The point of last chapter was not to make you guys think I need to be admitted to a psych ward. (Sorry to those of you who are permantly emotionally scarred, but I'm afraid you won't be getting that deposit on your sanity back.) It was the point out the dangers runaways can run into.

Sage: We'd like to thank alisue, hoom, Olivia Graham, deadpoolhulk, and Mystery Agent, for reviewing last chapter, even if it was…disturbing. We really appreciate all the reviews we get!

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Joey sighed as he placed his head on the desk, his temples throbbing against the cool wood, doing his best to ignore the sounds of the other students around him. Dark circles under his eyes told of his lack of sleep, and his eyes were swollen; it was a battle just to keep his eyelids open, and it was one that he had lost. Luckily it was only homeroom and he could attempt to at least get an hour's worth of sleep.

"Still no luck?" Tristan's voice came from his right. Joey kept his eyes shut, but shook his head, turning it in the direction of Tristan.

"I searched all night." Joey said, his voice quiet and dry. "I even went into the bad part of town. No sign of him."

"Joey, it's been two months. If the police don't have any idea where he is, you're not going to either."

"You don't understand, Tristan. That last search marked the end of Domino. I have now literally searched the entire city."

Tristan was quiet, deep in his own thoughts. Joey welcomed the silence and did his best to tune out the indistinct conversations around him, in an attempt to sleep. Ever since he began his search for Yugi, things like sleep and eating had taken a second priority. Joey had lost a good ten pounds in the past months, hardly ever being hungry. Half the time he didn't even realize that he was hungry, or that he had skipped dinner the previous night and breakfast that morning. Nowadays, his mind was always on Yugi.

Where was he sleeping? What was he eating? And the one question that made Joey shudder ever time the thought entered his mind: Was he even still alive?

Joey felt the guilt weigh on his shoulders. He had told Yugi to leave. His words had been the straw that broke the camel's back, being Yugi's will. If Yugi was dead, then Joey would be responsible. He may not have been the one to actually kill Yugi, but he would be the reason Yugi was dead.

Joey felt salty tears leak out of his eyes. How could he live knowing he lead a kid to his death? What if Yugi had committed suicide? Then Joey for sure would be not better than a filthy murderer. His words were the gun that killed Yugi.

"Maybe," Tristan said softly, bringing Joey out of his thoughts, "if you knew where he lived, you could track him down easier. You could talk to his parents and learn about him."

"Like I haven't thought of that." Joey said impatiently. "But I don't know where he lives. I have no idea."

The sound of a bell rang and all the students stood up and gathered their belongings, preparing to go onto their next class. Tristan stood and slung his backpack over one shoulder.

"Listen, Joey. I have a Beautification Meeting today, so you'll be on your own for lunch."

Joey snorted. "No prob. I wouldn't want to interrupt your training the freshmen on how to clean toilets."

Tristan scowled. He closed his eyes and rose his chin proudly. "Today we clean the front office." His face suddenly dropped and hid his eyes under his brown bangs. "Toilets are tomorrow." Without another word, Tristan walked away from his best friend and hurried off to his next class.

Joey sighed and began to get his stuff organized and the group of kids who had the classroom his was in now began to flood through the doors. Then, out of nowhere, a thought came to Joey. Something Tristan had said. He smiled as the thought became more coherent. He happily hurried out of the classroom, eager to share his idea with Tristan at the soonest possible moment.

Maybe he could find Yugi.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Joe, I don't think this is such a good idea." Tristan said nervously, his feet shaking and his eyes darting in every which direction.

"Come on, man!" Joey urged. "You said you'd be cleaning the front office today."

"Yeah, the front office. Not the principal's office."

They were right near the front desk, just a few feet away. The secretary was too engrossed in updating her status on her social network site to pay any attention to what the two young men were whispering about, having no interest in it at all. She popped a bubble with her gum, the loudest sound that part of the school had heard all day.

"Tristan, all you have to do is go in the office, find the information the school has on Yugi, than run out!"

"Joey, I can't sneak into our principal's office!" He opened up his palm and began to count off various reasons with his fingers. "I could be impeached from the Beautification Team, I could be expelled, or I could get sent to jail!"

"Dude, nobody's going to call the cops on that. Just go tell Ms. Whats-Her-Name over there that you want to surprise the principal by cleaning his office. I've researched this since homeroom. He has a meeting until three this afternoon. That gives you over half an hour to find the files and get the hell out of there!"

"I could get into so much trouble, Joey!"

Joey's voice dropped several octaves and his eyes darkened, revealing the seriousness of the subject for Joey. "Don't do this for me. Do this for Yuge."

When Tristan stared into Joey's begging, unwavering eyes. He felt his stomach knot up. Suddenly, he felt the need to comply too Joey's favor. In the two months Yugi had been missing, Tristan had not once felt the need to go out and look for him. In the two months of hearing Joey tell about the many nights sleep he had lost searching the city for the lost boy, he had not once felt it was his responsibility to go out and look for him.

Until now.

Now, he too began to wonder the same thoughts that had plagued Joey. Was Yugi alive? Was he hurt? And Tristan now felt that he was responsible for helping in any way he could to find the missing teen.

"Ugh." He moaned, craning his neck towards the ceiling and rubbing his face with his hands. "I'm probably going to regret this but…" He paused. "Okay. I'll do it."

Joey's face lit up like a child's one Christmas morning. He smiled wide and his eyes shone bright. He grabbed Tristan by the shoulders and pulled him into a hard hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, Tristan!" He cried into his friends shoulder before releasing. Tears were actually leaking down his face. He pulled Tristan into another hug.

"Okay, dude," Tristan pushed Joey away, "quit it before you start giving people ideas."

"Sorry." Joey wiped his eyes with his sleeves.

Tristan exhaled and waved his wrists. "Okay. Wish me luck, bud." The brunette walked up to the front desk and stared at the middle aged secretary nervously.

"Umm..Miss?" He didn't know her name, but he hoped to get away using only formalities.

She looked up at him annoyed and popped her gum again, smacking on it loudly as she pulled it back into her mouth. "What?"

"Uh, my name is Tristan Taylor. I'm the president of the Beautification Team, and me and my fellow Beauty members were thinking…Our principal works so hard to keep this place going and we would like to thank him by..tiding up his office. We know that he is in a meeting until later this afternoon and we thought it would be a wonderful surprise for him for when he is done." Tristan placed on a fake smile, trying to cover up his nervousness.

The secretary looked behind him. "Where are your 'beauty members'?"

"I..uh…told them to stay in the room until I got the okay, from you, that we could clean up our wonderful principal's office."

She stared at him with her piercing black eyes. There was a small ding and her eyes went to her computer, her mouth opening up at the delicious gossip she was receiving via an IM from her social network site.

"So…what do you say, ma'am?"

"Sure, sure, kid." She said hastily as she typed up a reply on her computer. Once she had sent the message she reached for a drawer to her left and pulled out a small key. She tossed it over to Tristan. "That's the key to the principal's office. His meeting is over in half an hour. If you're going to clean it, make it fast."

"Uh, yes ma'am." Tristan said, trying to conceal his excitement. He couldn't believe that his ploy had actually worked. "Thank you." He turned around and began to walk towards Joey, holding the key up in the air, knowing the secretary was too engrossed in gossiping to pay him any more attention. The blonde smiled eagerly and gave him a big thumbs up.

Joey then motioned with his hands down the hallway where the office was; he blocked with his wrists a watch, trying to conceive the idea that Tristan needed to hurry. Getting the message clear, Tristan nodded and began to walk towards that hallway, past the secretary.

The administrators hallway was pretty empty. A door here and there, and then one set of bathrooms. Tristan walked all the way to the end until he saw the door marked in large, bold, black letters: PRINCIPAL.

Tristan exhaled and stuck the key into the lock, turning it clockwise until he heard the tumblers click. Nausea flooded over him as his adrenaline began to pump, causing his heart rate to spike. Doing his best to ignore it, Tristan pushed open the door and walked inside the principal's office.

He was amazed at how clean it already was. A large mahogany desk was pushed up against the back wall, just enough room behind it to fit a spinning chair. In the back right corner was a filing cabinet five feet high, with a potted plant sitting comfortably on top. Two chairs sat in front of the desk, ready for anybody in violation of the school's rules to sit in.

Several different degrees were scattered around the various walls, each in a brown picture frame. The brown carpet was soft and recently vaccummed, giving the room a fresh, clean smell. Unlike most of his teachers, not a single paper littered the desk. Tristan took a deep breath and walked over to the filing cabinet. His fingers went up to the third drawer, marked with a label 'H-O'. He knew these were the last names of all the different students. His hand pulled on the steel handle and opened the drawer, revealing at least two hundred different files. He took a deep breath and licked the tip of his thumb and began to peel through the layer of manila folders, barely glancing at a name before moving onto the next folder.

"Haisuke…Hatate…" He murmured the various names as he pulled their folder back, discarded it mentally at once.

He heard voices coming from outside. Tristan froze. One of them sounded like the principal's. Tristan's eyes shot to the wall clock, reading fifteen minutes before the hour. Tristan swore, slamming his foot down. The principal's meeting had ended early.

"Come on, come on." Tristan said, searching even faster for the wanted folder. He had to find it and fast, so he still had a chance to leave the office before the principal came in.

"Maikai…Mazuki…"

The voices were getting louder.

"Miwow…Miko…."

He could now make out the two voices of his principal and vice principal.

"Moti…Motin…."

His heart was pounding inside his head, he could feel each heartbeat inside his temple.

"Motou." He sighed and everything calmed down. He grabbed the folder and slammed the cabinet shut, not noticing that it had rolled back out. He stuck the folder inside his blue school uniform and ran for the door. He glanced out the window and saw his principal just a few feet away, busy talking to his colleague. Tristan gulped and called for all his strength. He pushed the door open and ran outside, all the way down the hallway where it took a right back to the main part of the building before anyone of the administrators could notice.

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The principal waved good-bye to his colleague, and dug into his pocket for the key to his office. He placed it in the keyhole, but was surprised to realize that the door was already opened.

"Huh." He said aloud and pushed opened the door; he entered his room and closed it quietly behind him. His eyes scanned the room. "Nothing seems out of place." He inquired aloud and began to walk over to his desk. He noticed that one of the drawers in his filing cabinet was open slightly, the manila folders peeking out of the drawer. He closed it wordlessly and went to his desk seat. He was thinking through the strange events when his phone began to ring. Immediately he forgot about it all and answered the phone, bringing it up to his ear.

"Domino High School." He said, the strange state of his office forever forgotten in his mind.

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He braced himself up against the wall, the folder clutched to his chest, panting heavily.

"Tristan?" Joey's voice came, causing the brunette's eyes to shot up. He saw the question lingering in Joey's eyes and before the blonde could verbalize it, he held the folder up high. Seeing the way Joey's eyes lit up was priceless. He handed the folder to Joey who clutched onto it as though his life were dependent upon it.

"You…" He said in between his gasps for air, "owe me big time."

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"Man, I can't believe this." Joey whispered, turning another page of the folder. "This thing is filled with nothing but lies."

"How so?" Tristan questioned, moving in closer on the bench. School had just ended and the two boys, who normally walked home, had stayed back so they could examine the file the school had on Yugi. Joey had just wanted to look for the address the school had, but once he started to scan over some of the other items, he couldn't stop.

"January 15, 2006." Joey read aloud. Tristan's eyes perked at the date. That was when they were all back in the fifth grade. "Yugi Motou had to be taken to a hospital during recess for a broken arm. Yugi said he broke it when he fell from the monkey bars."

"How is that a lie? Yugi did break his arm in fifth grade."

"Yeah," Joey agreed slowly, "but he didn't fall from the monkey bars. I remember vividly. Ushio and his gang pulled him up onto them after he had said he wouldn't climb them. Then, Ushio pushed him off."

"Okay…"

"Why would Yugi not even tell his parents what happened? What hasn't he told anyone?"

"I don't know, Joey. I don't think anybody knows."

"Does anyone even know Yugi Motou? I mean, really know him? Like, his birthday, or his favorite color, or what he wants to be when he grows up?"

Tristan shook his head. "No." He exhaled and stood up. "Listen Joey. I got to head home. You're going to have to be on your own."

"That's okay, Tristan. I think it would be best if I did go by myself. After all, it is my fault he left."

Out of nowhere a fist came in contact with Joey's face, sending the blonde flying onto the ground, where he landed harshly on his back. Joey cried in pain and his hand went up to his now bleeding nose.

"What the fu—" His profane curse was interrupted by Tristan.

"Stop saying that It's your fault. It's not. It's everyone's fault. Your words wouldn't have done anything if we hadn't been bullying him for years. Wallowing in your self-pity isn't going to help find Yugi. Now get off your ass, clean yourself up, and go to Yugi's home. Maybe then you can figure something out." Tristan turned around and walked away from Joey, his figure slowly disappearing from sight over the horizon. Joey felt the blood in his nose clot up, making it hard for him to breathe through it. He slowly stood up, dusting off his uniform. He looked back up in the direction Tristan had gone and his hand instinctively went back up to his nose.

"Freakin' bastard."

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Joey had to look from the folder to the sign above the building several times, just to clarify he had the right address. Yugi's home wasn't what he had expected. It was a store, with large red letters hanging out front that read 'GAME'. He stood there for over ten minutes, just staring at the front door, nervous on how to approach this. He had no idea what to expect.

He gulped and pushed on the door, a small bell ringing. There was an elderly man behind a counter, his eyes rising to meet Joey's. Joey had to do his best not to cringe at the sight of him. His skin was gray and loose, falling off his face. His clothes hung off his shoulders, and there were dark circles underneath his eyes.

Joey knew at once that this was Yugi's grandfather, though the pointed hair did help.

"Can I help you, young man?" His voice was quiet and hoarse. Joey inhaled through his blood filled nose, ignoring the sting it brought.

"Mister Motou?" He questioned, and the older man nodded, a look of confusion coming to his face. "My name is Joey Wheeler. I go…" Joey paused. He didn't know whether to use to word 'go' or 'went'. Yugi was dead for all he knew. But, he had already started and he needed to finish. "to school with Yugi. Can I talk to you?"

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Joey sat on a green couch in the living room, adjacent to the store. He watched quietly as Mister Motou changed the sign hanging on the front door so that it read 'Closed' on the outside. Then, he entered the living room carrying a tray of tea. He placed it on the coffee table in front of Joey and sat on the loveseat across from Joey.

"Have some tea." Mister Motou said.

"Thank you." Joey said quietly, reaching for the steaming cup, watching as Mister Motou did the same.

"So, you go to school with…Yugi?"

Joey nodded.

"Why are you here, young man? Surely you know about…Yugi."

Joey felt his heart clench at the hesitance the old man displayed when saying the name of his grandson.

"Uh," he said stupidly, trying to find his words. "Are Yugi's parents around? I think they need to hear this too."

Mister Motou snorted and a look of disdain came into his eyes. "Yugi's parents haven't been around for nearly ten years." Joey was shocked at the amount of hate the old man used with the 'P' word. He also was shocked in learning that Yugi's parents had abandoned him, just like how his mother had abandoned him. He did have something in common with Yugi.

"What did you say your name was again?"

"Joey, sir." The blonde replied softly, feeling an ache in his heart. Yugi may not have had his parents around, but he did have someone who loved and cared about him. And Joey took Yugi away from him.

"Yugi's never mentioned you before and I've never seen you around here either."

Joey traced his finger around the rim of the cup absent mindedly. "We weren't exactly friends." He murmured, ashamed.

"Then what is your affiliation with Yugi?" The old man's voice rose in pitch with concern.

"Mister Motou," Joey started quietly. His eyes rose up to meet Mister Motou's. "Yugi left…because I told him to leave."

The old man blinked, his face was blank and void of any expression. "W-what?" He stuttered, the cup of tea shaking in his hands.

Joey slowly began to tell his story. He told of all the bullying Yugi endured over the last several years. He didn't censor anything. He told Mister Motou of every punch, every kick, every hurtful word. The old man didn't interrupt and Joey didn't pause once. As he neared the end of his story, Joey came to the part of the last time he had spoken to Yugi. The last, horrible words he spoke to the young teen. How he had taken the boy's most prized possession and threw away the one puzzle piece. Joey didn't even leave out the part on how he beat Yugi up for crying.

"Afterwards…I told Yugi nobody wanted him. I told him we'd all be better off if he just left. And he listened to me. That night was the one when he ran away."

Solomon was quiet, emotionless. He couldn't believe it. How was he just now hearing about the torture Yugi had to endure at school? Why hadn't Yugi told him?

Joey could feel the tension rising in the air and the old man didn't say a word.

"I've been looking for him." He put out. "I felt so terrible when I heard that Yugi had ran away. I've spent every night looking for him all around Domino. And, I know it doesn't mean a damn thing, but I am truly sorry, from the bottom of my soul sorry. I have no excuse for what I did. But, I just want someone to know how bad I feel."

Solomon stared at the blonde. He was angry at him for making Yugi's life miserable, but he also felt sympathy for him because he said that he was sorry and he had spent his own time looking for Yugi. Solomon was a good judge of character and he could tell that this boy was very proud just by looking at him. And, for him to crawl his way up to Solomon, praying for forgiveness was proof enough for Solomon that he was one hundred percent sorry.

"Don't apologize to me." He said sternly. He may have felt some pity for the boy, but that didn't mean he was going to go easy on him. "Apologize to Yugi. When you find him."

Joey nodded. "Yes sir. I will find him if it is the last thing I do."

Solomon smirked. "Then what are you waiting for? Get your ass out of my house and find my boy."