Star: peeks out I'm alive? ………… I'm alive!!! Thank you so much for not killing me!!! I'm so happy! Anyway, sorry it took a while to update this chapter. First the I had no inspiration what-so-ever, then when I did the website wasn't working. Sucks huh?

Thank you to all the reviewers! I wish I could reply to your reviews, but it's getting late and I want to post it up tonight, cause there is no way I will be able to do it tomorrow.

It seems that everyone either hates Kyoji (that's to be expected) or they hate Yami. I know that many of you are mad at me cause I made them have the fight and I made them hit each other, but everything will work out in the end.

Oh yea. I want to dedicate this chapter to my good friend Craig [hi Craig!!!!!!!] Thanks for giving me some inspiration! I owe ya.

One last thing. There will be a dream in this chapter. After a loooong time of no dream, I finally decided it was time to add one. This entire chapter follows Yami, though it's in the normal point of view. The dream is his.

disclaimer: roses are red, violets are blue (not really, cause violets are purple and the person who made up this song had his colors messed up) I don't own Yugioh so you can't sue!

"speech"

'dream speech'

((Yami's thoughts))

[internal voice]

(0o0o0o) beginning and end of a dream

{author notes}

-------------------Aftermath-----------------

Yami lay on his bed, glaring at the ceiling as the past events replayed in his mind. It had been more than two hours since they had that fight, and Yami was still mad. He was more than mad, he was furious. He had tried everything to get his mind off the past events from sleeping, watching TV, and even taking a shower, but nothing worked. Everything was fine before Yugi mentioned that loser. In fact the fight was all Yugi's fault, and Yami had every right to be angry at him. The sting on his cheek where Yugi punched him was only fueling his anger.

"That little brat! Why should I care if he goes out with someone? I don't care!"

He said that out loud, but deep down…really deep down he didn't mean it. He knew it wasn't Yugi's fault. It was the spirits fault that they fought, and he shouldn't blame it on Yugi. He didn't know why he got so mad, it was just an offer. He sighed, then turned over and stared at the wall. He let out another sigh as different emotions washed over him. There was sadness, anger, a feeling of betrayal and guilt. He felt guilty that he had over-reacted. Guilty that he had yelled at his light. And guilty that he…

"Oh Ra," he said as he sat up straight. "I…I hit him. Ra no. I couldn't have."

The sting on his cheek and on his hand throbbed even more, reminding him that it was real. Yami felt fear creep into his heart, leaving him cold and trembling. He couldn't believe it. There was no possible way. But as much as he wanted to deny it, he couldn't escape the truth. He had actually hurt his aibou. He had hurt the one he cared for the most. He had hurt his love. The one who saved him; the precious light that had been given to him, and instead of protecting it, he beat it down, and pushed it away. He had broken his promise to his aibou and to himself. He drew in a shaky breath as he felt hot tears sting his eyes.

[He deserved it,] said a voice in his head.

((No he didn't! How can you say that?!)) Yami replied back.

[I'm just saying what you feel.]

((I don't feel like that!))

[Oh really? Then why were you so mad?]

((I didn't want him to go out with that guy.))

[But he did. Against your wishes. For that he needed to be punished.]

((Not like that!))

[Then how?]

((…))

[You're agreeing with me then.]

((No I'm not! Shut up and leave me alone!))

[Deny all you want, but we both know it's true.]

The conversation with himself made him angry again. He buried his face in a pillow and screamed as loud as he could. When he was finished, he felt a lot better. That voice was wrong! He shouldn't have punched Yugi…but…

The spirit let out a groan of frustration and pulled out his laptop. He had his own laptop. He and Yugi would always fight over who got to use the computer at home. Everyone got so tired of them complaining that Seto bought them their own. Yami smiled slightly remembering his words.

---flashback---

"Here!" the C.E.O. said as he thrust the two laptops at the boys. "Take them and shut up!"

---end flashback---

He opened it up and while he waited for it to load he absentmindedly traced the red outlined surface. He glanced down and saw the end of Yugi's laptop sticking out of the carry bag. The boys laptops had an edge the same color as their eyes, so that they could tell them apart. He always thought it was cute that Yugi had placed a little white star on his. Yugi had placed the little white star on his and had tried to put a black one on Yami's, but the spirit refused. Instead, they wasted the rest of the stickers placing them on each other. That was a fun day.

With another sigh, Yami logged on to the internet. Almost instantly he got two messages, one from Malik and Marik and the other from Jou. He groaned slightly, talking to anyone was not something he wanted to do right now. But he had nothing better to do, and he feared that if he didn't do anything that voice would come back. So grudgingly he replied.

KingYami: Hi guys

S.K'spuppy: Hi Yami, hi Malik and Marik

Egyptpsychos: Hay you two. What's up?

KingYami: bored and…bored

Egyptpsychos: Aww, so sad (not!)

S.K'spuppy: I've had a fun time here

Egyptpsychos: You've probably been screwing Seto all the time, huh?

S.K'spuppy: No! …not all the time

Egyptpsychos: riiiight. Anyway, we don't feel like typing so turn the stupid web cam on

KingYami: don't feel like it

Egyptpsychos: Do it Pharaoh!

S.K'spuppy: come on Yami. Do it so they don't hurt themselves trying to send you to the shadow realm through the computer

Egyptpsychos: I would not do that! …Marik might.

KingYami: fine, jeez

Yami really didn't feel like it, but again he had nothing better to do. So he reached over and turned on the camera. Then, half of the screen was taken up by the two Egyptians and the other was of Jou. Yami gave a half smile in greeting of his friends.

"Hi Pharaoh! What's the matter with you? You look like you got run over or something," said Malik as he struggled to push Marik out of the way.

"Shut up! You two don't look the same either. You're loosing your tan."

"Don't remind us! Do you know how hard it is to find a decent tanning salon in China?" yelled Marik ad he pushed Malik out of his chair, only to get tackled by the hikari.

"Because that's sooo important," mocked Jou, only to receive glares from the boys. Yami smiled in amusement. Those two were such a pain. But he had to admit, talking to his friends was making his mood better.

"I see you have a tan, Jou," Yami commented, making Jou beam.

"You call that a tan? That's nothing compared to ours," scoffed Marik while he put his light in a head lock.

"So? I don't want to look like you two."

"You wouldn't be able to look this good if you tried," Malik said with a smirk, causing his yami to tackle him. Moans of pleasure could be heard on their side. Both Yami and Jou tried to block it out, but it seemed like those two were being loud on purpose.

"So Yami. How has your vacation been going?"

"Oh, it's been good. It's too cold here though. I'm going to freeze my ass off before we leave."

"Ha ha! A frozen Pharaoh. That is not a bad idea," said Marik, poking his head up from under the table where he and Malik were doing…something.

"Don't worry Yami. I can help warm your ass up," added Malik with a sly smirk. Yami's eyes widened as he moved back from the computer slightly, as if Malik could come out of it. Marik chucked evilly as he tackled his hikari again, drawing him back to the floor where they continued doing what they were doing.

"Seriously you two! Can't you sit still for one second?" asked Jou as he raised his eyebrow at the screen where flailing limbs and moans were coming from their side. "But what happened to your face, Yami? Your cheek is swollen."

"Long story," said Yami with a sigh.

"Tell us. Usually listening to you talk puts us to sleep, but we can't go anywhere today. Isis grounded us," said Malik as he climbed up off the floor, drawing cries of disappointment from his yami.

"I don't know why I'm punished though! I'm not her brother!"

"You started it!"

"Did not! You fell down on your own."

"You pushed me!"

"Will you two shut up! Like I don't get enough of you the rest of the year, but now you're messing up this vacation. You two are so impossible!" the Pharaoh at the screen, causing the three boys to stare at him.

"Flattery will get you no where Pharaoh…unless you want something from us," Marik replied with a wink. "Besides, no one is as stupid as you in China, so pulling pranks on them isn't as fun."

"Before Yami says anything that will get you three fighting, I still want to know why your cheek is swollen," said Jou with worry in his voice. "It looks like someone punched you."

"Someone punched you? Who?" asked Malik, curiosity also in his voice.

"You actually care?" asked a surprised Yami.

"No, I'm just worried that I'll never be able to congratulate the guy...It was a guy right."

"Yea, someone punched me," said Yami quietly, averting his eyes from the screen.

"Who?" asked the three boys at the same time.

"Yugi," the spirit said even quieter.

When no reply was heard from either side, Yami looked back at the screen only to see his friends with a shocked look on their faces. The Pharaoh raised an eyebrow and sat there, waiting for someone to talk.

"Yugi…he punched…you?" asked Jou slowly, trying to process what he just heard. He couldn't believe that Yugi, his best friend that wouldn't think of hurting anyone, could actually punch someone. Especially Yami!

"The kid punched you? I didn't think he had the guts," said Malik with a small smile. Unlike him though, his yami was rolling on the floor with laughter.

"That is just priceless! I can't believe your shrimpy aibou beat you up!" the yami said as he tried to control his laughter, but was unsuccessful.

"But why would Yugi of all people punch you?" asked Malik as he tried to avoid his yami.

"Cause we got into a fight…and I punched him first."

Now all three of them were laughing. Yami just stared at them, confusion written all over his face. Why were they laughing?

"What's so funny?" he asked, hoping to get answers out of them.

"You are funny, Yami! But really why did he do that?" asked Jou, holding his sides from laughing too hard.

"Cause I hit him first," the spirit said, annoyance creeping into his voice.

"Yea right! Stop joking," said Malik, tears falling out of his eyes, as he tried to breathe through laughs.

"Oh no! The Pharaoh hit someone! The world is coming to an end! I'm too young and sexy to die," Marik managed to say as he again rolled on the ground in laughter.

Yami finally snapped. They were laughing at him! Not believing him was bad enough, but to actually laugh at him was going to far.

"Shut up! I did hit him! I-punched-Yugi!"

Suddenly the laughter and smiles were gone in the blink of an eye and were replaced by looks of horror and more shock.

"You…really punched him?" asked Jou, who was slowly becoming angry. Ancient spirit or not, Jou just couldn't sit by and let someone hurt his best friend. "How could you do it!?"

"I don't know. We were fighting and I got mad…and lost control," said Yami who was gazing at the sheets, desperately trying to keep the memories from coming back to him. Even after two hours, he couldn't stop that moment from replaying in his head.

"What could get you so mad that you of all people would hurt him?" asked Marik who was now sitting up straight and staring at the ancient Pharaoh through the web cam.

"He wanted to go out with this guy that I didn't trust."

"So you punched him!?" asked Malik who was also starting to grow angry. Even though he never showed it, he cared about all his friends and would hurt any one who messed with them. Even Marik was like that.

"You think I don't feel bad enough already?!" Yami yelled, trying to defend himself, but the guilt was growing stronger.

"Obviously not if you can tell us that with a straight face!" Jou yelled back.

"The world really is coming to an end if you punched Yugi," stated Marik, earning a glare from Yami.

"Shut up ok! I don't want to talk about it, not now…not ever…" trailed off Yami quietly. Jou stared at the sad spirit, anger and sadness flowing through him. He knew how much it must have been hurting him, after all, it wasn't just anyone he hurt, it was Yugi. But on the other hand, he couldn't just let Yami get by without yelling at him. Yugi was Jou's best friend before Jou even knew of the spirit and he had also promised to protect Yugi. He didn't know what to do; should he take his best friend's side or should he help the spirit?

"I'm just surprised that you could actually do that," said Jou. There was no trace of anger in his voice, but neither was there compassion. Yami said nothing in reply, but just continued staring at the sheets on his bed. Why did he tell those three? They were just going to make things worse…but in a way, it helped to tell someone. At least he wouldn't kill himself trying to keep it inside.

"You must really hate that guy if you resorted to hitting your aibou," Marik said as he wrapped his arms around his hikari's waist. He would never hurt his hikari, no matter how angry he got. Marik could destroy the world, but would never lay a finger on Malik. He loved Malik and swore to keep him safe. He could sympathize with the other spirit. Bakura could probably do the same. Even though the tomb robber used to hurt his hikari, once he realized he loved him he did everything to protect Ryou. Bakura still felt horrible for doing that to his angel, and would randomly apologize for it.

Yami just shrugged and didn't look up. He wanted to scream again, but he wouldn't. Not now, not when he still felt bad enough to do something stupid. So instead he kept all his emotions inside, where he felt them tearing him apart. He knew he could go crazy, but right now he didn't care. He didn't care about anything at this point.

Jou let out a sigh as he gazed at the silent spirit. He just didn't know what to do. Everything was so confusing, and he wasn't prepared to handle this. He never thought he'd see the day where Yami did something bad to Yugi, and didn't know how to help. He didn't want to choose anyone's side, but it was hard not to. He wouldn't do anything now, except try to get Yami to feel a little better, just so he wouldn't do anything stupid. "How long ago was the fight?"

"Over two hours," was all that Yami said.

"I'm guessing that you haven't seen him since then," concluded Jou.

"Yes, he ran out of the suite after…"

"When do you think you are going to apologize to each other," asked Malik, holding his yami arms tightly around his waist.

"I can't see him now. It's too soon," the spirit replied, lifting his gaze to the two Egyptians. Sometimes he envied them; they were together. They had the person they loved with them, and everything was perfect for them. Even the tomb robber had everything he wanted. Life just wasn't fair for him. Not only did he not have the one he loved, he had pushed him farther away. ((The gods must be laughing at me,)) he thought as he lowered his gaze again.

"Don't put off the apology too soon, or else it will be too late," replied Jou.

Yami nodded, then thought of something important. Having those three know about it was bad enough, but he didn't want anyone else knowing or else they would never get over it. "You guys, please don't tell anyone. I don't want anyone else knowing. I'll tell them when I'm ready." The three boys nodded in agreement, and Yami felt partially relieved.

"Anyway, I have to go. Seto is taking us to this new restaurant on the beach. It's supposed to be the classiest one here. I think the only reason he wants to go is so that he can complain about the lousy service. He loves doing that. See ya guys," and with that Jou's image disappeared as he signed off.

"I should be going to. I'm getting hungry," said Yami. The other two boys knew it was a lie, but they didn't question him. The three said their good-byes, and Yami turned off his computer. With a sigh, the crimson eyed boy lay back down on his bed and closed his eyes. He didn't want to go downstairs, but he had nothing better to do than sleep. He didn't want to sleep either, but he couldn't just sit in the big suite all by himself. He slowly drifted off into a deep sleep, hoping to take his mind off of everything.

(0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o)

Yami wandered about trying desperately to locate his missing aibou. It felt like hours since he last saw him, and he couldn't find a single trace of him other that the footprints that seemed to be fading away. If he didn't find his light soon, he wouldn't be able to continue. The sky was already growing dark, and the quickly falling temperature was a warning of a quick death to anyone who stayed out past the time when the sun could warm them. Yami smirked dryly when he noticed the changes in the atmosphere matched his mood.

He stopped suddenly when he heard a strange noise. He listened intently, but all he heard was the whisper of the wind, and the tree branches hitting each other. He shrugged it off as his imagination, and started to walk again, when another noise froze him in his tracks. This time he definitely didn't imagine that. It sounded like something was moving in one of the bushes. The teen was going to dismiss it as an animal, when he realized that there had been no signs of any animal life the entire time he had been there. Why would there suddenly be something in the bushes…unless…

Yami took a defensive stance and strained his ears to listen for any more noises. His crimson eyes scanned the area around him, looking for a shadow, or anything that would give him a clue as to what was there. His eyes locked on a dark figure that was standing next to a few trees. He quickly looked it up and down, and realized it was no animal that was in the shadows. It was a human. The spirit narrowed his red eyes at the human silhouette. It was definitely not Yugi, but he didn't know who it was.

'Who are you?' the Pharaoh asked the figure. He didn't trust it. There was no way he, for Yami could tell it was a man, could have just appeared out of no where.

The shadowed figure didn't reply, but it lowered it's head and seemed to be looking at something. Yami raised his eyebrow, but didn't follow it's gaze.

"Who are you?!" the spirit asked again, his patience wearing thin. He didn't have time to be questioning the man. He had to find his precious hikari. The more time passed, the more worried he became. He just had to find him before it got dark, because then he wouldn't be able to see the footprints. For some reason he couldn't sense his aibou anywhere, no matter how much magic he used. And the link was closed from Yugi's side; he was probably still in the trance, Yami deduced. That scared him more. If Yugi was in a trance, he wouldn't be able to protect himself. Yami's fear grew as he thought of what could happen to his secret koi.

The spirit was taken out of his thoughts abruptly when the shadowed man started walking away from him. He seemed to be walking in the same direction that Yami was walking in. Yami followed the man as he walked away, noticing that the man still had his head down. Yami lowered his gaze, trying to locate whatever the man was looking at. His eyes widened when he realized that the man was following Yugi's footprints. He was going after Yugi!

The teen ruler growled dangerously as he raced after the figure. There was no way he was going to let that person get his hands on Yugi. He stopped in front of the man, blocking him from going any further.

"What are you doing? You're not getting to Yugi!" he yelled at the man. The man stopped and raised his head. Yami couldn't see his face though, because the man was still in the shadows. The spirits eyes glinted dangerously, but it seemed to have no effect on the man, for he started walking again. Yami thought that the man would bump into him, but he suddenly disappeared.

Yami searched for him frantically, looking everywhere for him, but when he saw him far ahead, his jaw dropped. How did he get that far?! The young Pharaoh snapped out of his stupor when he realized that the man was getting closer to Yugi. He raced after the strange man, but no matter how fast he went it seemed that he couldn't catch up to him. In fact, he was getting farther. Suddenly he disappeared completely.

Yami stopped again, and looked for him, but he was gone. There were no footprints to show that he had ever existed, but he knew that if he didn't find Yugi soon, the man would get to him first. He took off in the direction of his aibou's prints, praying to Ra that he would get there in time.

Finally he reached a clearing where he saw Yugi curled on the ground. Yami felt relief rush through him, as he at long last found his missing aibou. The relief was short lived when he saw that Yugi was curled up in a ball, and was lying on the cold ground. Yugi didn't appear to be shivering, but even from where Yami was standing he could see Yugi's skin was a pale blue color, though his cheeks looked flushed from heat.

'Yugi?' he called out quietly, hoping that he would be answered. Yugi stirred slightly, dispersing the worst thought from Yami's mind. Yami let out a happy sigh, and tried to move forwards when he realized…he couldn't! He was stuck in place! He couldn't move any part of his body, and he had no idea why. He tried to call out to his light, but no matter how hard he tried to scream, no sound would come out.

Suddenly, he saw a movement in the trees behind Yugi. He narrowed his eyes then widened them when he saw the shadowed figure from before. He hadn't seen him approach this time either. Where was he coming from?

He watched as the man walked out of the trees and towards Yugi's form. Yami desperately tried to move but nothing would give. The only thing he could do was move his mouth, but that wasn't doing any good since he couldn't talk. And he couldn't warn Yugi through their link because it was still closed. With a hitched breath, he watched the man kneel in front of Yugi. He let out his breath when he saw the man place a blanket around Yugi's curled body, but that didn't mean that he trusted him. He still couldn't see the man's face.

Yugi's body moved again, and both the shadowed man and Yami stopped still to see what would happen. When the smaller boy had stilled, the man leant over and gently picked him up. The spirit's eyes widened again, and he tried to move, but he was still bound in place. He tried yelling out, but his mouth only formed the words that he frantically wanted to say. He tried yelling, screaming, and even calling through the link, but nothing worked. He felt himself breaking within.

Yugi stirred again, catching the attention of the Pharaoh. He watched as Yugi slowly opened his amethyst eyes, turning them to look at the crimson eyed boy. Yami felt calm and safe under his gaze, that is until he realized that Yugi was indeed still under the trance. His usually bright violet eyes were still dulled and unfocused. There was no trace of emotion in them, they didn't even have a pupil. They were just cold, empty pools. Their eyes locked for a second before Yugi smiled.

It wasn't the usual smile that graced his angelic features. It was a haughty smirk, as if Yugi was taunting him. His eyes were shining with victory, and he mouthed the words, 'You lose.'

Yami was shocked! Beyond shocked! He had no idea what was going on, and seeing Yugi smile like that was making him more confused. What was even more confusing was that he said, 'you lose.' Why had he said that? What had he lost? He didn't even know they were playing anything. Before he could react, the figure of the man turned and started walking away. Yugi smiled at the man who carried him, and snuggled into his grasp.

Yami just stood there and watched them walk away. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. He now knew what Yugi had meant. He had lost. He lost his aibou.

(0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o)

Yami opened his eyes slowly as he felt tears spill out of them. They raced down his pale cheeks, leaving hot trails behind as a reminder of everything. He closed his eyes tightly, forcing the tears to recede. Once they were gone, he sighed and sat up. The teen ran a limp hand through his hair, pushing back his blond bangs. He shook his head to relieve himself of the last images of his sleep. It was another dream. That made three now. Why did he keep having them? Why did they torture him so, playing on his feelings and making him despair. And who was that guy? The spirit never saw his face, and nothing about him seemed familiar.

The red eyed teen sighed again as he got up and walked out of the suite. He slowly walked into the elevator and went down to the first floor of the hotel. Being the 'five star hotel' it was, the first floor was huge. Yami walked past the lobby, the restaurant, the conference rooms, the play room, the day-care room, and the recreation rooms and finally made it to the bar/sports room. {a/n: All the hotels I've stayed at had all that, but I thought it was ridiculous……why did I interrupt the story?}

He walked to one of the bars and ordered a drink. No one asked to see an i.d., and the bartender gave it to him right away. He drank the shot quickly, and asked for another. He usually hated drinking, and was totally against it, but right now he didn't care.

"Hey kid, What's the matter?" asked the friendly, young bartender as he cleaned out a glass with a towel {a/n: cliché, I know}

"Nothing," answered Yami, as he drank the shot again.

"Relationship troubles huh?"

"…Yea."

"Let me guess. The person you like is going out with someone else."

"Yes," said Yami as he pushed away the shot glass and ordered a Pepsi.

"Who's he going out with?"

"A real jerk," Yami replied, not noticing that the bartender knew he liked a guy.

"Sounds charming," the other said with a smile. Yami responded with a dry smirk.

"If I were you, I wouldn't just sit back and let the one you like go out with someone else."

"That's the reason he's going out with him. It's because I didn't want him to go out with that guy in the first place."

"Ahh, so that's why. Well, don't worry kid. I get the feeling that everything will turn out great in the end. You just got to let things run their course," the bartender said, patting Yami's shoulder.

Yami smiled at him in thanks, then took his Pepsi and went to sit in one of the booths to look outside. He felt better now. The words of the bartender played in his mind over and over again. 'Everything will turn out great.' He smiled, and let his thoughts drift over to his aibou. He actually hoped that his light was having a good time.

----------------------------------------------------------

Star: Hi!!! I hope everyone liked that chapter. It took a couple of days to finish, because again I had no inspiration.

Anyway, there really is nothing left to say except……..review please!!!!!!!!!