No, you're not dreaming. The next chapter really is up.

Originally, this was going to be the second to last chapter, but as usual, my plans change. Now, there will be two more chapters following this one, and then there will be an epilogue. Aren't I nice?

Thank you, you wonderful and fantastic reviewers! I'd like to thank each of you individually (as I always do!):

Someone, chibihitomi, Darkyami7, XLight ForeverX, Harper.le.Beau, The Black Angels Red Rose, yamiyugi's girlfriend, kindleby, Black-Dranzer-1119, unseenwater, Spirit of the Moon, AuroraTenchi, Una1, Yami Val, Yami Kkwy, Yana5, allaboutthegate, Sunwing, Masami Mistress Of Fire, Spicey Babe, Daikaio, Princess Yali, spidy007, spiritfire, dragonlady222, Ryous Twin Sister

Thanks guys! I never thought in a million years I'd get 200 reviews. I was happy with 100. But thanks to you, I now have a new record: 200 reviews and the story hasn't even finished yet! Thank you so much. I means so much to me. You're the best:hugs:

WARNING: Just to warn you guys, there's a little kiss scene at the end of the chapter that you may not be too happy with. I wasn't going to include anything like this, but the idea popped into my head and it really fitted with the scene. So don't kill me, okay? You have been warned…

/Yami to Yugi through the mind link/

/Yugi to Yami in the mind link/

'Thoughts'

"Speaking"

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! or any of the characters. If I did, then I wouldn't have let 4Kids end it the way they did.

-I-

Rekindled Love

Chapter 11: Deciding

-I-

"Here you are, Mr Atemu," the overly polite receptionist said as she handed a slip of paper over the counter.

Yami quickly took the bill from the woman's hand. He was aware of her staring at his bandaged hand and bruise under his eye. He felt uncomfortable under her gaze. After quickly gazing at the bill-which included the damage for the broken mirror-he pulled out his check book from his bag and quickly wrote a check. Although he had already saved up enough in his account to pay for flights and accommodation, as well as money for food, he hadn't counted on the fact that he might actually break something whilst he was here. And his wages weren't that high.

It had taken Yami some time to save up enough money to fly from Egypt to Japan. And it had taken even longer for him to persuade his boss to let him take time off work to fix a six year old mistake. But he had managed to convince him nevertheless to let him take a few weeks off to try and patch things up with Yugi…

…Too bad his plan didn't work out the way he wanted it to.

The truth was, however, that Yami wasn't due to leave for another few days. But after what had happened with Yugi yesterday, he knew he had out lived whatever welcome he had had. So, after he had somewhat calmed down after punching out the mirror, Yami had called the airport and changed his flight home to the first one of the day, which happened to be leaving in a couple of hours. He had decided to leave as quickly as he could as soon as Yugi had rejected him. And he knew that this time, he was never coming back. He shivered at the thought of returning to work back in Egypt. Although he liked working in the Pharaoh's Hall in a museum in Cairo, his boss was not the friendliest around.

After quickly signing the check, Yami handed it to the receptionist. Again, he felt uncomfortable as she gave a suspicious look at the slightly bloody bandage.

"Thank you," she chimed in her high pitched voice. "We hope you enjoyed your stay at the Domino Inn."

"Yeah…" Yami said somewhat hesitantly. He shifted uncomfortable. "Uhm…by any chance, could you do me favour?"

"Oh?" the receptionist moved forward slightly. "And what would that be?"

"If…" Yami hesitated. He felt silly doing this. "If someone called… Yugi Mutou…happens to look for me…could you…could you…possible give this to him?"

He pulled out a black bundle from his hand luggage bag beside his feet and held it out in front of him.

The receptionist looked at the black bundle, before looking back up at Yami. She could tell from the look on his face that this man felt something towards this "Yugi Mutou". A feeling that she knew all too well. But because she had let the love of her life walk out of her life doesn't mean that she was about to let this man lose the love of his life. No one deserved to suffer that kind of pain.

"Why don't you give it to him yourself?" she asked softly. "I'm sure it would be better that way, for both of you."

"No…" Yami said, looking away. He felt something prickling in the corners of his eyes. 'Damn tears…' "I…I can't…"

The receptionist glanced softly at the Egyptian man. She felt sorry for him. Sure, he looked a little dodgy with a bandaged hand and bruised face, but she could see that he was in love. And he was hurting because of it.

Gently, she took the bundle from his hands. It felt soft under her fingers, like fabric. "I'll make sure he gets this. Would you like me to pass on a message?"

"Yes…Tell him…Tell him-" he was about to say it, but he stopped himself. He couldn't say that now. He held himself back. "Tell him I'm sorry."

He picked up his hand luggage bag and swung it over his shoulder, before picking up the handle of his suitcase. Dragging it behind him, he quickly made his way to the exit. The receptionist watched him as he left, a look of pity on her face.

Yami was just about to reach the door, when an annoying "ringing" sound filled his ears. Cursing quietly to himself, he pulled out his phone from his trouser pocket, flipped it open and held it to his ear, not bothering to register the caller ID. Only two people had his number, and one of them wasn't likely to be calling him right now.

"What now, Bakura?" Yami sighed down the phone. He was not in the mood for this.

"I take it you're leaving?" came Bakura's gravel voice. Although he sounded annoyed, Yami could clearly hear some happiness in his voice.

"And why is that any of your business?" Yami asked, annoyed.

"What do you mean "is that any of your business"? Damn right it's my business!"

"Do tell…" Yami said sarcastically.

Bakura grunted down the phone. "Look Yami, you know as well as I do that when we bumped into each other in Egypt last year I wanted nothing to do with you. But Ryou did-"

"And what Ryou wants, Ryou gets," Yami teased. He smirked when he heard Bakura give a growl.

"Don't play games with me Pharaoh!" Bakura shouted.

"But playing games is what I do best."

"Fine then!" Bakura shouted. "If that's your attitude, then I won't tell you how you can win Yugi back."

Now it was Yami's turn to shout. "Will you stop that? There's no point in trying, Bakura! You didn't see what happened last night!" Bakura had touched a sore nerve…

…and he knew it.

"But I'm sure if you just do as I say," he said too casually, "and kidnap him, forcing him to explain his reasons-"

"That's enough! I told you before I don't want to do anything to hurt Yugi! Not…Not again…"

"But it might be fun to kidnap him. You never know unless-HEY!" There was a small commotion in the background as Bakura was cut off.

Yami listened as a new voice was heard arguing with Bakura in the background. The sound of the phone being tugged from one person to the other in a game of tug-of-war could be clearly heard until the new person succeeded in stealing the phone off of Bakura.

"Sorry about that, Yami," came Ryou's apologetic voice.

"It's okay, Ryou…" Yami sighed. He rubbed his temple with his fingers.

"But you know," Ryou continued, "he is right in a way. When we saw you last year and you explained what happened-"

'After I was forced to tell you more like,' Yami thought.

"-all I wanted to do was help. I saw how upset you were, and I knew about Anzu and Yugi's somewhat rocky relationship, and all I wanted to do was help my friends. We've spent a year planning this, Yami. You spent all that time saving up just so you could come here and apologise face to face. Are you going to throw it all away just because of a little incident?"

"A "little" incident?" Yami exclaimed. "Ryou, that was not a "little" incident. I was completely and utterly out of line last night! I've hurt Yugi again, and I've ruined everything! Everything! I'll never have the chance to even speak to him again after what I did!"

"But Yami-"

"Save it Ryou. It's over."

Yami hung up, shoving his phone back into his pocket. Quickly brushing away the warm tears that were beginning to prickle his eyes, he hurried out the doors of the Domino Inn and hailed the first taxi he found. Putting his bags on the seat next to him, he climbed in and instructed the driver where he wanted to go.

"Domino airport, please."

-I-

The Snowflake Temple.

One of the many temples that littered Domino City, this was by far the smallest and most peaceful. So it was no surprise that this was Sugoroku Mutou's place of choice to be buried, right beside his beloved wife.

Usually on a Monday morning, particularly at this hour, the temple grounds were empty, for the people of Domino were busy going about their daily lives, having no time to visit the graves until either in the evening or at the weekend. But today was different.

A lonely figure stood in front of the grave of Sugoroku Mutou. The surprisingly cold summer breeze rustled his more-than-usual messy hair, a few stray strands blowing into his clouded amethyst eyes. The deep bags under his eyes clashed with his unusually pale skin. His lips showed no sign of a smile. How could he be happy at a time like this?

"Good Morning, grandpa," Yugi said quietly, crouching in front of his grandfather's grave. His voice was unusually hoarse. "How are you and grandma?" His gaze moved to the grave to the right where his grandmother was buried. "I miss you both…"

Yugi paused for a moment, unable to think of anything to say. Usually, his could tell his grandparents anything. Even after they passed away, Yugi would come down here whenever he could and talk to his grandparents as if they were still there with him. But now, when he had so much he wanted to say, he found that he couldn't say anything.

A bell chimed in the distance, signalling that it was now 9 o'clock. Yugi should be at the Duel Academy. But he couldn't face going in today. He hadn't called Kaiba or Jonouchi to tell them that he wasn't coming in. What did it matter? They could easily find a replacement for the day. His classes were all working on a project of some kind. They could easily carry on without them.

Yugi let out a long, loud sigh.

"Grandpa," he said slowly. "Something's…happened these past few weeks, and I don't know if I can cope with it anymore. You know how I'm suppose to be marrying Anzu soon? Well, you see…" He paused. "Yami came back a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure how you'd feel about that. When Yami and I were still together, you adored him and accepted him into our family like he was one of your own. But when he left, it was like he never even existed."

Another cold breeze blew, and Yugi couldn't help but shiver. He wrapped his jacket around his body.

"Things have been a little…rough, since Yami came back. I didn't want to speak to him at first, but then I found myself hanging out with him, just like old times. Before I knew it, we were starting to become friends again…And then…And then…" He broke. "Oh grandpa!"

Yugi fell onto his knees, his sobs echoing through the silent temple grounds.

"Grandpa!" He wailed. "I'm so confused right now! I…I don't know what to do! I-I love Anzu, but now that Yami's back, I feel that I still love him too. I'm so confused!" He paused as he let out more sobs. "I thought I loved Anzu. But how can I when I feel this way towards Yami?" He punched the ground. "But it's too late now. It's too late to do anything. Anzu's left me, and Yami's flying back to Egypt! I don't know what to do grandpa! I need you to help me. I don't know what to do…I just…I don't know what to do!"

"Yugi?"

Yugi's eyes bolted open. That voice…it couldn't be, could it?

Letting his sobs die down, he slowly turned his head to the side. His amethyst eyes met crystal blue.

"A-Anzu?" Yugi whispered in shock.

"I thought I'd find you here," Anzu said softly, kneeling beside Yugi. Her face was as pale as his own. And judging by the bags under her eyes, it looked like she hadn't been able to sleep last night either.

Yugi looked away. "You know me too well…" He said quietly.

"Actually," came Anzu's pained reply, "I don't think I know you at all."

Yugi looked up quickly. He faltered slightly when he saw the tears in her eyes.

"Wh-What do you mean?" He asked.

Anzu gave a weak smile despite her tears. "Yugi, I'm sorry how I reacted last night. I didn't mean to yell at you like that. And I was wrong to say that you deserve to be alone, because you don't. It's just, when you said Yami was back, I couldn't help myself."

"Anzu-"

"No," Anzu cut in. "Please Yugi, let me finish." Anzu waited for Yugi's reply. Yugi gave a nod, letting her continue. "When you told me Yami was back, my anger towards him took control over me. And I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you, not when I love you so much."

Yugi looked away slightly. How could Anzu still love him after he lied to her?

"Yugi, I'll never forgive Yami for what he did to you. I'll never be able to forget those painful memories. I'll never be able to erase the image of you, unconscious, all those medication bottles around you." She paused at the horrible images flashed into her find. "Those painful memories won't ever leave me. And I know that you'll never forget them either. But that doesn't mean that we should let them stop us from living out our futures. So, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for the what I acted, and he way I treated you…"

"Anzu," Yugi said softly. "I should be the one saying sorry, not you. I lied to you about Yami-"

"But you did it because you love him."

Yugi's heart skipped a beat. Did…Did Anzu just say what he think she said?

"What?"

"Yugi, I can see now that I was wrong. You don't love me like the way you love Yami. I was wrong to make you bury a love like that. You and Yami belong together…" She let out a small sob. "…Forever."

Yugi shuffled forward and held Anzu's arms gently. "Anzu, don't say that. I do love you-"

"But not in the way you love Yami," Anzu interrupted, but not rudely. "You love me like you love Jonouchi and Honda: as a friend. The only reason that you asked me to marry you was because you were scared of being alone, and you felt that you owed me after helping you. And you wanted to protect me, like I protected you from the pain. Am I right?"

Yugi looked away, unable to meet her gaze. What was he suppose to say? Deep down, he guessed that he had always known this. But he didn't want to hurt Anzu. He hated hurting people.

"I am, aren't I?" Anzu said after a moment of silence, her voice quivering. "But that's okay Yugi, because I'm not mad." Yugi looked up and saw she was smiling ever so slightly. "I'm not mad at you for asking me to marry you for the reasons you did. I'm not mad at you anymore for lying to me about Yami. This whole fiasco only happened because you love Yami so much."

"But Anzu," Yugi said, his own tears spilling out of his eyes. "I don't know if I do love him. I'm so confused right now about how I feel-"

"Shh…" Anzu cooed. "It's alright Yugi." Slowly, she lifted one of her hands and placed it on Yugi's chest, right above his heart. "What does your heart tell you?"

"What?"

"What does your heart tell you?" Anzu repeated patiently. "Look inside your heart Yugi. Who does it yearn for? Who does it love more than anything in the world? Who do you truly love?"

Yugi paused for a moment, frozen on the spot. Why was Anzu doing this? Why wasn't she still angry? Did she really care about him that much that she would sacrifice her own happiness just so that Yugi's could live on?

Yugi decided to do what Anzu said, even if it did sound somewhat ridiculous. His grandfather had always said to follow his heart. But was it really that simple? Taking a deep breath, Yugi closed his eyes and drowned out the world around him. He looked deep inside himself, listening to his heartbeat. Breathing softly, he listened hard…

All he heard was the pounding rhythm of his heart beat.He was too distracted. Too confused. If he really wanted to know, he had to concentrate. That was the only way this mess was going to end. Focusing only on his heart, Yugi listened as hard as he could. He asked: 'Who is it that I truly love?'…

…His heart soon gave him an answer…

…Yami…

Yugi let out a sigh. It was Yami whom he loved. It was Yami whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He couldn't help but let a smile play on his lips. He felt a wave of relief flood over him, as if a heavy weight had been lifted off his shoulders after six long years.

"Yami," Yugi said after a while. "I love Yami."

Anzu's smile grew, but only a touch. "And he loves you." She removed her hand from Yugi's chest and slipped it into her pocket.

Yugi watched suspiciously as Anzu fished around in her jacket pocket, before pulling out a familiar, small golden object. Before Yugi could say anything, she gently took his own hand, and pushed the golden object into his palm, before removing her hand and slowly standing up.

Feeling himself shake, Yugi slowly looked down to his palm. Anzu's engagement ring glistened in the summer sun.

"Anzu…" he gasped. He looked up at the brunette. "I can't take this. This is yours."

Anzu gently shook her head. "It's yours, Yugi. After all, it used to belong to your grandmother. I can't keep it." She flicked her head towards the temple's gates. "Go."

"Anzu," Yugi said, standing up on shaky legs. "I can't-"

"Yes you can," Anzu said a little more strongly. "You love Yami, and he loves you. You two belong together."

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine Yugi. I'm a big girl now. I can take care of myself. I love you, and I always will. But I want you to be happy. And if that's with Yami, then I'll accept it. Just as long as you're happy, I'm happy." She smiled again as a single tear escaped her crystal eyes. "Now go."

Yugi's grip on the ring slowly tightened as he smiled. Slipping it into his pocket, he stepped towards Anzu. Cupping her cheeks in his hands, he planted a loving kiss on her lips.

Anzu's eyes bolted open at the sudden action, but she didn't resist. Closing her eyes, she kissed back, the tears rolling down her cheeks. This was the last time they would ever kiss like this. Even though this was causing her so much pain, she had to do this. For Yugi.

Yugi broke their final kiss, and gently wiped the tears away from her eyes with his thumb.

"Thank you," he whispered, before letting go and running towards the temple's gates. Without looking back, he ran as fast as he could down the busy Domino streets.

'Yami…please, wait for me…'

Anzu watched Yugi leave with saddened eyes. Although she could feel her heart breaking inside of her, this had to be done. It was selfish of her to keep Yugi in a one way relationship. Although she knew Yugi cared for her deeply, it was not the same love she felt towards him. This was better, for both of them, no matter how much pain it was causing them. No matter how much pain it was causing her.

But although she knew this was the right thing to do, she couldn't help but doubt her decision. Would Yugi be able to reach Yami in time? And even if he did, then what? Would Yami accept? Or was he too broken to accept Yugi's love?

Did he still love Yugi?

And would they ever be able to be together?

Anzu could only wait and see.

-I-

"Yami Atemu" such a cliché name to use…but nothing else would fit! I couldn't use "Yami Mutou" or "Yami Yugi" now, could I?

Speaking of clichés, I've used another one haven't I? The whole "will Yugi stop Yami in time" one. What can I say? I haven't been myself lately. I kinda had a bad day the other day. If someone said something to me, I would just burst into tears. And I kinda felt how Yugi felt. Which is weird because the situation I was in was completely different. Strange what life does to a girl, isn't it?

Anyway, you don't have to review if you don't want to. I just hoped you enjoyed the chapter. I'm not 100 percent happy with it myself. The next one will be up asap.