Title: Love is Blind

Genre: romance, hurt/comfort

Rating: T for language, mild violence, and suggested themes

Pairings: JohanXJudai (hinted other pairings)

Summary: When Johan goes back to North Academy, he confesses to Judai just before he leaves. He then gets word at North Academy that Judai has fallen into a coma. Johan rushes to Duel Academy in hopes that Judai will awaken. Judai does, but when he awakens from his coma, he's blind! Is his blindness permanent or temporary? Can Johan cure it? And is it just blindness, or is Judai's life in jeopardy?

Me: Okay! The next chapter is up! Sory for not updating for a long time, guys. I've been preoccupied, and I hope to have this one updated as soon as possible!

Lucy: Did Zane really kill Judai, or is Judai still alive? And what about Hibiki?

Me: Read on!

Chapter Thirteen: Murderer

Judai couldn't feel any pain. He had heard the knife plunge down, and he knew that it had hit something, and yet he could feel nothing. At first, he believed that was because he was dead. The brunette kept his eyes closed for the longest time, and he knew that he was probably dead. He couldn't feel anything, just a cold darkness creeping over his soul.

Judai turned his head and felt something against his shoulder. He opened his eyes, though he couldn't see anything, and looked over in the direction that Zane was standing.

He could feel whatever had tapped against his shoulder trembling, and he soon realized that it was the knife.

The cold feeling of the knife was right by his cheek and shoulder, and the brunette soon realized that the knife hadn't thrust through his chest. It hadn't even come close.

"I-I can't!" he heard Zane shout.

Judai felt the knife get ripped from the mattress and be thrown to the ground. Judai felt Zane wrap his arms around him and jerk him forward into an embrace. It felt strange, but Judai knew that it was just because Zane was so shaken up. Judai looked to Zane, or at least, to where he believed the bluenette was located.

"Zane, you have to do this!" he pleaded.

"I can't!" Zane called, his voice filled with sorrow. "Could you ask the same of Johan!"

Judai flinched and looked to the ground. He couldn't ask Johan to do the same. Judai realized that it was unfair of him to ask Zane to kill him. The brunette knew that if he asked Johan to kill him, Johan would instantly refuse. Judai would never ask something like this of the man he secretly loved. It would be too cruel.

If this was so, then why was he able to ask if of Zane so easily? Judai pondered on this a quick moment and realized that it wasn't fair to ask such a thing.

He frowned and closed his eyes. "I'm... sorry, Zane. That was unfair of me to ask you to do this," he said. "I could never ask such a thing of Johan, because it would hurt him. But I never considered how you would feel about it. Please forgive me."

Zane nodded slightly. "It's all right. I just can't do it," he murmured. "We'll think of something else, okay?"

Zane looked over to Hibiki, and noticed that she seemed a bit angry about something. Her arms were folded across her chest, and her foot was tapping. She was looking away from the both of them, lips pursed, eyes narrowed. Zane knew that something was strange about this, but he just let it slip his mind and returned to Judai.

"Did you find anything?" Johan called over his shoulder.

He and his two friends had been wandering around the infirmary of the abandoned dorms for what appeared to be countless hours, and yet, none of them had found anything that resembled a medicine.

"Nothin' yet!" Manjoume shouted back, pointing his flashlight towards where Johan's voice came from.

Johan sighed dejectedly and looked back around the room.

He hadn't found anything that could possibly help Judai. He was getting worried that the medicine that would help might either not exist, or was removed from the abandoned dorms a long time ago. Johan prayed that he was wrong about both of these, and continued to search through the cabinets.

I have to find this for Judai, he thought. He's probably suffering horribly right now, even though he'll never admit it to anyone.

Johan glanced around inside the cabinets, but he couldn't find any bottles that looked like medicine. In fact, there wasn't anything left in the abandoned dorms.

Johan rocked back on his heels and looked over to Asuka and Manjoume.

Asuka and Manjoume were hard at work, trying to search for the bottle of medicine that Johan was starting to have his doubts about. They were both hard at work, and yet they hadn't found it.

Johan had a sickening feeling that they never would.

"Let's just go back," Johan murmured softly, rising to his feet.

Asuka turned to Johan with a slightly shocked expression. Manjoume got all disgruntled and started demanding to know why they had insisted on working so hard if they were just going to end up leaving without anything. Johan just stared sadly at the ground, clicked his flashlight towards the doorway, and started forward.

I couldn't find the medicine. But there must be some other cure, the bluenette thought.

Johan turned and started to leave the abandoned dorms as quickly as he could, with Asuka and Manjoume behind him, hurrying back towards the infirmary where Judai was probably patiently waiting for him to return.

Zane wandered into the dorms to where Pharaoh was laying, curled up nicely on Judai's bed. Pharaoh had been sleeping in Judai's room ever since Daitokuji-sensei had passed away.

The bluenette advanced on the fat brown cat and reached out to stroke him lovingly.

"Daitokuji-sensei," he called softly. "I need your help. Judai is really hurting right now, and I need you to come and help him."

Pharaoh glanced up and blinked innocently, purring loudly. Zane frowned and reached his hand down and stroked the cat's fluffy head, smiling softly down at him.

"Please... we need to do something. Hibiki can't do anything," Zane murmured to the cat, hoping that Daitokuji would hear.

Pharaoh seemed to shoot up at the mention of Hibiki's name. He meowed and leaped off the bed and landed in Zane's lap. For some reason, as soon as the cat touched him, Zane could hear a voice calling in the back of his head.

"Hibiki?" the voice seemed to shout. "The nurse from Ra Yellow?"

Zane nodded slowly. "Yeah. She sent Johan away to get Judai a medicine, but then she said that it doesn't exist. So, now she wants to find another way to cure him."

"Marufuji-san, you left Judai along with her?"

"Y-yeah," Zane said, a little shocked at the desperation in the voice. "Why?"

The voice was shuddering, obviously very scared. "Marufuji-san, Hibiki was a child murderer! She was sent to jail after murdering three students at Duel Academy nearly ten years ago!"

Zane's grey eyes widened.

"W-what?"

Within the infirmary, Judai was fast asleep, hands clasped over his chest, breathing lightly as his mind filled with dreams of Johan, and being able to see the bluenette again.

In the darkness, Hibiki wandered over to the brunette's bed and peered down at him.

Her eyes flashed slightly, and she raised her hand, brushing it down Judai's cheek to his lips, where she traced them with her nail and drew them away, a smile on her lips.

"Such a strong and cute boy," she said to herself.

She reached to her pocket and fiddled with an item that begged to be freed. She felt around it and took it out, letting it rest comfortably within the palm of her hand.

"You still cling to the hope that your crush will come and save you. You're so wracked with sickness, and yet, so brave," Hibiki whispered, lips drawn into a smirk.

She raised her hands up.

"That's why..."

A long, eight-inch silver knife glittered in the light from the open window, where the full moon shone down on the blade. The moonlight made it glow like a holy sword.

"I'll be the one to finish you off now."

Me: Ahh! Hibiki is gonna kill Judai!

Lucy: And she's apparently child murderer on Duel Academy Island! And they left her all alone with Judai! God, this is what makes people want to kill you, Ke-chan, and yet you do it anyway!

Me: Because it makes the story good! Anyway, please review!