Chapter 14: Lost

"Rya!" Yami yelled, looking all around him for her. "Rya where are you? Rya!" Yami's voice echoed, but no one answered him.

Yugi and Tea ran back up to him. "Where's Rya?" Yugi asked him.

"I don't know. She was holding my hand until-" Yami looked and sounded frightened. "I don't know where she is!" he yelled.

"Don't worry, Yami. We'll find her," Yugi tried to calm him down.

"Don't you understand? It's my fault she's lost out there! She doesn't know anything about this world. She could get hurt, and I promised her I wouldn't let that happen. I have to find her!" Yami ran off calling Rya's name, determined to find her.

"Yami's really worried about her," Tea stated.

"Yami really cares about Rya. But he does have a point though. Rya isn't used to anything in our world, so she could really get hurt. I'm going to call the others and tell them to help look for her," Yugi said as he pulled out his cell phone. Once he was done, he and Tea started to look around for Rya as well.

Meanwhile, Rya was looking around for Yami, or any of the others. "Where am I? What's going on? The last thing I remember is Yami taking my hand, and a lot of people pushing and shoving me away from him. Now I don't know where I am," she thought to herself. Tears started to come to her eyes like a young child who was separated from their mother. "Yami!" she tried calling out, but the crowd was too loud for her to hear any response. "How am I going to find him?" she wondered as she started walking around. After about 15 minutes of not being able to find them, she sat on a bench near a fountain. Tears flew down her cheeks as she hugged the white seal she had bought before tightly to her. "I'm never going to find him," she cried.

"You lost or something little girl?" someone asked her. Rya looked up to see three older guys surrounding her around the bench she was sitting on. They were all wearing sunglasses and bandanas on their heads.

"Yes, I am lost. Could you help me find my friends?" Rya asked hopefully, unaware of the lustful smirks on their smirks.

"Sure we'll help you. Come on, I know a shortcut to find your friends," one of them smirked. He took her by the wrist and hauled her up onto her feet. He was squeezing her wrist pretty tightly, and made it hurt.

"Do you think you could let go? You're hurting me," Rya asked.

"Oh trust me, this is the least of your problems," the man smirked and kept pulling away from the crowd. Rya began to realize what was happening and started to try and pull herself away.

"Please, let go. Ow! Let go!" she cried out, only to get slapped in the face.

"Shutup, unless you wanna make it harder on yourself," the man told her angrily and continued to pull her.

Yami meanwhile heard the cries of a young woman in distress. He ran towards the source just in time to see Rya being forced outside by three men, where no one would see them. "Rya!" he yelled and ran to catch up with them. As soon as he got outside, he found one of them pinning Rya to the wall by her wrists, and noticed her cheek was red. "Rya!" he called out again. They all turned towards Yami. "Let her go!" he demanded.

"And what if I don't?" the apparent leader asked smugly.

"Then I swear you'll regret it!" Yami growled dangerously. Without warning, he charged the thugs with tight fists. He was able to hit one of them, only to be ambushed by two more.

"Yami!" Rya cried in horror.

"Leave them alone!" new voices shouted. Joey and Tristan arrived just in time to knock out the thugs. "You guys okay?" Joey asked looking back at Rya and Yami.

"I'm fine," Yami replied and ran over to Rya. She was on the ground shaking and hugging her knees to her chest. "Rya, are you hurt? Rya talk to me," Yami told her gently. Rya looked up into his eyes, tears flowing freely down her cheeks.

"Oh Yami!" she cried and clutched to his chest as tight as she could. "I was so scared! When they–I couldn't–"

"It's all right. I've got you now. I'll never let that happen to you again, I swear it," Yami growled in frustration, realizing he had made that promise before. "Come on, I'll take you home." Yami lifted Rya into his arms and asked Joey if he could get Mai to drive them back to Kaiba's mansion. In the car, Rya laid her head against Yami's chest, crying the whole way back to the mansion. Yami helped her out of the car and walked her up to the door. As soon as they walked in, Rya ran down to the tank she was held in before and dove in. The water calmed her for a few moments, until she simply sat on the edge, dipping her feet into the water. "Rya?" Yami called out softly. Rya didn't respond, and simply hung her head. Yami came up and sat next to her. "Rya, I'm so sorry that this happened. I should've known better then to take you to such a crowded place like that, where you could've gotten lost like you did. And when I saw those thugs, hurting you, I just–" Yami pounded his shaking fist into the floor next to him. He looked up when he felt a delicate hand on top his fist.

"It's all right, Yami. All in all, I'm glad I was able to go see what you showed me. I can't let one bad experience pull me down now can I? Besides, I knew your world wasn't perfect. Next time, we'll just be more careful," she smiled weakly. Yami didn't respond as he turned his head away. He felt her fingers under his chin as she turned him to face her again. "Please don't blame yourself, Yami. I couldn't bear it if you were angry like this because of me." Rya whispered to him and laid her head against his chest again. Yami nodded and laid an arm across her shoulders. Rya then jumped up with a bigger smile on her face. "Don't worry Yami! Tomorrow will even better then today, you'll see!" she squealed. Yami couldn't help but smile at her positive attitude. "Good. We better get to sleep," Rya suggested. Yami stood up and showed her the room she could stay in.

Yami went to bed himself in another room, and slowly drifted to sleep. He woke up at the sound of the door creaking. Yami sat up to see Rya slipping into the room. She was wearing large pajamas that were definitely too big for her. Yami wanted to laugh, but controlled himself. "What is it, Rya? Do you need something?" Yami asked.

"I'm sorry I woke you, I just...well it's silly. I'm sorry to have disturbed you. Goodnight," she said and started to leave. Until Yami asked why she really came. "I was kind of scared in my room. All the shadows made me nervous. So I hoped I could sneak in here without waking you and just...watch you sleep for a while. I didn't want to be alone in that other room," she explained pitifully.

"Rya, you can stay in here if you want to, don't be ashamed of being afraid of the dark," Yami told her kindly. Rya smiled and walked over to a chair. She was obviously uncomfortable but she smiled nonetheless at Yami, and attempted to fall asleep. Yami just shook his head as he pulled away the covers and walked over to her. Rya opened her eyes just in time to see Yami standing in front of her with a sweet smile on his face. "That doesn't look very comfortable," he told her. Yami then lifted Rya into his arms and carried her over to the bed. He slipped in next to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. "Is that better?" he asked her.

Rya just smiled and laid against his bare chest. "Much better," she replied as they both easily drifted to sleep.

A/N: OOOOOOHHHHH! Interesting. Where will it go from here? Who knows? I don't even know, so don't ask, lol. Anyways, thanks for the reviews so far, and I do not own any YGO characters. :)