of the mansion until this gets settled." Ryou looked up at Kaiba.
"Yami really wasn't just sleeping was he," he spoke quietly. "Something really did happen."
Kaiba immediately steered him out of the kitchen and into a room beyond it. He looked around and made sure that Tazi and Yugi were no where in sight. Seto then looked down at the other teen.
"Yes, something else did happen," Kaiba spoke quietly. "But Yami really is all right, I just couldn't tell Yugi what all happened." Ryou nodded, understanding what the other was telling him.
"He's been shaken up all day, it was probably for the best. But what did happen?" Seto looked around once more and listened intently for a moment, then told Ryou the whole story. When he was finished, Ryou agreed with him. "He's not ready for it," he simply said. The white haired boy thought for a moment. "But I wish I could have comforted Chaos."
"I tried," Seto admitted. "And I think I did a little bit, but I don't think I was the one she wanted to be comforted by." Ryou looked away.
"She's been helping me a lot lately," Ryou said softly. "And I've been wanting to help her somehow, but I never seem to know how." Seto bit his lip.
"Somehow, I think you just being safe helps her out," he replied. "It gives her one less thing to worry about." Ryou suddenly smiled.
"I think your right! Thank you," he said as he walked out. "Want some help, Mokuba?"
Kaiba stood alone in the room for a moment. 'You missed your calling, Seto Kaiba,' he thought to himself. 'You could have aced psychology.'
Yami sat in the passenger seat of the red Toyota as they drove down the now lighted streets of Domino. He had a small bag packed in the back seat and he hoped he wouldn't need it longer than two days. The former Pharaoh leaned back and watched the lights go by.
Next to him, he heard Chaos sniffle a little bit. She had been ever since she'd woken up. Yami began to wonder if she was catching a cold. He had asked her, but she wouldn't admit to anything.
For the past several minutes, they had pretty much ridden in silence. That was suddenly broken by Chaos letting out a small cough. Yami looked over toward her and saw that her eyes were watering. He opened his mouth to say something when Chaos cut him off.
"Shut up," she said in a nasal voice.
"I didn't say anything," Yami said innocently.
"You were thinking it," Chaos accused.
Yami winced, she was right. He hated it when she did that, and she did it a lot. "Are you sure one of the Bracelet's powers isn't ESP?"
"No," Chaos answered in a monotone voice. "It's women's intuition." Yami looked back out the window. A few cars went the other direction, but he recognized none of them.
"When we get there," Chaos began, shaking Yami out of his trance. "You can stay in Tazi's dad's room. You know where I'm talking about don't you?"
"Yes," Yami answered, not looking toward her. "I remember where it is."
Once again, the car was filled with silence. Conversations were a hard thing to start, or so it seemed. They finally reached the Tashanazi home and Chaos pulled into the garage and parked next to Bakura's Mustang.
Yami reached into the back seat and pulled out his bag and got out of the car. Chaos walked over to the door that went into the kitchen and pulled it open. As she walked in, she pulled off her boots and left them by the door. Yami followed in the same suit.
As Chaos walked by the kitchen table, she grabbed the note Tazi had left several days before and crinkled it up. It was thrown into the trash as Chaos passed it. She then went straight to the stairs.
"If you need anything," Chaos called as she went up to the stairs. "Help yourself. I'm going to bed." She then disappeared from Yami's sight.
The former Pharaoh just stood in the kitchen for a moment, trying to figure out what to do first. He felt slightly concerned. Chaos was usually the type to stay up until at least eleven. Yami had looked at the clock and had seen that it was only nine.
Finally, he shouldered his bag and went up the stairs, turning off lights as he went, to where he would spend the night. As he made his way onto the second story, he looked down one way and saw that Chaos's door was closed and that the light was off. Yami frowned, then went down the other way of the hall.
As he entered the room, he looked around. Yami had briefly been in the room before, but had never actually examined it. Now was as good as any.
The floor was covered with soft beige carpet and the walls were painted a similar color. A king size bed sat with its back to the wall in the middle of the room. It had rusty beige and yellow comforter and sheets, along with pillow cases. They looked fairly new, which didn't surprise him, considering that Mr. Tashanazi was never home.
There was one window at the farthest end of the room from the door, which was to the right. Several pictures were hung up on the wall and to the left there was a mahogany wood dresser with a mirror posted on top.
Yami walked over to the bed and sat his bag on top. He unzipped it and pulled out his night clothes. After dressing, he pulled back the sheets and climbed into the bed. It was soft and comfortable. The yami snuggled into the sheets and closed his eyes.
Bakura laid in his hospital bed wide awake. The doctor had given him something that was suppose to make him sleep, but it hadn't started to effect him. The Tomb Robber was more concerned about the other two.
Chaos's face was still etched in her mind. She looked so worn, so battered. Her eyes were red from crying. Bakura knew that she had probably not wanted him to know, but being her best friend, he had to notice. Her blue orbs had been filled with despair and worry.
'I wonder how Yami's doing,' he thought absent mindedly as he looked out the window. The moon was now with in sight from his window and it shone brightly. It was nearly full and would be in a few days. Across the sky, Bakura could see clouds slowly moving to cover it.
Without much thought, the thief ran his fingers across the front of the Millennium Ring. 'Curse you, Pharaoh,' he thought. It was the Ring that had him in this mess, and Yami was the one who had sealed him in it. So basically, it was all his fault.
Bakura found it strange though, he didn't remember being sealed in the Ring. He didn't even really remember any encounters with Yami. Well, he vaguely remembered being pulled into the throne room by guards, but that was about it. He also remembered robbing tombs, but they were all spotted and particles. There were so many gaps. If he ever found out what they were, they could possibly change his whole look upon things.
But it was unlikely that he ever would find out what they were. Yami had pretty much sentenced them to eternity in their Items. Someday, Ryou would leave him and he would be alone, probably sealed into the Ring once again. It pained the Egyptian to think about Ryou leaving him. The boy was so close to him now. When Ryou left this world, Bakura wished he could go with him.
Bakura smirked, at least Yami was strapped in for the ride as well. It was rather sadistic of him. He knew that Yami would take it just as hard when Yugi departed. The Pharaoh had been with his light longer and cherished him deeply. The thief sighed, there was no way he could ever really win, even against himself.
The alarm clock on the nightstand blared the numbers 10:00. Bakura stared at the green numbers. He could feel the medication starting to take its effect. He closed his eyes slowly, then opened them again.
'You'd better be sleeping, Chaos,' he thought as he turned onto his side. 'You promised.'
Yami bolted upright in the bed and gasped for breath. Nightmares had plagued his sleep. He dreamt that the others were suffering, and he could do nothing about it. It was the work of who ever their enemy was no doubt. The Pharaoh wiped the sweat from his face.
For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was when he looked about the room. He had expected to find himself in the room that he shared with Yugi. After several moments, memories of coming with Chaos came back to him and he remembered everything.
The spirit thought for a moment. Something felt strange, not wrong, but strange. He thought back to when Chaos had gone to bed early and how she had been coughing.
'I'd better check on her,' he thought as he pulled the covers back and slid out of bed. Yami then walked out of the room in his socked feet.
Chaos slowly drifted into a hazy awareness. Her whole body felt heavy and weighed down. Her mind seemed slow and her sight was fuzzy. The Egyptian also felt something cool against her forehead.
As her eyes got used to the darkness again, she saw a figure leaning over her. Chaos squinted a little. "Pharaoh?" Her voice cracked as she discovered that her throat was dry and her lips felt parched.
When she tried to sit up, she discovered that she had been clutching a pillow. Chaos felt her mind become hazy again as she sat up. She also felt very confused, and yet too tired to care.
Yami removed his hand from her forehead. "I was worried about you," he said quietly as he held out a glass of water. Chaos reached for it and her hand fumbled to grasp it. After taking it with both hands, she drank a little. She then handed the glass back to him. "Is that all?" he asked in surprise. Chaos nodded and laid back down.
"Just . . . Just let me sleep," she mumbled. Yami looked down at her worriedly.
"You're running a pretty high fever," he said as she turned her back to him. He could hear her labored breathing in the dark. Then, there were several painful sounding coughs.
"Go back to sleep, Pharaoh," Chaos rasped as she pulled the covers up on herself and curled up into a ball. Yami chewed on his bottom lip thoughtfully.
"Are you sure?" When he didn't receive a response, he took it as a yes. Yami walked over to the desk and set the glass there. "I'm leaving the glass on the desk. Okay?" He then walked out and gently closed the door behind him.
Before he made his way back down the hall, he heard more coughing. Yami winced at them. He then walked down the hall back to his room for the night.
It pained Yami to see Chaos like that. He knew why she was like that too. It was because she had gone after him when he'd fallen in the lake. While he was unconscious and in the Game Shop, dry and warm, Chaos had gone back out with only a change of clothes. This was his fault, and it made him feel awful. She had never looked so weak before this.
The inhabitant of the Millennium Puzzle crawled back into his bed and pulled the blankets around him tightly. "I'm sorry . . ." he whispered into the darkness. "It's my fault. If I hadn't been so persistent . . . I'm so sorry . . . ."
When Bakura woke up that morning, he was met by the sun shinning brightly through his window. The snow covering the rooftops and the windowsill only increased the glare. Bakura threw his arm over his eyes to shield them from the bright light.
"You know, Bakura," a voice came from the other side of the room. "You could just ask someone to shut the curtains."
"Then why don't you, Pharaoh?" Bakura snapped. He heard quiet footsteps walk across the room and heard the sound of curtains whooshing closed.
"That better?" Yami asked as he turned around. Bakura removed his arm from his eyes.
"If you could just hand over the Puzzle, then everything would be just peachy," Bakura declared sarcastically. Yami gave him a bored look.
"Since you're being your power hungry self, I'll assume that our perpetrator hasn't made another appearance here," the tri-color haired young man said as he stood next to the hospital bed. Bakura rolled his eyes at the other.
"Nope, sorry, he was in here two minutes ago. Ya just missed him," Bakura sarcastically spat.
Yami growled something under his breath for a couple moments, ignoring the fact that Bakura was curiously looking around the room.
Suddenly, something struck Bakura. "Where's Chaos?" he demanded. Yami didn't hear him. The thief grabbed Yami's coat and yanked on it forcefully. Yami was slightly thrown off balance, he turned and glared at the Tomb Robber. With every passing second, panic spread through Bakura. "Where's Chaos?!" he cried.
"She's at home," Yami answered. "Sleeping. She wasn't feeling too well last night, so I thought I'd let her sleep." The spirit could visibly see the other relax. Bakura sank into his bedding and shut his eyes.
"You scared the crap out me for a second there," Bakura whispered.
"Gomen," Yami said softly. "I didn't mean to. I'm just a little out of it."
(Flashback)
Yami walked into the bedroom. Chaos was sprawled out on her bed and her covers were all kicked away. In the dim light, he could see that her cheeks were still slightly flushed. From her breathing, Yami guessed that her nose was still stuffy as well.
The former Pharaoh walked over to her bedside and laid a hand over forehead. She was still hot. Yami sighed. He pulled the covers back onto his sick friend and turned on the fan that sat next to the bed. As soon as he turned back to the bed, Chaos had thrown the covers back. He sighed even harder.
"Chaos . . ." he moaned. "Don't do that . . ." He roughly pulled the covers back up and tucked her tightly. "Now I'm going to go visit Bakura, I'll be back in a little while. You just sleep."
Yami turned around and began to walk out of the room. Suddenly, he heard several coughs. He turned back around quickly to see if Chaos was awake. She turned away from him and settled back into her sleep. Yami bit his lip, then went out and gently closed the door behind him.
On his way out, the spirit left a note on the kitchen table, saying where he was going and that he was borrowing the car. He didn't dare borrow Bakura's, the spirit of the Ring would not stop until he totally destroyed his existence.
(End of Flashback)
"Pharaoh?" Bakura asked as he yanked on his sleeve. "Pharaoh?!" Yami snapped back into reality and looked down at the other Egyptian. "What is with you? It's like you're trying to do a Shadow Game with your hikari while trying to hang out here." Yami laughed softly. Bakura looked at him strangely. "Are you sick?"
Yami shook his head. "No, I'm fine," he said. "I'm just kind of tired." Bakura smirked.
"Now who looks like they've been run over by a truck," he said tauntingly. Yami sighed and pulled over the chair by the window and sank into it.
"I guess I'm just worrying over Chaos," Yami said as he rubbed his eyes. Bakura tensed up again.
"So something is wrong?!" he asked as he propped himself up on his elbows. Yami looked up from his hands and saw a familiar panic.
"I didn't mean it that way," he said in a reassuring voice. "I just think she's coming down with a little sickness. But . . . I know it's my fault, and its really weighing down on me." Bakura raised an eyebrow.
"What makes you say that?"
Yami chewed on the inside of his cheek. "If I hadn't been so stupid when chasing that man, Chaos wouldn't of had to go after me, and then she was so stubborn . . . She wouldn't stay at the Game Shop and sleep. She's now running a fever, and her coughs are so evil sounding. I . . . I can't help but take blame . . ."
Bakura thought for a couple moments. Chaos was sick, and that worried him. But this wasn't Yami's fault. He had to say something, even if the Pharaoh did annoy him and got in his way.
"You know, it's not your fault," Bakura said. "She "
"Don't start, Tomb Robber," Yami interrupted.
"Let me finish!" Bakura snapped. "I was saying . . . She could've left you there you know." He finished his statement with the suggestion of sarcasm dripping from his words. "There was no reason whatsoever that she could have not left you there."
"You're not making sense," Yami muttered.
"I'm making all the sense in the world!" Bakura exclaimed. "You're just too dumb to understand. I'm saying that it's not your fault, no matter how much you think it is, so get it through your thick, high and mighty skull. She chose to rescue you!"
'And she chose to cry for me,' Yami thought.
"Why? I'm not really sure," Bakura said in a more serious tone. "But if she cares that much about you, then I guess I owe you a little more respect." Yami looked up from his hands again with surprise. Bakura's eyes were as serious as they had ever been.
"Look out for her, Pharaoh," he said quietly. "Or so help you . . . The first thing I'll do when I get out of this baka hospital . . . ."
"I understand," Yami muttered. He was rather used to threats from Bakura by now. Somehow, he knew he should be taking this one more serious than the others, but couldn't help it.