Small Note

Sakura: It's been a long freaking week but it's finally the weekend and time for another chapter!

Chapter Six

The Past is Present

Beep….Beep…

The steady rhythm of multiple heart monitors sounded out into the quiet room giving sign that the two patients inside the private room were still alive. The only sign of movement came from the one occupant sitting on the couch across the room from the bed typing on a laptop. The light from the computer showed it to be Seto Kaiba as he sat in the private hospital room watching over the two patients. It was nearing the midnight hour which was not unusual for someone such as himself to still be up. However there was more keeping him up that night than just work.

The phone call he received hours ago at his office left him in a near state of shock. Never in his life did he want to get a phone call from Tea quickly telling him that Yugi, Yami, and Joey were in a fire and were on their way to the hospital. There was no easier way to say it, but that is still not something he wanted to hear. When Joey had texted him earlier that day to get information about Yami's location he did not realize it was a life or death situation. The blond gave no indication that Yami and Yugi were even in trouble only that he was looking for them.

Of course Seto was about all ready to give them an ear full about worrying people like that when he made his way to the hospital. However after arriving and finding Yugi unconscious from smoke inhalation and suffering from some minor burns, Yami passed out for reasons unknown but Seto had an idea, and Joey barely able to stand fighting doctors who were trying to help him…well the lecture could wait until everyone was on the mend. His brother and his brother's boyfriend were first on his list as he made sure the best doctors were tending to them and that they would be put in their own private room away from any other sick patients. His overly tough boyfriend was next as Seto dealt with getting him to calm the hell down so doctors could treat him. It was after a lot of complaining on Joey's part that he let a doctor and nurse treat his wounds.

After Joey was finished, Seto joined the large group in the waiting room with all the other families waiting on patients or waiting to be seen. It was at least somewhat calm that night at the hospital keeping Seto's growing headache to a minimum. Tea, Solomon, Ryou, and Bakura all sat in a group with Mrs. Mutou who arrived just before Seto wanting to see her baby after getting the call while at a friend's house. Duke sat a few seats away filling out paperwork on his own father who was getting looked at. He had bought him to the hospital rather than needing an ambulance. Seto did not understand why until he got part of the story from Yami's group of friends.

Now the old Seto might have not worried about the rest of the story and just moved on to making Duke pay for hurting his brother. But that's not how he worked now, so he waited until Duke was finished with that awful thing called paperwork then questioned him about what really happened that night. There was a lot of nervousness from Duke when he explained it all not sure what Seto would do, but the CEO listened without a word until the tale was over. Afterwards Seto still wanted to punch the living day light out of Duke and his father, but instead left the room and went to check on the three patients.

And that bought Seto to where he was now spending the night watching over Yugi and Yami while everyone else went home to get some rest. Even Joey was sent home but only if he agreed to spend the night at Seto's place where his own personal doctor could keep an eye on him. It was that or as the doctors at the hospital wanted him to spend the night so they could keep an eye on him. As much as Joey loved Yugi and Yami he hated hospitals and just agreed to be back in the morning to see them like everyone else would be.

It wasn't a place Seto wanted to be in, but no matter what visiting hours were he was going to watch over those two and made sure they get the proper treatment they needed. Yugi he knew would be fine and he did care about his brother's boyfriend as family, but Yami was his main concern. Seto knew the fragile state his brother would be in when he woke up and he did not need anyone including Yugi and their friends making it worst.

A groan from one of the beds snapped Seto from what he was working on. Both patients were still so he wasn't sure who it had come from as he closed his laptop and set it aside as he stood up. Moving over to the beds he checked on them both and found the noise had come from Yugi. The younger adult's eyes fluttered open softly as Seto took up a chair between the beds.

At first Yugi looked kind of dazed as he stared up at the ceiling before he tested movement by turning his head carefully to the side. His eyes widen a little when he saw Seto and just passed the CEO was his boyfriend taking up another hospital bed. It was plainly obvious where he was so he did not even need to ask, but Yami…He told Tristan to get him out of that fire. Fire and Yami did not mix….

"Why…." Yugi tried to ask, his voice hoarse and dry from the smoke. He ended up in a coughing fit with Seto quickly handing him a glass of water that he pour from the pitcher on the nightstand in between the beds.

He waited until Yugi got a good drink and calmed down before he answered the question he knew Yugi had been trying to ask, "He passed out because of the fire. Tristan said they tried to get him out when he collapsed on them."

"I knew this would happen..." Yugi sighed through his mouth since he currently had tubes in his nose giving him oxygen. His whole body felt like crap, but he was sure Yami would feel worst when he woke up. Mental trauma could be worse than physical.

"So you know?"

Yugi nodded, "He told me once when I tried to light candles around my house when the power went out. It was back when we first started dating, but I don't know if he ever told the others."

Seto should have figured Yugi would know, "Must not have because they thought it was the stress and smoke that caused it. Probably only trusted you with the truth. He still blames himself even when it wasn't his fault."

"And this just made it worst…" Yugi felt like kicking himself for being so stupid. There was no telling what that situation looked to Yami. Because he tried to save the puzzle, he might have hurt his boyfriend in the process. He caught sight of said puzzle sitting on the nightstand by the pitcher. It laid there completed once again like it should be.

Seto caught sight of what Yugi was looking at and sighed as he lean back in his chair, "I know why you stayed in that fire, but it was still stupid. I honestly don't believe in spirits and all that weird magic crap, but I trust my brother. Still no matter, that puzzle was not worth anyone's life."

"Seto…"

"No Yugi, did you even think of what Yami would have felt if you died in that fire for that thing. How I could have felt if I lost Joey in that fire. He stayed in there to make sure you didn't die when he could have lost his own life. None of you were thinking and that's the problem…" Seto took a breath to calm himself from raising his voice. He had told himself the lecture would come later. The problem is all those 'what ifs' kept playing in his head since all of them ended up in that damn hospital.

Yugi knew Seto was right but what Seto would never understand that by saving the puzzle he did save another life that night. He kept the Other Yami safe. Yami had told Seto about the other Yami, but as always he did not want to believe in spirits. He went along with everything Yami said and listened to him but Yugi could see that look in his eyes of slight disbelief. It was going to take something major to happen for him to understand and then he could look back and see why Yugi had to save the puzzle.

"I'm sorry…" Yugi still apologized knowing that he could have died and hurt a lot of people by it.

Seto shook his head, "No I should apologize. I'm just not thinking clearly right now and I should not have snapped at you."

It still amazed Yugi sometimes when he got to see how worried Seto got over them. He did not show emotions often but when he did it showed how human he could be. Only those closest to him would ever get to see him like this.

All these emotions were getting the better of him so Seto stood up to return to his couch, "Get some sleep, you need it." He walked away and did not see the smile Yugi had on his face as he let the conversation go. Seto returned to his work as Yugi easily drifted off to sleep.

The next morning after the sun was well up into the sky, crimson eyes slowly opened to the blur vision of a ceiling that they did not recognize. Yami blinked his eyes a few times to get his vision back into focus before he felt brave enough to take in the rest of his surroundings. The beeping of the heart monitor and the style of the room quickly gave way that Yami was in the hospital for some reason. His mind took a few minutes to catch up with him and remind him about the fire, but he hadn't been burned or hurt…had he?

He finally turned his head to the other side and saw his lover sitting up in another bed with wires connected to him to keep up with his vitals. He was still on oxygen forced to have tubes up his nose, but that did not seem to be getting him down as he worked on a puzzle using one of the food trays that stayed near the hospital beds.

Even though he was feeling slightly sluggish, Yami tried to get his body to work with him so he could sit up. His body felt like a dead weight and was fighting against him, causing him to stop and just lay there.

A small chuckle beside him from Yugi got his attention as the younger turned to him with a smile, "Glad to see you're awake. You know there's a device right beside you that moves the bed."

That was one of those 'duh' moments as Yami reached beside him for the remote that controlled the bed. Being careful not to hit the nurse's button, Yami raised his bed up so he was in a nice relaxed sitting position. He let out a sigh at being able to sit up because now he was able to reach the nightstand and grab for the glass of water that was sitting there.

"You were moving in your sleep so the nurse thought you might wake up soon. She left that there for you." Yugi mentioned to him as he went back to his puzzle. "By the way your brother was here last night. He left this morning to go to work, but said he come back around lunch with the others."

Yami nodded, "How are they?"

"Everyone's fine just worried about us. Joey suffered some burns but he stayed at your brother's last night." Yugi relayed to him what Seto had told him that morning when he asked. He never did have time the night before. It was just a relief that things were not as worst as they could have been.

The silence that settled over them became a little awkward real fast like they were beating around the real question they wanted to ask each other. Yugi knew Yami looked alright and the doctor's might even let him go home that day, but Yugi knew that Yami would be far from alright if he did not talk about it. Seto and Yugi were the only ones who knew the truth and were the only ones who could help him unless he wanted to get help from a therapist. While Yami on the other hand knew Yugi would be alright once he healed but he could have died in that fire. It scared him to think how far Yugi would go for his millennium item.

It was only when the silence became too much that they both opened their mouth to ask, "How are you…"

They stopped and looked at each other realizing they were asking the same question at the same time. Yugi couldn't help but laugh a little at it, their minds always going to worrying about the other. He had the biggest smile on his face as he replied, "I'm doing better, minor burns, on oxygen from the smoke and…" he lifted up his left hand to show the heavy wrappings covering it, "Nasty burn from the puzzle's chain, but I'm told it should heal with only a small scar."

Yami was glad to hear that, despite the number of injuries Yugi had. It was good that he was in high spirits and it was nothing life threatening. "I was worried about you when you wanted to stay behind. I know how much the puzzle means to you, but I did not want to lose you over it," He looked at the puzzle that was back around Yugi's neck.

"Yeah and I'm sorry about that…." Yugi looked down at the puzzle around his neck for a moment before he addressed Yami, "And I'm sorry I caused your panic attack. I wasn't thinking what kind of effect my staying behind would cause on you…."

"Yugi can we not…"

"No it's not good to keep it bottled up," Yugi said in all seriousness as he looked at his boyfriend, "The only reason you had a panic attack was because of that fire and because I chose to stay behind. I know what happened to your parents but I still did something stupid to bring back those painful memories."

Yami couldn't look at Yugi as he tried to keep those horrible memories away. This is why he didn't want to talk about it because it always bought them back. Now he had new ones of Yugi staying in that fire and he couldn't do anything about it because of his fears. His chest started to tighten up again.

"Yami…" Yugi called out to him as he heard the monitor start to speed up. They did need to talk about this but not at the cost of another attack. "Yami I'm sorry…."

"It's alright…" Yami told him as he reached for the glass of water again and took deep calming breaths. He just needed a minute to will those nasty memories to the back of his mind and he would be okay.

Yugi remembered something Seto had told him that morning and he decided he would try it, "You know it was never your fault with what happened to them. Your father was only trying to save your mother…."

"But it was my fault!" Yami shouted slamming his fist on the bed. His attitude quickly switching to anger but he wasn't angry at Yugi. No he was still and would ever be angry at himself for what happened to his parents. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down before he apologized, "Sorry...It's just I've heard my brother say that to me all the time when I start to think about what happen."

"But he's right…." Yugi told him and he quickly raised his hand telling Yami not to interrupt when he looked like he was going to, "Let me say this… After you told me the truth about what happened to your parents' years ago, I did my own research about it since I felt like you weren't telling me something. I saw the lawsuit against the company that built the house. I saw how it was their fault not yours about what happened. If the crew had done their job right the house would not have caught fire from the poorly install electricity for the lights and if they had constructed the whole house right the fire would have not spread so fast. "

Of course Yami had heard this a million times before and he had never been convinced by it. If he had only gotten out like his parents taught him instead trying to find their cat, his mother would not have come after him. She would not have fallen through the staircase and his father would not have gotten him out only to go back into the fire to try and save his wife who was trapped. He should have died in that fire not them.

Yugi wanted so bad to be able to get out of that bed and comfort his lover who he knew was going through so much pain. They needed to move past this and even though the scars would remain and Yami's fear would always be there, it did not have to haunt him forever. "Listen…. I promise never to put myself in a situation like that again."

"You can't really promise that…." Yami said offhanded as he went about removing the wires from his chest. Before the heart monitor could start flat lining and warning the nurses, he found the off switch. Once free of all the stuff he threw off the covers and turned to try and get out of bed.

Yugi only watched as Yami carefully stood up and at first he thought maybe Yami was going to leave the room. However instead he simply crossed the way and sat down on Yugi's bed. The smaller adult moved the tray and himself over to give Yami room to lay down with him. Yami immediately pulled Yugi into a hug not at all surprising his lover. Yugi welcomed the embrace as he wrapped his arms around Yami glad that they were both still there and alive.

"There's no telling what kind of trouble we'll get into having the millennium puzzle or who might be after it," Yami pulled back just enough to look Yugi in the eye, "But if it comes to that again I'm not leaving your side. You are my world Yugi…."

Yugi felt tears come to his eyes as he buried his face in Yami's chest. "I love you too Yami…." He hoped it would never come to that, but was glad to hear that from Yami. More than anything he prayed they got to live a long full life together.

It wasn't much later when their doctor made his rounds and found the two laying like that. He wasn't pleased with the way Yami had gotten out of bed, but after checking him over gave him a clean bill of health. There was nothing wrong with Yami, but after the night before and finding out he had a history of panic attacks he did want to keep him for one more day to be sure he was in the clear. Yugi on the other hand was still in pain and his wounds needed redressing. A nurse was called in to take care of the redressing to which Yami was forced to his bed until the nurse was done. Then once doctor and nurse were done, the two were back in one bed snuggling again. The doctor had been informed by a certain CEO of his arrival around lunch along with Mr. Mutou's family so he would wait until then to give the family a report on how the patients were doing. Other than that the doctor left Yugi and Yami to themselves and reminded them to take an easy before he left them to finish his rounds.

As promised their large gang of friends and family did come and all around the same time. Everyone was there including Mokuba who wanted to visit his brother when he learned about what happened. At first their friends took an easy wasting time just hanging out as Seto, Solomon, and Mrs. Mutou stepped out in the hall to talk to the doctor for a bit. It was only when they were finished that the real party began.

"Happy Birthday Yugi!"

Yugi was blushing the whole time as his friends and family started singing happy birthday to him, some not so well. His birthday had been far from his mind when he woke up that morning but he was glad to know the others did not forget. They even bought cake and presents to try and cheer him up. There were promises of a real party after he was release but this was great all the same.

Yami was glad to see the smile on Yugi's face as he blew out the candles. He kept an arm around Yugi's shoulders not wanting to let him go for a second after his episode that morning. There was still self-doubt and worry plus the fear, but he was going to have to learn to get over it. He just needed to focus on the happier moments like the one now.

Friends passed around their gifts which were mostly cards with money so Yugi could get whatever he wanted. Duke and Joey were about the only ones who got him anything besides money with Duke finally getting Yugi's real gift to him of his copy for D.D.M. They promised to have a real game one day without anyone's life on the line. Just because of what happen Yugi wasn't going to stop playing the cool game Duke created. Then Joey got him a new video game that came out as any friend would when they both had a love for their video games.

It was great just spending time, but watching everyone else give their gifts kind of bummed Yami out. He had this whole thing planned out that after Yugi's birthday party he was going to take him somewhere special. There was something he wanted to ask Yugi, but now it was going to have to wait. With a small smile he tried to hide his slight upset by listening to his partner talking excitingly with Joey about the game he just got.

A tap on the shoulder bought Yami back to the present as he looked beside him to see Mokuba. He took the hand that wasn't around Yugi and placed a small box in Yami's hand. The younger brother grinned as he said loudly for the others to hear, "Yami's turn!"

Yami's face went about as bright as a red light when he realized what Mokuba had given him and what he wanted him to do. This was not the time and place he wanted to do this! "I…."

All eyes turned to the pair on the bed as Yami felt like a deer in headlights looking down at the item in his hands. Yugi hadn't even been worried about Yami getting him anything for his birthday until he noticed what was in the other's hand now. There was a grinning little brother beside him that most likely gave it to him. Looking back at the box he saw the shape and it looked to be about the size of a ring box causing Yugi's heart to speed up. The conversation he had with Tea a while back came back to him. It was quite possible the thing that he thought was going to happen soon might really be happening now.

It was too late to hide the box now that it was in his hands and Yugi had seen it. There was a silent promise to get his little brother back for his, but at least he had the item he needed in hand. The awkwardness was only going to get worst so Yami quickly held out his hand for Yugi to take the item. His face was still red as a tomato as he said, "I-I had this p-plan o-out…" He took a deep breath to calm his stuttering and making a complete fool out of himself. It wouldn't have been so bad if everyone could just disappear for the next few minutes. "There was something I wanted to ask you…"

Yugi held the small box in his hands trying not to get emotional. The answer he had waited to say for a while now just waiting to come out. But he held back and waited for Yami to stay what he needed to say. "What is it?"

"Will you …" Yami took another deep breath to get his nerve in check before finishing with, "move in with me?"

The word yes died in Yugi's throat as he was next to turn red from embarrassment. It's not that he wasn't excited about the idea of living with Yami, but that wasn't what he was expecting. Not with the small box in his hands, which he opened to check and like he thought would be there sat a beautiful ring. "So you're not proposing?"

"Huh…" Yami's face went from nerves to confusion as he looked down to see what was in the box when it should have been a key. Turning eyes over to his little brother he hissed, "What did you do?"

Mokuba was still smiling like a kid who just got away with something, "Just giving you the push in the right direction. You think I don't see things but I do." He pulled a key on a keychain out of his pocket and started twirling it around his finger.

Seto hung his head while the others could only look on trying to figure out whether this was a proposal or not. Yugi was left with a ring in his hand and no clue whether Yami wanted to get married or not, while his boyfriend looked like he wanted to rig his brother's neck.

Mokuba played it safe as he tossed the key to Yami, but hoping he just helped him and he would be getting a future brother-in-law soon. Yugi was great and now that Mokuba could see that he really liked Yugi. He wanted Yugi as a true part of their family and marriage was perfect. When he heard Seto and Yami a few months back talking about Yami's fear about asking Yugi to marry him and Yugi saying no, he knew he had to help some way. And then Yami changed pace from marriage to starting out simple and having Yugi live with him. They pretty much already did that with Yugi spending most of his time at Yami's apartment. The idea Yami had of them living together was a good one but Mokuba could see it every day they both belonged together.

Yugi smiled as he quickly figured out what Mokuba was doing and he was glad he had grown on the boy, but this wasn't how engagements worked. "Mokuba…" He caught the younger boy's attention. "I know what you're trying to do, but it doesn't work this way. If Yami doesn't want to get married…."

"Wait who said I didn't want to get married…"

"Well I just figured since…" Yugi's mind was working overtime at this point trying to figure out what in the world Yami wanted.

Yami could see the looks Yugi had on his face and he hated himself for not going with his first plan that his brother had tried to tell him months ago. Looking toward Seto he admitted, "I was wrong and stupid."

"Told you so…"

Yami rolled his eyes ignoring everyone else except the one who really matter at that moment. He turned to Yugi and explained himself, "The thing was I wanted to propose to you, but I was not sure if you were ready. I was afraid that you might say no thinking it's too early since we're still in school. We've never talked about getting married before, so I took a safe route. I figured that even if we did not get married yet we could live together in our own place." That's when he handed the key that was supposed to be in the box over to Yugi.

"So this isn't a key to the apartment?" Yugi asked just to be sure because he already had one of those.

"No, it's a key to our own place," Yami informed him with a smile, "I was going to take you there today and surprise you, but it will have to wait until you get out of the hospital now."

Their own place now that sounded nice to Yugi. He loved Joey and Tristan like brothers but he couldn't picture them all living in that small apartment with two dogs. "Big backyard for Shadow and Yuki…."

"Yes a very big backyard for them to run around whenever they want."

"Then yes I'll move in with you," Yugi happily told him as he took the key in hand. He couldn't wait to see the place Yami had picked out for them because he knew it would be great. This was going to be their own private place that they could be alone together. However there was still one more thing they needed to take care of, "So you did want to marry me?"

"Of course…. Why?"

Yugi took Yami's hands in his as he looked up at him and with a bright smile asked, "Then Yami, will you marry me?"

At first it took Yami a second to process that Yugi wasn't kidding and he really was asking him that question. A smirk made its way on to Yami's face as he took his hands back and placed them on Yugi's face. "Yes, but only if you'll marry me…" He didn't even give Yugi time to answer back as he pulled him into a kiss.

There were a couple wolf whistles from Joey and Tristan while everyone just clapped with smiles on their faces. When the two broke apart they could not stop the smiles they had on their faces at the thought that they had just gotten engaged. Even became even more real when Yami took the ring out of the box and placed it on Yugi's right hand for now. They would move it to the left after Yugi's hand healed a bit more and he go the bandages off.

Turning slightly Yami reached behind him to ruffle his little brother's hair, "Thanks…"

Mokuba swatted Yami's hand away from messing up his hair before he tackled him in a hug. He had hoped it would work out and he wouldn't cause trouble for his brother. "Just promise me I can visit anytime I want at your new place."

Yami chuckled as he let his younger brother hold on to him, "Always, I'll even get you your own key."

Before long Tea and Mrs. Mutou were hovering over Yugi checking out the ring he had gotten. It was simple band with two stones one amethyst the other crimson intertwined to form a heart. The two were rather impressed with Mokuba for picking out something so perfect for Yugi. The younger blushing at the attention he was being given.

Their guy friends simply congratulated them, Joey and Tristan already plotting out bachelor parties. The happiest in the room was to an all new level. They were having not one but two things to celebrate now helping everyone move past what had happened the day before. Things were changing for them all but in a good way. Yugi and Yami were marking a new step in their relationship showing everyone how much they loved each other. Of course a wedding would not be happening anytime soon with them all still focusing on school, but they were happy with being engaged.

Yugi snuggled more into Yami laying his head on his fiancé's shoulder as he looked down at his ring, "This is the best birthday ever…"

"Truly a day to remember, "Yami said as he took a look around the room at all their friends and family it really was the perfect day. He kissed the top of Yugi's head glad that they could all make him so happy. Despite everything they had been through, they had made it to this moment. No matter what was to come at them next they would face it together.

Sakura: Yup! Yugi and Yami are official engaged! There was so many ways I could have done this, but once I started typing this way just seem to fit. At first I wasn't going to use Mokuba in my plan to get them engaged, but it ended up going that way and I liked it. I mean he and Yugi never got along and now here he is wanting them to get married. It's a big step in them all moving forward.

Next chapter will have us moving back toward the manga and closer to battle city.

Yumi: Please Review!