Note: I am a person who truely hates profanity, but for the purpose of the story I put some in.(On a dare I put the lines with the curse words in Japanese.) First time with a language dictionary other than english so some of the words might be a little mispelled. Please no flames, translation is at the bottom of the chapter. Thank-you. Also kudos to anyone who understands the inside joke on Yugi's room Number.

Renewal

"I've never broken a promise to you

And I'm afraid I never will

I promised to be there for you

And I always will be still..."

It was the beginning of class Friday morning two weeks after Yami's depart.

"Class, please welcome our newest student. Atemu Revarez." Yami flinched at the sound of 'new student'. He wasn't new, he merely returned in a different body that's all. "Atem, please take your seat next to Mr. Muto," the teacher started to point but Yami replied:

"I know where he sits; after all he is the Yugi Muto, the world's greatest game player and duelist." Yami took his seat, shooting a glance at Yugi who was staring sadly at his desk, looking completely clueless. This didn't surprise Yami one bit:

"He didn't even look at me when I passed, he must still miss me. I'll talk to him after school."
However after school Yami got sidetracked by the teacher wanting to show him around. When he was finally done it was getting dark, Yami thought that he would just pay a visit to the Tame Game Shop. When he was about half way there it was dark, he heard a scream the made his skin crawl.

"That sounded like Yugi!!" With that Yami broke into a dead beat run trying to find the source of the scream. Meanwhile Yugi was in an alleyway being attacked by four bullies. They had chained his hands above his head to the lowest rung of a fire-escape ladder. Yugi couldn't run, nor could he free his hands He started whimpering because one of the thugs had kneed him in the stomach. Yami was a few blocks away when he heard Yugi yell:

"NOOOOOOOOO! That's my dueling deck and it's very special to me!!" Yami heard someone sneer and reply:

"Really, if this pathetic assortment of cards is so special, then why did you stop dueling, huh? Why?" Yugi looked glum, the real reason he stopped is because Yami had made him the world champion. And he was afraid that if he dueled he would lose the title and Yami's honor. But he knew they wouldn't believe him if he told them that so he said:

"My grandpa gave it to me, so please give it back," Yugi whined. The leader, the one holding the cards was smirking at the small boy's fear.

"Well, if they mean that much to you then I'll do you a favor and rip 'em up!"

"NOOOOOOOOO!" Yugi screamed as bits and pieces of cards went flying everywhere.

"Phew," sighed Yami, he had just enough time the replace Yugi's deck with the creeps own deck before it was torn up. Yami still kept running, glanced at his hand in which Yugi deck had appeared in and slipped it into his jacket. He had to reach Yugi.

Meanwhile back in the alley Yugi was crying at the loss of his cards. The leader smirked and said:

"Don't worry runt, you'll be seeing your precious cards again...when I send you to hell to join 'em!" Then he pulled out a sledge-hammer from behind his back. Yugi gulped and screamed:

"Help! Somebody please!!" Yugi was cut off when one of the thugs punched his jaw hard. Yugi heard it crack, though it wasn't broken it hurt too much to talk let alone scream. The leader raised the hammer above his head, sending a terrifying shadow across Yugi. Yami had just reached the end of the alley, just in time for the most horrifying sight of his 5,000 year life. The sledge didn't fall, it was slammed against Yugi head and Yami heard the skull break like an egg. Yugi screamed for only a second before collapsing and hanging lifeless by his hands. Blood oozed out of the large dent and within a minute had soaked Yugi face and clothes. Yami was horrified, he last thing he wanted to see was Yugi get hurt, but this...This was a different story, because Yami knew despite Yugi's injury, he was still alive. But just. He ran down the alley as fast as he could, he knew revenge would have to wait, Yugi needed to get to the Hospital fast. Yami ran up and grabbed Yugi, using the 'Sacred Sabers' blade to cut the chain. Then before the bullies could react he was down the other side of the alley running hard. Yami was about half-way there when he thought his lungs would burst. He was quite literally out of breath, and for his last breath he drew it deeply and yelled:

"Boltstrike Blast!" With that Yami ran faster, so fast he left in a sonic-boom. Boltstrike blast was a move that was still new to Yami and he was still learning how to use it. The only way to summon a Boltstrike blast is for Yami to be out of breath and have a lot of energy stored up inside him. In this case that stored energy was adrenaline. Yami was going fast but he still pushed himself harder, he didn't have to worry about breathing because he doesn't breath during Boltstrike Blast. Finally he saw the large Red Cross on a huge building, the Hospital. Yami ran right in to the emergency doors screaming:

"Please someone help! My friend, he's dying!!" Some doctors and a surgeon ran up and took Yugi away on a stretcher. Yami tried to follow but was barred from doing so. One of the doctors named Molly; she was also Bukora's aunt. She knew Yami well and vise-versa, she asked:

"That's a mighty bad blow to the cranium Yami, how did he get that?" Yami glared bitterly at the ER doors before replying:

"He was attacked by some bullies who decided that they were going to kill Yugi with a sledge-hammer, that's were he got the dent." Doctor Molly didn't want to sound like it would happen but she said:

"Yami you know as well as I do Yugi really hurt and he may not live through this." Yami gulped and nodded, it was something that he didn't want to believe but he had to count the possibility that he might be too late to save his best friend/ little brother.

"I should go call Yugi's grandpa and the others and tell them what happened. Doctor Molly nodded and placed a hand on Yami's shoulder and said he isn't dead yet, and she knew that if you're here he'll see you again. Yami looked sad and replied:

"Doctor Molly, he doesn't know I'm here, he was unconscious when I got to him. She smiled and responded:

"I've known you two for almost four years and I know the way you think. Yugi knows you here, whether or not he was awake to tell that he knew or not. Yami gave a weak smile and nodded slightly in agreement. Then he walked away and pulled out his new cell-phone. He dialed Yugi's private number and sighed:

"Hello," Yugi's grandpa answered. Yami gulped before replying:

"Hello, Mr. Muto, its Yami..."

"Yami, really, well then why don't you come over and stay awhile. Yugi misses you a lot and when he gets back from his walk he can see you again." Yami swallowed the lump in his throat and struggled not to cry. He paused a moment to steady his voice before replying:

"Umm...that's kind of why I'm calling... I think you'd better come down here, Yugi's at the hospital..." There was a gasp and then silence on the other end of the line. Finally after about 30 seconds Solomon replied:

"Your not joking are you?...please say you are." Yami replied:

"I'm sorry but I'm afraid I'm not, please come down here and let me explain what happened," then as an after thought he added, "please, if you can, bring Tristan, Joey and Tea too."

"I will," Solomon responded, his voice shaking and hung up. Yami waited for what seemed like an hour before the Muto's old station wagon pulled up and parked. Solomon, Joey, Tea and Tristan all got out wondering what had happened. Yami walked out to greet them and Joey commented:

"Hey aren't you the new kid from school?...Atemu somebody..." Yami sighed, he hated what BJ and Yaman had done to his hair. They had tied him up while he was meditating and they straightened his hair and dyed all of it, except the bangs which were red, black. Now his hair reached the center of his back instead of the bottom of his neck.

"Joey, I am Atemu, that's my real name; to you I'm called Yami." Tea looked interested and surprised:

"Your back I can't believe it, you returned so soon." Yami shook head after lowering it:

"Maybe not soon enough Tea..." Yami turned and waved the others to follow him as he walked into the ER waiting room. When he got there he again turned and started to explain what had happened. Just as he was finishing Kaiba walked by and said, "Heh, this world would be a lot better without him," then muttering to himself, "then I would be the worlds greatest duelist." Upon hearing that, Yami turned right around to face him and yelled:

"Anata chimamire shiseiji, doyatte idomu anata norou Yugi!"(1) Kaiba raised his eyebrows and replied:

"Well look who's talking, the new rat from school," Yami was getting very angry at this point responded:

"Jigoki ni otosu anata, OWARU!!"(2) Yami attacked Kaiba by side-kicking him and throwing him sideways into the nearby table. Kaiba hit his head on the corner, and when he looked up again, his right temple was bleeding. He rose slowly to his feet, almost disbelieving that someone had actually picked a fight with him. Yami stood ready to attack again. Kaiba sneered and wiped his head:

"Ha, so you think you're something for getting one hit on me. But that's nothing compared to the pain I'm going to put you through." After saying this Kaiba attacked using a center kick aimed at Yami's chest. Yami simply slide back into the bridge position and center kicked Kaiba while finishing his back-flip to land on his feet once more. Kaiba doubled over in obvious pain. But that didn't stop him.

"Jigoki ni otosu, son'na kutsu!"(3) He thought, "But I'm not out yet." With that he took a right hook swing at Yami's face; who managed to duck just in time. But Yami never saw the upper-cut aimed at him with Kaiba's other hand. He fell backwards into one of the chairs; Joey ran up to Kaiba in an attempt to stop the fight. But Kaiba just punched him aside and spat:

"You stay out of this dog boy." Joey started to protest that he wasn't a dog boy but at that moment Yami got back up. Blood flowed from his nose and mouth and ran down his chin. His eyes shone livid with anger. He wiped his chin with his hand and asked:

"Kaiba, do you have any idea who I am, who you're messing with?" Kaiba just sneered again replying:

"Does it look like I care, now let's end this." Joey and the others could only watch as Yami and Kaiba kept going at it. Kaiba did a round the house kick at Yami who used a round-off to get out of the way. Kaiba then tried hammer punching Yami, but to no avail. After about another ten minutes the two were on opposite sides of the room both panting and both looking worse for wear. Kaiba not only had the gash to his temple, he now had a black eye, a hurting ribcage and a splitting headache. Yami on the other hand had bloody knuckles, a nose bleed and a split/fat lip. It was obvious that the fight was getting them now where, they were too evenly matched. Just as Yami was about to attack again Kaiba turned and walked toward the door saying:

"I don't need to waste any more of my time with you geeks, I got a company to run." With that he disappeared onto the sidewalk, waving to his limo driver to signal that he wanted to be picked up. Back inside Tea had walked over to Yami, shaking her head looking at him.

"I don't know what you were thinking Yami; I've never seen you that angry before." Yami still looked angry but as he to walk down a hallway he responded quietly:

"Nobody and I mean nobody makes fun of Yugi with me around and gets away with it." Tea looked after him; seeing the side of his face slightly, she thought she saw a tear.

"Is Yami actually crying?" Tea wondered. Yugi's grandpa, Solomon called her over and said:

"Why don't you go talk to him, you may have the best chance of getting through to him." Tea was a little nervous, but she nodded anyway. Turning toward the hallway he had gone down she sighed. Yami's attitude never changed, it just got worse. On her way down the hall Tea stopped at a water fountain and wet a handkerchief from her purse with cold water. She wanted to make sure that Yami got his wounds cleaned, and she knew that if she didn't force him he wouldn't do it. Tea found Yami sitting against the wall in a corner at the end of the hallway. So she approached cautiously not wanting to further upset him, when her shadow fell upon him he looked up. As Tea got started to sit down he got up and turned away from her, now choosing to face the wall instead of Tea. Tea said:

"Please turn around Yami; I want to talk to you." Yami shook his head sadly and replied in a somewhat unsteady voice:

"No, Tea I don't want to talk to anyone right now, so please leave." Tea shook her head this time thinking:

"If he can be stubborn, then so can I." Aloud she responded:

"Look Yami what happened to Yugi wasn't your fault. It had nothing..." Yami cut her short by saying:

"Tea...just stop, turn around and walk away now." Yami's voice sounded as though he was trying to restrain himself from doing something. Tea being persistent as usual continued:

"What happened to Yugi didn't happen because of you..." Yami whirled around and slammed his bloody fist against the wall. He had just barely cleared the side of Tea's face with his out burst. There was no doubt in his mind, that he had frightened her. Yami saw Tea gasp as he released his anger. And now her breath was coming note ably faster then a few seconds ago. Yami hadn't checked his swing and was just lucky that he didn't hit Tea. For the next few seconds neither of them moved, Tea because she was afraid, Yami because he was upset. Finally Tea decided to go through with something she had always wanted to do. Gulping reached out and carefully kissed Yami's swollen, bloodstain lips. Yami winced at first, but didn't pull away, a sign which meant that he was okay with what Tea was doing.

Yami and Tea were jerked from their temporary peace by a loud siren that started going off overhead. Flashing red lights lit up the hallway. Doctors, nurses, and surgeons came from every direction. Yami grabbed one of them and pulled them aside, yelling above the siren:

"What's happening?" the doctor answered in a similar tone:

"It's Code Red, that means some ones heart has stopped and they need to be paddled to have a chance at coming back." Tea said:

"So what your saying is, that someone just died.!?!?" The man nodded. Then said:

"It took place in room DM 25-OO." Yami looked pale and yelled:

"That's Yugi's room!" then in a flight of panic Yami ran back down the hallway, out through the waiting room, past the others and up the stairs. He made it halfway down the hallway Yugi was in before two doctors seized his arms. Yami almost managed to break free from them, when two more doctors grabbed him and forced his arms behind him. Yami screamed and struggled, tears flowing in endless rivers down his ghostly pale face. No matter how hard he struggled the doctors had a grip on him to couldn't he break. Just when everything seem hopeless to Yami, Doctor Molly entered the hallway walking briskly toward them. Yami screamed to her breathlessly and hoarse:

"Doctor Molly! Please, please make them let go. Yugi's slipping away and I might be the only one who can save him!" Yami shifted and struggled to show that they wouldn't let him free. Doctor Molly knew that Yami could never live if he believed that Yugi died because he didn't rescue him in time. So she nodded and told the doctors to release their grip on him. Finally free Yami broke into a deadbeat run, hearing the sounds of his own up-tight breathing and the sound of his beating heart. All the rest of the world seemed to be silent, Yami could no longer hear the sirens, or the people shouting, these noises were lost in his rush of panic. He could no longer feel the pain in his body from his brawl with Kaiba earlier. Upon finally reaching Yugi's room Yami almost broke the door down trying to open it. Yami couldn't grip the handle, his hands were wet with perspiration. Sweat mix with tears and ran down his pale, scared but determined face.

Finally as if answering his prayer to Ra the door opened. Yami ran inside not even bothering to close it again. He ran to Yugi's bedside praying that it wasn't too late to save his young friend. Yami squeezed his eyes closed and wiped his face on the inside of his leather shirt. He needed to concentrate, every second mattered, Yugi's light of his soul was growing dimmer and dimmer. Yami gently placed his hand against Yugi wounded forehead before whispering some sacred words. Then while he was chanting the ancient spell he pulled out the 'Sacred Saber' and after placing his left hand with his fingers spread on Yugi's head again. He gripped the 'Sabers' hilt very tightly as he slipped it into Yugi's wound up to the hilt and slowly pulled it back out. As he pulled it, he ran the blade between his middle finger and ring finger cutting the webbing. Yami let his blood flow freely into Yugi's wound. He had found though past experience that his blood when combined with magic created a healing potion. He just hoped it was strong enough to work. When the ritual was finished Yami removed his hand from the young boy's head and watched as the wound closed up. He looked at the heart monitors and although he didn't know what exactly they meant, he was sure he had done some thing right because the siren and the flashing lights when off. The heart monitor occasionally blipped telling Yami that he had done it.

It was then that Yami heard something behind him. He turned to see Doctor Molly standing in the doorway smiling but still looking concerned. She walked over to Yami and gave him a well deserved hug. Yami said:

"I did it, and it was all because you trusted me enough to let me here to try." Doctor Molly smiled somewhat sadly and said to Yami:

"You have won the battle, but not the war," Yami looked at her confused, as far as he knew Yugi was going to be alright and now she was telling otherwise. This just simply puzzled him.

"What do you mean I've won the battle but no the war?" She looked at him sadly and replied:

"True you saved him, and true you healed him. But though he's alive and seemingly well he may never wake up..."

(1) "You bloody bastard, how dare you curse Yugi!"

(2) "Damn you, DIE!"

(3) "Damn, that hurt!"