Yay! Only three more chapters left! :3

And ignore the derp time-skip. I didn't really want to bore you guys with pointless crappily written filler chapters. cuz I suck at those lol.

Title: Mezameru

Pairing: Puzzleshipping (Yuugi/Yami)

Rating: T

Genre: Angst, Drama, Friendship, Family, Hurt/Comfort, Romance

Full Summary: Yuugi is in a coma. His chances of survival balance on a mere mark of 35% How will his Yami cope when he thinks-no, when he KNOWS- that it is all his fault?

DISCLAIMER: I do NOT own Yu-Gi-Oh, nor ANY characters in this story, unless noted otherwise. I DO, however, own the plot of it. The Yu-Gi-Oh manga and anime belong to Kazuki Takahashi-san.

Please do not plagiarize, copy, repost, nor recreate my hard work in any way.

Or I will sic Yami on you

WARNING(S): Suicidal/Depressing Thoughts, Mild Swearing

~ Chapter IV ~

Tojikomerareta

Four days quickly turned to three. Three slid into two. And two... well, two was slowly, ominously creeping its path to one last day. But, for now, Yami had two days left. Two precious, all-to-short sunrises and sunsets. And he spent all of those days, shut away with Yuugi in hospital room #37, holding his hand in a solemn silence. The nurses and he were on a first-name basis now. They convinced him to go home, for a few hours at least, and rejuvenate. They coaxed him into going to the hospital cafeteria to eat. They brought the bad news of Yuugi's lack of response to their treatments.

But Yami didn't hold them responsible. No, it was HIS fault his Little One was here, wasting away on a 35% survival rate. 'Oh, Hikari,' he thought sadly, rubbing his thumb in small circles over the back of Yuugi's pale hand, 'What I would do to be replacing you in this damnable place.' He brushed a lock of limp golden hair behind Yuugi's left ear, when the soft opening of a door breached his dulled senses.

Yami looked up to see a friendly young woman, in her late 20s, walk inside with a clipboard in-hand. She was around five-foot-six, with an hourglass figure and long, auburn hair that pooled around her shoulders in neat ringlets. Her doe-like eyes shone with a sad greeting. "Ohayõgozaimasu, Yami-san," she said kindly, closing the door behind her as she entered.

Yami offered her a polite smile, though he knew it lacked any real happiness. "Ohayõ, Shizumi-san," he returned evenly. Shizumi Nagasaki was Yuugi's personal nurse. She ran tests and checked up on the conditions of his healing wounds and sent results of his brain wave activities to the higher-ups for diagnosis.

They still say he'll never wake up. But... But he will. Yuugi was a strong young man. He'd pull through, just fine. 'He has to...'

Yami kindly (though reluctantly) left his Aibou's bedside, and stood safely at the side of the room. He patiently, though a bit tensely, for the young woman to take her usual notes, etcetera, on his little one's condition. She faltered when she went to leave the room, hesitantly glancing at Yami over her shoulder.

He edged closer to his post at Yuugi's bedside, gazing at her with sad, yet questioning crimson eyes. She bit her lip, and sighed, looking away again.

"They... They say one of the last senses a person looses is the ability to hear..." she murmured quietly, and Yami tipped his head curiously to the side. "It's said to be like that so... so that, e-even if they're unconscious when they pass away, the person can still hear their friends and family say goodbye, and that they love them."

And without another word, Nagasaki-san left the room.

Yami stood there for a moment, staring blankly at the space the nurse had been seconds before. He pondered over her words. Had Yuugi been hearing him this entire time? He dared to feel the hope spike in his chest.

Could he convince his partner to reawaken?

Returning to his vigil at his Light's side, Yami hesitated before taking a limp hand in his own once again. He squeezed it gently, fighting back another surge of tears. 'Ie,' he decided mentally, posture straightening, 'I've done far to much of that lately. I must be strong for Yuugi.' His grip strengthened slightly, eyes growing softer.

He brushed the fingers of his free hand over his aibou's cheek, sighing. He knew he shouldn't get his hopes up... but, it was worth a shot, right?

"Aibou," he murmured quietly, "I-I don't know if you can hear me, but..." Yami's voice failed him. It cracked, and fell into silence. Guilt still seethed and boiled at his heart with the fury of the Gods, Themselves. He knew he wouldn't have to resort to such desperate measures if he had just told Yuugi sooner-!

"But, no matter what, Yuugi, I... I love you. Aishiteru. So, so much. And I am so sorry, for putting you through such pain. I... I should have told you sooner," his hand squeezed Yuugi's own more desperately.

"It's all my fault-!" he choked quietly, vainly attempting to stem off the moisture that gathered in his cerise gaze. "Yuugi, co-come back!"

His free hand hit the metal siding of the hospital bed, clenched into a tight fist. "It should have been me, not him!" he muttered bitterly, hating himself more with every passing second. It was by his own, selfish cowardice that his beloved was here, in this bed. Covered in bruises and scratches, wires and tubes feeding off of his skin like a perverse spider's web. "I-It's not fair!"

\Aibou, my aibou, I'm so sorry! Please, koi... Please, just open your eyes, so I can see your beautiful face smile again.\

His prayers went unheard.

Yami's mind felt cold without his little one's light to fill the void his shadows had created. Darkness needed Light to survive. For a long while, when the Puzzle had first been solved, Yami had thought of Yuugi as mere vessel. But he was wrong- so very wrong.

Now he couldn't bare to imagine life without the boy at his side. Whether it be talking, Duelling, walking to school... just the very idea if Yuugi not being there, it made Yami want to vomit. "This is all my fault..."

Then, for a split second, an idea hit him. A twisted, sick idea, crafted from the fogs of grief and desperation.

'Would the Gods take a soul, in return for a soul? Mine, for Yuugi's? An-An exchange! Could they- would they make an exchange?!'

He froze, allowing the thought to ricochet through his mind for a few moments. He was about to berate himself further, when something shot through his system. It was almost painful, but not unbearably so. Like stepping on something mildly pointy, or badly stubbing a toe. (A/N: Which can actually hurt like a little bitch xD) It wasn't verbal, nor an exact emotion. More... a sense of something. Like, when he and Yuugi used to send mental hugs to-

He froze again. A mental hug. A despairing, forlorn embrace over his senses. He could practically hear someone squeezing his breath away and screaming "Ie!" to his face.

It faded quickly as it had appeared, leaving the former spirit wondering if he had even felt the presence at all. Another idea struck him.

Yami took the Sennen Puzzle from around his neck, and carefully looped it over Yuugi's. He felt a small tingle of... something he couldn't explain. Energy? Not quite. Power, emotion? Close, but still not it. He opened his mind link, and moved forcefully back to his stupid, morbid topic.

'An exchange,' he thought again. He hated to do this, but...

He forced himself to loom at his options, with reason. The many ways to end his existence, in hopes of bringing back his hikari's.

Leaping from a high point.

Definitely no turning back if he did that. Once his foot left the surface, Yami was a goner. But, to short a fall and all he'd receive is wasted time and complete agony- not that he didn't deserve it.

The strange force seemed to stir.

Medication.

Quietly slipping away under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol. It sounded simple enough... But someone could easily find, and revive him.

A blade to an artery.

There were two in the wrists that was a common target for suicidal people. Then there was the stomach, which would hurt like hell, or the leg. The quickest way could be to go for the jugular. It would pump out the most blood in a shorter period of time.

The presence stirred more.

Drowning.

It began to toss and turn, as if in a nightmare.

Suffocation.

It tensed, and reached out. It seemed to grow frightened. Yami started to feel uneasy. Was this presence... his aibou?

Bullet to the head.

It squirmed restlessly.

Hanging.

It began to thrash around. The feeling was damn near overwhelming. Now, the uneasiness fell into full-blown, bitter guilt. He hated tricking his partner, but if he was receiving a response from his self-conscious...

Maybe he would coax him back to the waking world?

'Or, hey,' he pressed, 'Maybe I should just do it now and shove something metallic into an electrical socket!'

Something snapped.

The Puzzle shone in a red, angry, sorrowful aura, and Yami felt his soul being dragged into it's former confines.

(A/N: I WAS gonna end it here, but I figured the chapter would be to short if I did... so here you are!)

Yami's consciousness resurfaced slowly. Pain radiated amongst his limbs, and something that was trembling gripped his shirt's front. Bewildered and rather lost, he opened his eyes slowly with a groan.

Blurred colors of pale flesh-tone and navy blue danced before his vision. A figure began to settle as his eyes cleared away the daze. Soft, delicate curvatures and contours to the face, soft alabaster flesh, a star of wildly colored hair, and two wide, violet pools. His eyes flew the rest of the way open.

Yuugi was glaring at him, tears running down his perfect face. Yami flinched. He knew his aibou would hate him... It was all his fault this happened...

Yuugi stiffened, fists tightening their grip on Yami's collar. "It isn't your fault!" he shouted, sobbing. "Don't you ever think like that again, mou hitori no boku! Never! Baka, baka, baka, baka, baka!" he gently shook his other self's torso, crying fearfully.

Guilt seared Yami's broken soul with a vengeance. Yuugi must hate him.

SLAP!

Yami's eyes widened, hand absently cupping his reddening cheek. Yuugi glared intensely at him, shoulders shaking. "I don't hate you, dammit!" he growled, firey expression breaking into a look of helplessness. "I love you, Yami! Please, never think that way again! Never, ever, ever, Pharaoh! Do you understand?!"

Yami nodded dumbly. Tears dripped down from his rose-red eyes. He wanted... so badly, more than anything to- but... Doubts flickered across his mind. He growled. "Fuck it."

Before his mou hitori no ore could react to the foul language, Yami grabbed his face between gentle palms, and shoved his lips against his aibou's own.

He felt Yuugi quickly melt into the passionate embrace, arms wrapping tightly around his shoulders. A hand fisted loosely into his hair. He forced the full, lotus-petal lips apart with his tounge, and explored his little love's mouth with the muscle. He felt Yuugi pretty much go limp in his grasp, submitting happily to whatever his Darkness willed.

Yami, albeit reluctantly, pulled away a few seconds later, panting lightly while tears still ran down his face. Yuugi was blushing a soft red, and Yami felt his own cheeks grow warm with blood. "Ai... Aibou..." he murmured dreamily, managing a weak smile. The hikari wrapped his yami into another strong hug. "Baka Pharaoh," he whispered, pressing his face into Yami's chest. The former spirit did the same to the boy's hair, inhaling the sweetly intoxicatingly sweet scent of his aibou.

They remained like that, in this dark space caught between wakefulness and endless slumber. Yami vaguely registered that where he and Yuugi were in this endless blackness was the only light source- a small circle around and beneath them. All else was an infinite, tar-like darkness. Yami squeezed his Little One tighter, fearing that if he let go, the smaller would vanish, and this would all be a dream. Or, worse- In a haze of grief and desperation, Yami had actually followed through with his idiotic 'exchange of souls' plan of his.

He felt Yuugi continue to shake in his well-built arms. Yami pulled away, just enough so their eyes could meet. Crimson burned into sweet amethyst, willing each other to never look away again. "Y... Yami?" Yuugi murmured.

"Yes, Aibou?" he replied, voice just as quiet, just as soft, and uncharacteristically tender. A hand reached up to cup Yuugi's left cheek, thumb softly passing across the tear-stained flesh.

Yuugi seemed to hesitate, as if he were scared to ask his yami about whatever was on his mind. He inhaled, trembling slightly. "W-Were you... Were you re-really go-going to do it?" he whispered, obviously heartbroken.

Yami felt his own pulse freeze momentarily, sorrow and apology shining in his burning, jewel-like eyes. He wanted desperately to deny it, to assure his sweet little light that all would be well. But... he couldn't. "I..." his face twisted into one of sad confusion, like a lost child. "I-I don't know..."

And he honestly didn't.

Yuugi drew him close in another strong hug. "I'm just glad I found you this time..." he murmured tearfully. Yami tensed, puzzled and wary.

"'This time'?" Yami echoed quietly, and Yuugi nodded into the fabric of his other half's shirt.

Yuugi nodded absently. "There were... s-so many doors... And it was dark and cold. But I feel safe now, a-and warm..." he nuzzled closer, as if Yami were a prized childhood blanket or teddy bear. "So warm..." he murmured dreamily, tense shoulders falling slack with contentment.

Yami stiffened as a sickeningly familiar chill crawled up his spine, something brushing at his ankle.

There was Shadow magic at work here.

A deep rumble sounded from far inside the cavernous darkness, shaking the intangible ground they kneeled upon. Yuugi whimpered, grabbing at his mou hitori no boku tightly. Yami clutched the smaller body close to his chest, and forced the two of them to unsteady feet.

Something swung for them. A trap!

"Aibou, look out!" Yami shoved his love to the side, and barrel-rolled out of the way in time to dodge what looked like a spiked log. The wind from its hasted arrival made Yami's hair flutter and dance on a lethal breeze it left behind. He dashed to his partner's side after a few seconds. The trap wasn't returning.

"Yuugi!" he gasped, panting with anxiety. Yuugi lay curled upon the ground, in a fetal position and quaking in his navy blue uniform. Fresh tears tracked down the sides of his perfect face. "Koi, are you alright?"

He looked up, swallowing nervously. "H-Hai," he murmured breathlessly, and allowed his dark half to sweep his shaking body into a protective hug. He leaned away from the bitter cold of this realm's stagnant air, into the comforting heat of his love's body. Away from the evil shadows, and to his Darkness' surprisingly vibrant soul.

Yami was meant to be his darker half, but burning in this... this hellish place, his presence shone like a roaring inferno within the deepest reaches of an Arctic tundra. He shuddered, the hopelessness of his situation weighing down on frail shoulders like a lead weight. Yami felt his tenshi go limp within his arms, the pre-sobbing hiccups muffled by his shirt. Yami crossed his legs, and moved Yuugi into his lap, holding and cradling him like a child.

"I th-thought I-I got o-out this time!" he whimpered. "I tho-thought I wo-would wake up!" Yami felt sympathy and pain enter his chest at such fearful noises leaving his beloved, and he squeezed Yuugi tighter, trying to stifle his own tears.

He failed, and a silvery string of moisture marched down his left cheek. Pale arms held his shivering partner, whose head was resting in the crook of his neck and shoulder, sniffling quietly. His mindset veered back to 'guilt and self-loathing' very quickly. This whole damn mess wouldn't have happened if he had just-!

The former pharaoh bit back an angry growl, and he went back to trying to quiet Yuugi's sobs. He gently rocked the teen, cooing quiet reassurances into his ear. "Shh," he murmured tenderly, "Shh, you'll be fine, Aibou. I'll get you out of here. I promise."

Yuugi loosely wrapped his arms around Yami's shoulders, wiping his cheek lightly on his own. Yami wiped the wetness away with feather-light fingertips, smiling gently.

/I'm so weak,/ Yuugi mentally berated. /All I can do is cry like a child!/

Yami's brows furrowed. "You are not weak, Aibou. You are strong. To survive within the Puzzle's confines for so long, and still be fighting for way out..." he sighed. "Your body is still alive, it's just resting. You'll wake up in it, soon enough."

A stab of bitterness towards himself drifted over Yuugi's end of the mind link. Yami squeezed him reassuringly.

"To be honest, I cried a lot when I was here, too," he confessed, a bit sheepishly. Yuugi looked up with wide, innocent pools of violet, rhinestone tears still glimmering within thick, black lashes. Yami smiled shyly down at him. "It's one of my first memories of being trapped in here. The Shadows ensnaring my body, and crying for someone to help. For a light to chase the darkness away..."

A small smile allowed itself to cross Yuugi's full lips. The smile, in return, reflected upon Yami's own face. He planted a soft, chaste kiss to Yuugi's cheek. The smaller giggled, grinned wider, and blushed adorably.

Yami led them to their feet, determination in his wine-red eyes. "Let's find you a way out of here, Partner," he said confidently, and Yuugi nodded. They began walking in an aimless direction into the darkness, Yami's arm slung almost lazily over Yuugi's shoulders.

And they walked. Without knowledge of where they were at, or where they were headed, bodies always within a touch's distance. They came across none of the many doors both knew the Puzzle had contained, at least at some point. Back when it hid Yami's memories from him.

Was this all there was now? With no known secrets left to guard, no evil power to contain... just... darkness? Yami didn't know. All he did know was that he had to get his tenshi out of this place. The Items, though no longer containing the entity of Zorc Necrophades, still held terrifying magical energies. Dangerous, magical energies. And he'd be damned before any more harm befell his Little One under his watch.

After what could have been minutes, seconds, or even days of simple, silent walking, they heard a noise.

Yami's arms gathered Yuugi close, who looped his right arm around the small of his Darkness' back, the left over his chest to hook onto a sturdy shoulder. They waited, tense, on-edge, for something to happen. Anything.

They heard it again. Faint, distorted, muffled.

Yami blinked suspiciously, head turning to catch a 360° of their surroundings. Nothing but thick, tar-like blackness, all around.

The sound came again, louder this time. A voice? No- more than one. Voices.

The voices spoke again, getting clearer. Yami felt strangely lightheaded. He gripped to Yuugi, who hugged him back, supporting each other.

They echoed and ricocheted off the ebony fogs of Shadow magic around them, growing more urget. A name? His vision began to swim.

Not just a name. His name.

Yuugi's eyes widened. "Jounouchi-kun?" he murmured. "Anzu-chan? H-Honda-kun?" he looked to his other half, dread in anxious lavender eyes. "Are they trapped here, too?"

Yami simply returned the gaze, dumbfounded and confused. His senses grew foggier, still.

"Yams'!" Jounouchi's voice called. "C'mon, man! Wake up!"

His head swam, and Yami lurched forward, equilibrium thrown off drastically. "Yami!" Yuugi gasped, slowly his fall as they both fell to their knees.

"Yami!" their friends called, sounding frightened. Yami shook his head, fighting their calls.

He was waking up.

And when he did, Yuugi would be alone again.

Yami slumped down into his aibou's loving arms. "Mou Hitori no Boku!" he cried, frightened. "Are you alright? What's wrong?!"

Yami panted, fighting mental tooth-and-nail against his emerging consciousness. His little angel's eyes widened in realization. "Y-You're waking up, aren't you?" he asked quietly, holding his Darkness much like he had an unknown time ago, cradling his trembling body. Yami looked up to Yuugi, eyes wide, crestfallen. He couldn't leave his Little One here, all alone! Not again!

But, to his surprise, Yuugi... smiled.

"It's okay," he murmured, as their friend's voices cried out yet again. "I know you'll come back for me."

Yami looked into the intoxicating amethyst gems, tears pricking at his eyes once again. Yuugi hugged him softly, before Yami leaned forward, and caught his lips with his own. It was chaste, emotional, despairing. His hands clung to Yuugi's firmly, the two small limbs pressed between his own two palms.

Giving in to the alertness of the waking world, he vowed, staring straight into Yuugi's sad but hopeful eyes. "I will get you back, Habibi," he vowed. "I will save you!" Trust shone within his aibou's gaze.

"I know you will," he whispered quietly.

Yami drew him into another quick kiss, feeling his soul being quite literally pulled forcefully back into his own body. Their hands were ripped apart from each other. "I will find you!"

In an electrifying jolt, as Yami still struggled to remain by his Light's side, something went amiss. For a split-second of shifted reality, Yami found his mind being painfully shot to origins unknown.

There was pain, and cold. Bone-chilling cold. A lingering warmth upon his lips, arms outstretched as he reached out for... himself.

He was in Yuugi's body, watching his own soul being flown back into ebony nothing. Like a Dark angel, or a demon.

Then it all ended, and the last thing Yami saw was his aibou's trusting face, arms outstretched, as if to catch his other half... The light around him shone like an angel's sweet embrace.

Then all was empty, and black.

I LOVE how this chapter turned out! Them sad, angst heart-feels, man. :')

I hope you enjoy! And thanks A MILLION for the flood of reviews and critism. It made mah heart feel happeh :D

I've decided to ditch the whole "ask for reviews" shpiel, and just update at my own time. So... yeah.. :P