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: Hey, guys! Sorry it took so long, but finally, the next chapter is finally up!

Lucy: And for anyone who read the last part before it was fixed that said Hibiki was the ghost of a child murderer, sorry about that. It wasn't meant to be there. She's not a ghost, she's a real child murderer, and is not dead. But is she really human, or is there something about her that no one can figure out?

Me: But, we shall find out what is going on!

Lucy: Please enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen: Rescue Operation

Hibiki glanced down at Judai with the knife raised high over her head. The knife was glittering like a holy sword. The menacing glow cast eerie shadows onto Judai's sleeping figure.

Judai looked weak.

His face was covered in cold sweat, and he looked as if he were in pain in his sleep. Hibiki almost smiled slightly at the suffering that the little teen was feeling. How horrible it must have been; to slowly be losing function of your body and be unable to see anything at all. Oh, how Hibiki would have loved to see what was happening to him.

"Don't worry, Judai," she whispered. "I'll be the one to kill you."

With a swift grunt, and a sadistic smile that would send shivers down the Devil's spine, Hibiki plunged the knife down as hard as she could in the direction of Judai's unarmed and unprotected chest...

Johan stopped when he felt something cold surge through his body.

A cold wind had suddenly taken hold of his heart, and he couldn't continue walking without feeling it. The bluenette glanced into the nighttime air and watched the stars glittering overhead.

Something was wrong.

Johan glanced back and noticed that Manjoume and Asuka were somewhat far behind him. He turned around and when they approached, they noticed the urgency on his features.

"Johan?" Asuka asked gently. "What's the matter?"

Johan's heart was racing, and he couldn't help but think of Judai and his sick, weaking self. It worried Johan. This cold feeling in his heart and in his stomach was making him sick.

"Manjoume, Asuka, we need to hurry!" Johan told them quickly as he started to run. "Judai's in danger!"

Hibiki's eyes widened as the knife plunged into the mattress, not Judai.

She noticed that the moment the knife approached, Judai had rolled out of the way. The knife sunk deep into the bed, which Hibiki quickly ripped out of the feathery mush.

She stabbed at Judai again, but the knife missed as Judai rolled out of the way yet again.

Hibiki tried to stab him a few more times, and once or twice, Judai rolled over and grabbed onto Hibiki's arm, mumbling "fried shrimp" in his sleep, to which Hibiki had to wrestle her arm back away from him. She panted heavily and glanced down at Judai, who was contentedly fast asleep, a smile on his lips.

"Geez," Hibiki groaned, shaking her head slightly. "Is he really sleeping?"

Judai shifted with his back to Hibiki. "Hibiki-san," he whispered, opening his blind brown eyes. "I appreciate what you are trying to do, by killing me so that you can save me, but I promised Zane that I'd wait for him to get back."

Hibiki frowned down at Judai, eyes slightly widened. She took the knife out of the bed and shivered, her grip getting weaker and weaker on the small knife.

"You were... awake?" she asked.

"Yeah," Judai answered, closing his eyes and settling against the bed. "I promised Zane I'd wait. And besides, my friends will be coming back soon. One of them is the man that I love, and I have to wait for him. He's suffered a lot, you see?"

Hibiki gulped and listened to Judai continue.

"I'm weak and blind and in pain, but," Judai sighed and settled down as if to fall asleep again. "Compared to the pain that Johan must have felt when he was in the Dark World, this is nothing."

Hibiki smiled sadly and dropped her knife to the ground, where it clattered and then fell silent.

About half an hour later, Judai snapped awake from a nightmare, hollering Johan's name as loud as he could. He panted heavily and glanced around slowly, though he couldn't see still.

"G-God," Judai whispered. "What a horrible nightmare."

The young brunette sighed and shook the cold sweat from his forehead. He brushed a few unshed tears from his eyes and covered his pounding heart with his hand.

Judai wiped some more sweat from his forehead. "I had a nightmare that some weird Duel Monster spirit took Johan and ended up eating him for a midnight snack or something," he whispered. "Thank God it's just a dream."

The brunette stood up and wandered towards the door.

"Hah!" he spat. "I'll eat Johan before I let some horrible Duel Monster spirit do that!"

Judai started wandering around towards the door, feeling around in case he was going on hit Hibiki. When he didn't feel her around, he started to get a little worried.

"Hibiki-san?" he called.

Judai glanced around and bumped into something round that he assumed was going to be Hibiki. He glanced up at it with a big smile and patted it with his open palm.

"There you are!" he smiled. (A/N: Not she ain't Judai!)

Hibiki, who was near the corner of the room, was shivering. She was curled up on the ground, and she was gripping her fists as a strange amount of power coursed through her veins.

"Judai," she whispered. "You might... wanna get out of here... before..."

She smirked and glared up at the brunette over her shoulder. She was suddenly thankful that the brunette had no idea of the impending danger that was fast approaching him.

Judai glanced around at the cold feeling all around him.

He couldn't tell what was wrong, but somehow, he knew that he was in trouble. "Hibiki?" the brunette called, slowly glancing around. His heart started racing when he couldn't hear the woman answer him. He could feel some cool presence, like that of an evil spirit, floating around near him, and truth be told, he was scared. "Where are you?"

"I'm..."

Judai didn't see the hands reaching toward the back of his neck from behind him, the curved claws and the wrinkled tan skin that moved towards his unarmed throat.

"...right here!"

"Judai-!"

Johan's voice tore through the darkness in Judai's mind. The brunette heard the door get kicked down, and he gasped as he heard Johan come running into the room faster than a bullet.

Judai glanced up. "Joha-"

He gagged and stopped when a sharp clawed hand wrapped around his throat, one digging into his hair and holding him by the scalp. Judai tried to moved around a bit, but couldn't escape whatever was holding him.

Dammit! the brunette thought. I'm took weak!

Me: Oh no! Judai! You're in danger and you don't even know it!

Lucy: Johan, you have to do something, but you need to be careful, otherwise Judai will be killed! So please hurry and figure out something before it's too late!

Me: Please review and we shall update as soon as possible!