Akh

Chapter Three – Implausible Theory

DISCLAIMER: Humdah on exposition. That's all I can say. Humdah.

As much as he hated being away from Yuugi for so long, Atemu had been forced into spending the day away from the hospital. After being forced into buying a few outfits he had decided never to wear after they returned to Japan and he could buy some real clothing, Anzu, Jounouchi and the others had led him around the city.

He didn't see the logic, but everyone seemed to believe he needed some separation time from Yuugi, or vice versa. Either way, now dressed in a pair of loose white pants and a red shirt that Anzu told him was 'so him', he returned to the hospital the hour before visiting hours were up, intending to complain and ask Yuugi to tell them all to leave him alone.

However, when he walked into Yuugi's room, it was to find Yuugi's bed already surrounded by visitors: Kaiba, Mokuba, Malik and Ishizu were all crowded around Yuugi, who was reading a thick sheet of paper on a clipboard.

"What's going on?" demanded Atemu, as he and the others stepped inside.

Yuugi glanced up at him, but didn't smile before looking back down at the paper. Atemu scowled at Malik, who was scrawling Arabic over Yuugi's broken foot with a thick permanent marker. "Malik?"

"We're going over some technicalities and legal issues," he said vaguely, not even looking up. "You aren't supposed to be here."

"Why not?"

"Separation time? You're getting one hell of an attachment complex," he said playfully, but Atemu just glared at him. He chuckled. "But seriously, Yuugi-kun's only supposed to have four visitors at a time, remember."

"What is going on here?"

"Just legal stuff," Yuugi said distractedly. "You don't need to worry about it right now."

"Legal stuff?" repeated Jounouchi, leaning over Atemu's shoulder. "What kind of legal stuff?"

"Forging documents," explained Mokuba. "Making up reasons for the hospital to not keep records of…" He trailed off, then gestured at Atemu.

"Go back to the hotel," said Yuugi, shrugging. "I'll call you guys later."

"Aibou, what…" Atemu frowned, noticing a look rarely visible in Yuugi's eyes. "What's wrong? What's happened?"

"Nothing," he said distractedly, still staring at the paper. "I'll call you."

Atemu hesitated, then slowly nodded and turned back to the others. "If I don't hear from you by ten –" he said, the end of the sentence clear. Yuugi just nodded vaguely, and Atemu frowned again, before motioning for the others to follow him out.

"This is all a bit odd, don't you think?"

Atemu looked up from his attempt to look stoic and uncaring to look at Ryou, who was sitting beside Bakura with his arms and legs folded. They had gathered in one of the hotel apartments for a room-service dinner, and were now sitting around the lounge room while they waited for it. "What is?"

"What Yuugi-kun said back at the hospital," he said. "If they were forging documents, then wouldn't they have needed me there? Because of the spirit of the Ring?"

"Bakura," the thief corrected absently. He seemed insistent that they call him that, and Ryou by his given name.

"That's what I was thinking," agreed Anzu. "It didn't look like he was reading legal things either. He actually looked like he understood it – Yuugi can barely figure out the school admission contract."

"But then what could it be?" wondered Honda, leaning back to gaze up at the ceiling, as if it held their answer. "If it wasn't legal, and involved Kaiba and the Ishtahls…?"

"I guess it could have been –" began Anzu, but she was cut off by the sound of the bell, and sighed as she stood up. "I'll get it. Anyone have money left for a tip?"

Sugoroku grunted, but kept his head in his book as he dug a note from his pocket. She took it on her way past, leaving the boys to consider.

"Maybe it was like a reason for the whole—" Jounouchi made a random gesture toward Atemu. "—thing."

"Again, why was Ryou not involved," said Bakura.

"Why wasn't I involved?" added Atemu. "But anyway, speculation is redundant. Aibou will call me as soon as he's finished with it, and then I'll know."

"Yeah, I guess," Honda said slowly, but Jounouchi continued to frown.

"How can you be so calm about this?" he asked, irritated. "We all know what happens when Yuugi keeps secrets! It's always a bad idea."

He looked at him sideways, then around at the others, a little surprised that none of them seemed to have picked up on his apprehension. Since Yuugi had always been able to notice it straight away, he had assumed his emotions were obvious outside the duelling field. He shrugged, deciding to leave them with that theory. "I trust my aibou. If there is something wrong, I will know about it."

There was a pause as the others exchanged glances, before Anzu appeared through the doorway, leading two men who were pushing three trolleys through to the dining area. They set the plates out, Jounouchi's serving taking up two places rather than one, accepted Anzu's tip, then bowed to the group and left without a word.

"Come on, there's no sense in worrying about possibilities when there's food to be eaten," said Anzu, and they nodded before getting up to join her at the table.

"My problem," said Jounouchi, around his first few mouthfuls, "is this whole thing. I mean, Yuugi, dude, no offence, but you and Bakura're supposed to be dead here. Isn't you being alive kinda…"

"Problematic?" finished Atemu, tactfully ignoring Jounouchi's having reverted to calling him 'Yuugi'. "Yeah, I talked to Ishizu about it last night. She said there's a possibility this is going to bring out a lot of dark power. Especially if certain vengeful spirits don't keep to themselves," he added darkly, glaring down the table to Bakura, who ignored him.

"So what're you thinking you're going to do, anyway?" Honda asked, looking between the two former spirits. "You're supposed to be dead and gone, two people just coming up out of nowhere is gonna be a bit of a problem."

"I boarded with my rabbit before, I'll do it again," said Bakura, and Ryou let out a heavy, resigned sigh.

"That's a question I need to ask aibou, and Grandfather Sugoroku," said Atemu, nodding to the old man, who smiled grimly.

"I hardly see any way for me to stop you returning to Japan with us," he said. "I daresay Yuugi would probably have something to say about it if I tried."

"Thank you…"

"So you're not going to try moving on anyway?" asked Honda. "I mean, you were gonna have to be solid for the Ceremonial Duel anyway, so no difference, right?"

He shrugged, gesturing to his mouth full of food rather than answer. It was an escape tactic, but the others either didn't notice or didn't care, because they fell silent for a minute before Anzu brought up the village market they had visited that day and conversation quickly turned to tourism. Atemu remained quiet, eating with one eye on the telephone in the corner, but when it finally did ring, Jounouchi was the closest and therefore the one to answer it.

"Oh, hey, Yuugi! Everything cool over there?"

The group fell silent, watching Jounouchi curiously for any hint of what had happened.

"Yeah, he is," he said, glancing at Atemu and shrugging. "Okay… okay… No, I got that. Hey Bakura?"

Ryou and the thief both looked up, and Jounouchi smirked. "Ryou Bakura," he said playfully, and Ryou sighed again.

"Yes?"

"Yuugi needs to talk to you for a second."

"What?" both Ryou and Atemu asked, Atemu slamming his fork down on the table.

Jounouchi shrugged. "Yuugi said he's gotta talk to Bakura first, then he'll explain what's going on."

They blinked, before Atemu turned to glare at Ryou. "What are you waiting for then? The faster he's done with you, the sooner we get answers!"

He flinched at the sudden irritation, but jumped to his feet regardless, hurrying over to take the phone from Jounouchi. "Hello? Yuugi-kun, what's the matter?" he asked, and paused to listen for a moment, before frowning and turning to walk away, toward the bedrooms. "Hold on, I'll just get away from the noise…"

Atemu felt his eyebrow twitch as Ryou quickly strode into one of the bedrooms, closing the door behind him, and the others exchanged glances.

"What was that about, Jounouchi?" Honda asked finally. "Why'd he ask for Bakura?"

"Ryou," corrected Bakura, in between mouthfuls.

"I dunno. He just said he had to square something away with Bakura before he could talk to anyone else," said Jounouchi, ignoring the thief's annoyed grunt. "But he did say we shouldn't bother going to the hospital tomorrow – he's gonna be doing stuff with Kaiba and Mokuba all day."

Atemu's eyebrow twitched again, quickly followed by the cheek below.

"This is getting a little weird," said Anzu, frowning. "What could –"

"WHAT!"

They all jerked, Sugoroku almost losing hold of his fork as they all spun around to stare at the closed bedroom door. Atemu glanced down at Bakura, expecting him to go see what had obviously disturbed Ryou, but he just continued watching the door, vaguely interested. It was Honda who slowly got to his feet and crept over to lean his ear against the wood.

There were nothing further for almost five minutes, but then Honda had to scramble away to not get caught out as Ryou calmly opened the door and walked over to Atemu, phone out. "Here you are, Atemu-kun," he said politely, then turned his eerily calm gaze to Bakura. "Let's go."

"Go, you say?" he repeated, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not –"

"I said let's go," he snapped, and they all stared as he openly glared at the thief, who just blinked twice before putting down his fork and standing up. Atemu took the receiver, still staring as Ryou smiled around at them all. "Anzu-chan, we'll see you when you get back to the suite. Good night everyone."

They all blinked in unison as he led Bakura out of the room, apparently heading to the hall where they could leave for the suite they had been sharing with Anzu and Otogi. They continued to stare for several seconds before Atemu suddenly jerked back to reality and snatched the phone up to his ear. "Aibou?"

"Hello, the other me," came the weary reply. "How's Ryou-kun?"

"Ry- oh. Fine, just a little… odd," he said finally, then shoved himself up from the table to walk away, toward the bedroom they had declared Yuugi-when-he-gets-out-of-hospital's and therefore his. "Aibou, what's going on? Why are you being so secretive?"

"Ahh… to tell you that, I'd have to tell you everything," he said, then giggled. "It's not in my nature to be mysterious, but I can't tell you and I can't tell you why! Ocean's Twelve – terrible movie, good line."

"Aibou, not now," he said irritably, and Yuugi laughed.

"Sorry, sorry. But actually, it's true. I don't think this is really something I should tell you over the phone. I just had to tell Ryou-kun because he has a Right to Know."

"And I don't?" he snapped, as he slammed the door shut behind him.

"Mm… maybe," he said, then sighed. "Truth is, the other me, I kinda need you here to –"

"Why didn't you say that before? I'll be –"

"No, no!" He laughed again, and Atemu frowned, stepping away from the door. He could almost hear the resigned smile on Yuugi's face. "I meant that right now, I'm kind of procrastinating about dealing with it myself. If I tell you, then I'm going to have deal with it, and I think I'll need you there for that."

He hesitated, then turned around to sit down on the bed, sighing hard as he covered his eyes with his hand. "Aibou, you know I don't like it when you keep secrets."

"Mm. But think of it as payback for all those times you kept your problems to yourself," he said playfully, and Atemu huffed out a laugh.

"Yeah…" He lowered his eyes, smile fading. "I think they're right about me, aibou."

"Hm?"

"I think they're right. I think I might be getting an attachment complex… I'm not thinking clearly without you," he said softly, but Yuugi didn't answer, just let out a breath that was barely audible over the phone. Atemu hesitated, then looked out of the corner of his eye, as if he could see Yuugi through the receiver. "Can I come back to the hospital tomorrow?"

"Mm," he said quietly. "Mm… I miss you too."

They were quiet a moment, before Yuugi grunted. "Aw, dammit."

"What?"

"Well, for one thing I still haven't gotten the hang of this cast and just spilt my tea all over me," he said irritably, and Atemu smiled. "For another… we aren't supposed to be doing this."

"Doing what?"

"Needing each other," he said lowly. "I'm not supposed to miss you. I told myself I was okay with it, you know…"

He hesitated, then nodded. "So did I," he murmured. "I guess we lied."

"Dammit," he muttered, and Atemu frowned. 'Damn' wasn't an uncommon word for Yuugi to mutter in his sentences, but it was usually when something bad had happened. 'Dammit' was more unusual, reserved for situations where Yuugi felt he had made a more terrible mistake.

"More tea?" he asked warily, but again, Yuugi didn't answer at first.

After a moment, Atemu sensed the fake smile flitter across the line. "Yeah. Tea. All over me," he said weakly. "So, anyway, the other me! How was Cairo? Did you buy lots? I saw your new clothes – the shirt was a nice colour!"

Atemu didn't bother to call him on the lie.

Rather than take his usual place beside Yuugi, Atemu had pushed himself up to sit cross-legged on the very end of the bed. He remained silent while the others had the usual morning conversation with Yuugi—asking if he was any better, whether he wanted them to hang around, if they could come by later tonight—and waited for several minutes after the door had closed behind them all, just watching.

They had two hours before Kaiba and the others would turn up with the final 'legal documents' Yuugi said they were creating. Yuugi was avoiding his gaze, picking at the cast on his arm rather than meet Atemu's gaze.

"It's about me, isn't it?" Atemu asked quietly. "What's bothering you; it's about me."

Yuugi hesitated, then nodded once.

"Is it that I'm here?" he asked. "Is this a problem?"

He furrowed his brow, grimacing slightly. "The other me… I don't know."

"What?"

"I don't know whether it is or not," he said, shaking his head helplessly. "And I don't know what to tell you."

Atemu frowned, shifting his knee up to prop an arm on. "Then just start at the beginning. Do you know how Bakura and I are here, yet?"

"Well… kind of," he said evasively. "It's a theory, really, nothing definite."

"A theory is better than nothing," he replied, motioning for him to continue.

Yuugi sighed in resignation, leaning back against his pillows. "They're not sure exactly why it happened – there had to be a kind of… emotional reason, and they don't know what that could be. But Ishizu-san and Malik-kun think that maybe rather than risk you losing the duel and being forced to leave, your magic kind of… rebelled against you."

He frowned, tilting his head in confusion. "Rebelled against me?"

"Mm. It was supposed to make you a temporary body – basically a copy of what you usually look like when you take over my body," he explained, absently gesturing to himself . "But because the magic didn't want to risk you leaving, it exploded at full power. Whatever it was trying to do, it did that and more. Malik-kun thinks that because it was supposed to be making a new body for you, it did anyway, but it made the best you it could, rather than the temporary thing it was supposed to make."

Atemu continued to frown, glancing down at his own arm. "That can't be. Not even my dark magic can create life. It's just not done," he said, his eyes widening in emphasis. "It… The creation of life is purely a matter for the gods – and only specific gods, at that. Man has no business doing it, not even pharaohs. They shouldn't, so they can't."

Yuugi raised his eyebrow, inwardly wondering whether that was something Atemu believed himself or whether he'd been paying attention during the semester Yuugi's literature class read Frankenstein. "They didn't create life."

He raised his own eyebrow, matching Yuugi's blank look for a pointed one.

"The other me… Actually, um…" He frowned, looking around for the clipboard Kaiba had given him yesterday, and reached over to snatch it off the top of the heart monitor. He held it out to Atemu, who took it with a confused glance. "It explains it all on there, but basically… what it comes down to is… well… the other me, see, what you are is not… I mean, you are alive, but you're not… a life."

"Aibou," Atemu said calmly, in a voice that his mother usually used moments before whacking him over the head with a ladle. "Apart from the last week, the last time I breathed with my own lungs was about three thousand years ago."

"Yeah…" He frowned, furrowing his brow for a moment before sitting up again. "Okay, you know Kaiba-kun's solid visions?"

Atemu blinked once, which Yuugi took to mean he was listening. "You know how they're made? With like, the wind from the machine kicking up all the surrounding dust and stuff and compacting it into solid-ish forms and then reflecting light on them so they look real?"

He nodded. In the last term of school, Yuugi's physics teacher had been thrilled to introduce his class to a science most of them would actually be interested in by showing them how Jounouchi's duel disk worked. While he usually floated in the nothing of the puzzle while Yuugi was at school, Atemu had spent that entire lesson sitting on the teacher's desk, attentive and curious. He had spent most of the night after muttering about how irritating it was that something so ingenious as the Duel Disk could come from such a complete and utter bastard.

"Well… what the shadows did was basically… evolve that," Yuugi said finally, nodding at the word. "They took a bunch of dark magic, sand, dust and dirt from the chamber and compacted it all into human form. It… Kaiba-kun thinks that they even copied a human's insides, like your stomach and lungs and stuff, so that you work like a normal human being. But the fact is, that despite the illusion and field the magic put up to make you like a normal human being, you're… basically…" He waved his bandaged hand hopelessly, trying to think of a more positive way to put it, but Atemu beat him to it.

"Compacted dust."

"Well… yeah," he said, wincing. He glanced at Atemu, who was staring at him with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. He jumped to continue. "But, the basic result is that you are – in, um – when you get down to it, I mean – you are human, it's just… while humans are made from living cells and junk, you're made from… dead cells and junk."

Atemu continued to stare at him for a long moment, then raised his eyebrows, sitting back with an amused breath. "Which is rather fitting; me being dead, after all."

They just gazed at each other blankly for a moment, before Atemu huffed out a disbelieving laugh and Yuugi grinned. "Anyway. No one—not even you—would really be able to tell the difference. The darkness probably did as good a job as they could to make you seem utterly human, so the feel of your skin and all your interactions'll be the same as anyone else's."

"Fair enough," he said, and leaned back on his right hand, absently flexing his left as well as the bandages would allow. "What I don't understand is… Well, actually, there's several things I don't understand."

"What?"

"Well, first off, why would the magic have done that?" he asked, frowning at him. "It doesn't make logical sense. For the past year, I've known what I had to do – collect the God Cards, hold them up to the tablet, get my memory back and move on. If I did anything else, then I would have had to stay in the Millennium Puzzle and you never would have had a normal life."

Yuugi blinked at this last point, frowning. "What was that?"

"Aibou, I might be wrong, but I daresay that as long as I'm here, the darkness is too," he said dryly. "It's very hard to have a normal life when the world is in peril, you know."

"The other me," he said, smiling despite himself. When it wasn't being used to tease him, Yuugi usually enjoyed Atemu's sense of humour. He quickly sobered though, giving him a serious look. "Come on. It's not about me having any kind of life. You had to go back because it was your duty. It had nothing to do with me."

"Hm," he said vaguely, and Yuugi frowned. He opened his mouth to argue the point, but Atemu cut him off before he could even start. "Second problem is that this does all explain my presence, but not Bakura's."

"Oh! Mm," he said, nodding with the new topic and happily changing tack. "It's because of his connection to the Millennium Puzzle – that Attached Mind or whatever he called it."

Atemu raised his eyebrows, surprised. "Of course… that makes perfect sense. The Parasite Mind allows anything that happens to the puzzle to happen to him. It's how he got into the Memory RPG with us…"

"Mm. But it affected me worse than it did Bakura – I mean, Ryou-kun," he corrected, smiling slightly at the new joke. "It was worse for me because to make the new bodies, a lot of energy was needed, so the dark magic drew on the source it was most familiar with – the one who solved the Millennium Puzzle."

"So that's why it knocked you out," he realised, and Yuugi nodded once.

"Course, it couldn't take it all from me, or it'd kill me and so all that energy would fail and the bodies wouldn't form," he said. "So it borrowed from Bak- Ryou-kun, too."

Atemu nodded, frowning at him in guilty concern, but Yuugi just grinned to reassure him, and he continued with his last question. "Okay. Why don't I – that is to say –" He frowned again, looking up at Yuugi. "According to my memories and all that's happened, I am Atemu. But right now, I don't look like Atemu. I was much shorter as Atemu, and… my face is too long, and… and my eyes were never red unless I was – the point is, my current appearance raises the question –"

"You had red eyes?"

He pursed his lips, wondering if he could escape answering, but eventually sighed. For someone as easy to influence as Yuugi was, he could impossibly stubborn when he wanted to be. Might as well answer now, rather than put up with constant questioning. "My dark magic was… stronger than it should have naturally been. At times I would… lose control. Once, my wrestling partner almost dislocated my shoulder, and I was so furious with him, I –" He stopped, cutting himself off before he could remember what he'd seen when he calmed down. "If I was emotional enough, sometimes the darkness would control my actions."

"Like Doma?"

He grimaced, his eyes narrowing further at the thought. "No. And my eyes would apparently turn red."

Yuugi hesitated a moment, reluctant to show expression until he smiled, apparently letting it go. "You're right – you don't look like you used to—or at least, the way we think you looked, judging on the person we saw in the Memory RPG and all. That's because you can't have your old body anymore, because you don't have what links you to that body."

There was a pause, and Atemu blinked again. "What?"

He smiled, shrugging helplessly. "I don't really understand it, myself. But… from what Ishizu-san said, what you basically did in the real battle with Zorc was seal yourself, the dark power, and the one to carry that power—the thief king—into the Millennium Items. But you can't lock a human body in a piece of gold, so you could only seal the spirits of you and the thief king," he said, frowning in confusion at his own words. "So… that apparently left the human parts of you to… kinda… do whatever it is humans do without spirits."

Atemu nodded slowly. "When Diaha was introduced, we changed our religion slightly to suit it. The 'spiritual half'—the ka—usually referred to the monsters we duelled with. But it also was our soul. If the ka was completely destroyed—its tablet broken for example—the akh would be split in half, leaving only the ba, which would… die without its other half."

"Really?" asked Yuugi, blinking curiously. "That's kinda what Ishizu-san said happened to you, only she said that the human half reincarnated. It became a new person in a new life."

Atemu frowned. "But without the spiritual half, it would have just died again."

"Mm. Infant death, probably," he said, oddly offhand. Atemu frowned at the atypical tone, but Yuugi was still talking. "Then it reincarnated again. And again, and again, until it eventually evolved enough to survive."

"Again, though… even if it changed enough to survive, it would have been… helpless," he said, frowning. "It wouldn't have had the confidence the soul inspires. It would have been open to all mental attacks, just accepting of everything… It probably would have died by its own hand before long."

Yuugi's smile became rather fixed as he nodded. "Mm. Ishizu-san said it probably did die again, and again, and kept reincarnating, waiting to find what it was missing even when it had grown into an almost functioning soul. We think it'll probably keep doing that until it meets you. In this life or the afterlife."

Atemu frowned, and they gazed at each other thoughtfully for several moments, until Yuugi shrugged, letting it go.

"So, the basic end to all of this is that you've now got the choice as to whether you want to take this and keep living as a human, or if you want to go back to the ceremonial chamber and try Duelling," he said, looking off to the side. "Ishizu-san thinks it'll be the same result in this body as the temporary one you were supposed to have, only you'll have to drag Bakura-kun's dark character into the afterlife with you. Kaiba-kun's prepared to make up some fake documents if you want to stay. I'm not sure why, he keeps talking about equivalent exchange or Battle City or something."

He hesitated, his eyes narrowing as his mind began nagging at him curiously. "I see."

"Ba- Ryou-kun doesn't really care what happens to his other self, because he doesn't really know him," he continued. "He says he's not going to tell him everything until you've made your decision. But since we're going back to Japan in eight days—" He raised his bandaged hand in a thankful cheer. "—he was kind of hoping you could decide kinda soonish."

Atemu continued gazing at him for a moment. "And that's all they told you last night?"

He hesitated for a fraction of a second, but nodded once. Atemu could see the lie, and continued watching him seriously, but Yuugi apparently refused to acknowledge it, because he just gazed back at him with a mild smile.

"If I did decide to go back," he said slowly. "Who would I be duelling?"

"Hm?"

"Obviously, you're in no condition to do so," he said, carefully placing his hand on Yuugi's broken foot in what would have been a comforting gesture if not for his expression. "Who would I be duelling?"

"Um… I don't know," he said honestly, blinking. "Kaiba-kun, probably. He'd never let Jounouch-kun do it. I probably could do it, you know. It just might… take some doing to get me there."

"So… perhaps it would be best to leave it, for now," he suggested, would-be offhand. "The chamber will still be here in oh, say, a year, and now that I'm not impeding your life and mind there's nothing to say I have to move on…"

"The other me, you don't have to –" he began, but Atemu just shook his head firmly.

"To tell you the truth, aibou… I don't want to do this any more than I have to," he said bluntly, and Yuugi straightened up in surprise. "I don't want to have to do this a thousand times, aibou. I don't want to keep duelling every opponent that thinks he can beat me."

Yuugi blinked, frowning at him. "I get that, but… you always have to struggle to beat Kaiba-kun… he might –"

"Kaiba can't beat me, aibou."

Yuugi's frown deepened. There was no false bravado in Atemu's voice; he didn't even look triumphant. Just tired and a little exasperated. Yuugi hesitated, lowering his head but keeping Atemu's gaze.

"I know I can defeat Kaiba," he continued. "I could do it before, with just the God Cards, and now I have my old powers and ability… it's just a matter of how fast I can get his life points to zero."

Yuugi bit his lip, nodding. "And Jounouch-kun…"

"Jounouchi… Jounouch-kun is an excellent duellist, and I am proud of how far he's come," he said softly, looking away. "But this is beyond him. He's a worthy challenger for an ordinary duel, but for this, it's just—"

"—too much," he finished, nodding his reluctant agreement. "I know, he's – I know."

They were silent a moment, before Atemu slipped off the bed, moving over to instead push himself up beside Yuugi's hip, taking Yuugi's hand into both of his own. "But you're different. I may have never duelled you, but… As much as I never wanted to admit it, I could always hear you."

"Hear me?"

"Ever since we duelled Pegasus, I could hear you in the back of my head," he said, smiling weakly. "You weren't always awake, and you didn't know you were doing it, but I could always hear your strategies. Some of my best moves were yours. Especially in Noah's world."

He stared, wide-eyed, and Atemu sighed. "I… I know you have the ability to defeat me, aibou. The luck and timing, I'm not sure about, but… you definitely have the ability," he said reluctantly. Admitting anyone was stronger than him, let alone his aibou, was something he had never been comfortable with. "Kaiba puts too much emphasis on power. Jounouchi relies on luck, which isn't enough when the opponent is at my level, with my power. So if I'm going to do this, aibou, the only person worthy of my single challenge… is you."

Yuugi continued to stare at him in open disbelief. "You… you really believe that?"

"What kind of a question is that?" he demanded, before Yuugi lunged forward and he gasped, suddenly supporting a heavy weight and an equally heavy cast over his shoulder. He blinked, vaguely registering that Yuugi was hugging him, but he was too shocked to respond before Yuugi pulled away again, smiling broadly, tears in his eyes. Atemu's jaw worked silently for a moment, but Yuugi just grinned, raising his hands to his chest in excitement.

"Okay! I'll be the one to duel you. As soon as I'm completely better, we'll come back here and go to the chamber and duel," he said decisively. "I'll duel you at my very best, I promise!"

He shook himself out of his pleasant shock to smile, holding up a stalling finger. "Ah, aibou, wait and think about this. How much did it cost to get to Egypt? Can you really afford that twice in what, four months?"

"Oh… um…" he said weakly, reality checking back with him.

"And besides, if Ishizu's theory about me having a human half out there somewhere is true," he said, eyeing Yuugi's hidden reaction carefully, "I want to find him."

Yuugi's expression was carefully blank for the moment he registered that, before he smiled and nodded. "So what're we going to do?"

"I suggest a year," he said. "One year for you to recover and me to find the funds to get us here… and this other half."

Still Yuugi didn't so much as flicker, and the back of Atemu's mind began wondering if he was right.

"Mm… I'm sure Bakura-kun can take one year," Yuugi said thoughtfully, before he nodded again. "Okay! A year!"

Atemu extended his hand, and Yuugi grinned, taking it as best he could with his left hand. Atemu smiled as they shook. "Agreed, my aibou."

"How can you say, we cannot see him?"

For a moment, it seemed as if the doctor was going to ignore Atemu's snappish demand, but his accent was so thick that even Anzu had trouble understanding his English. It took an extra few seconds, but eventually the doctor turned to look at him with an only slightly apprehensive smile.

"Just for a few days," he said loudly, as if that would help them understand him. Anzu felt her cheek twitch in irritation, but let him continue. "We need to adjust his casts and teach him how to use his wheelchair. It will be a very slow and painful process, and it would be best if we limit the visitors to only those that are necessary."

The boys, Yuugi included, all stared at him blankly. Blatantly ignoring hospital rules yet again, Jounouchi, Honda and Anzu had followed Atemu into Yuugi's room that morning, only to find themselves confronted with the Kaiba brothers and one of the more annoying doctors. The doctor, although nice enough, had trouble differentiating between the ability to speak English and having any intelligence whatsoever, and was now telling them that Yuugi would be off limits to everyone but Sugoroku and the Kaiba brothers for the next three days.

Honda turned to Anzu, silently asking for a translation, and she sighed.

"Basically, they want Yuugi to themselves for a few days so he'll learn to use his wheelchair faster," she said, and then glanced at the doctor before continuing. "It'll be painful, so they probably think they're doing us a favour by not having to watch Yuugi go through it."

"Ridiculous," snapped Atemu, setting his hand on his hip. "Who better to help aibou deal with pain and help him through this than me? I should be here!"

"The other me," Yuugi murmured, but Atemu ignored him.

"What does he mean 'necessary' visitors, anyway? Who's necessary?"

"Immediate family," said Anzu. "And they said Kaiba-kun, too."

"What? Why?"

"We're paying for it," said Mokuba, scowling at Atemu. "We gotta be able to see what we're paying for, y'know!"

"There are legal details that we have yet to finalise," Kaiba added, but his eyes were still closed as he leaned back against the wall, so he could have been ignoring them for all he looked like it. "They will require Yuugi's assistance."

"Kaiba, I have had enough of your legal details," growled Atemu. "Those legal details are my life, and yet you refuse to tell me anything about them. I will be there for any more decisions!"

"You, 'Yami', have no life," he replied coldly, opening his eyes with a disdainful lift of his eyebrow. "You are dead. Your opinions are of no use to me."

Atemu clenched his teeth, but Yuugi's hand on his stopped him from snapping back. He blinked once, then looked down at his aibou, who just squeezed his hand and turned back to Anzu.

"Can you ask him if it would be alright to just have one or two visitors at a time?"

She nodded, translating the question, but the doctor shook his head. "Any time he isn't in therapy should be spent resting. He's been through a great deal, and we really shouldn't be doing this so soon. I would much prefer he stay in bed for another week at least, but Mister Kaiba has ordered us to have him ready to fly…"

"They don't understand!" cried Atemu, after Anzu had finished translating. "By keeping me away they'll just make things worse!"

"We won't get in the way," said Jounouchi. "Tell him, Anzu! We'll be good and make sure Yuugi rests heaps!"

"Yeah, we won't even let him laugh!" said Honda. "C'mon, doc, please!"

Catching the drift, if not the words, the doctor continued to shake his head, shrugging helplessly. "I'm afraid that's just the way it has to be, kids."

They scowled, but Yuugi squeezed Atemu's hand in reassurance. "It'll be okay. It's just a few days, I mean – big deal, right?"

He glanced at him, but continued frowning worriedly. He wasn't sure why—it was irrational, since he and Bakura were the only connection to the Darkness, and that was the only real danger—but the idea of leaving Yuugi for three days caught something in his chest that he really didn't like.