Small Note

Sakura: So I left Yugi at a bad spot last time with most of her friends minus Ryou being mad at her. Let's see how things turn out for her the day after the party.

Chapter 14: Keep Holding On

Morning sun shined through the thin white curtains causing Yuugi to groan and cover her face with the blanket. It was the morning after the party and she was both physically and mentally drained after everything that had happened. She did not even have to get up and could sleep in however the sun seemed to want to get her up early.

A figure beside Yuugi chuckled as arms wrapped around Yuugi waist and a kiss placed upon her head. She sighed and rolled over hiding her face in Atemu's night shirt.

"Morning beautiful…"

Yuugi looked up at her lover with sleepy eyes, which made Atemu melt at her adorable looks. Even in the morning after having just woken up she was beautiful. There was no makeup, not that Yuugi wore a lot of it, and her hair was slightly messy.

Yuugi let out a yawn before placing a sleepy kiss onto Atemu's lips. "What time is it?" She asked trying to hide another yawn.

"It's about seven thirty. I've been up since seven just watching you sleep."

Yuugi blushed at that, but also groaned at how early it was. "I wanted to sleep in. Why must you have white curtains?"

"Sorry honey, not everyone likes black curtains in their room."

"I do because it keeps the annoying sun out of my eyes." Yuugi complained and snuggled closer to the warm that was her fiancé.

Atemu reached up to run his fingers through her hair. "How are you feeling this morning?" He really dreaded asking the question, but it bugged him not knowing how Yuugi was coping with what happened last night. They hadn't talked about it after the party in favor of going to bed to get some sleep.

Yuugi stayed quiet after the question and Atemu was almost worried he upset her. It wasn't until after he got another kiss did she answer him. "I hate to see you worry over me, but it's still hard to tell what I'm really feeling. I'm angry at them sure and upset they wouldn't listen. I guess I feel numb over the whole situation and I fear I may have just lost most of my friends."

"They were some huge secrets Yuugi, but you did have every right to keep your life private. Our lives aren't easy and it won't ever change with the fact I will be following in my father's footsteps." Atemu lifted up the hand that held Yuugi's engagement ring. After the party she refused to take it off now that everyone knew the truth. "I too have mixed feelings over how your friends acted. I want to say I'm sorry I forced you to hide this from them, but I in no way regret my decision to make you my wife."

Yuugi smiled at his words. "I also do not regret my decision in starting a new relationship with you. I love you so much."

They shared one finally kiss that morning before they decided to go ahead and start the day.

"Ryou are you sure about this?"

"Yes Malik…" Ryou sighed for the like the tenth time that morning and stared out of the window of the limo they were riding in. Instead of a taxi, Hiroshi got a hold of their limo driver and allowed Ryou to let the driver take her anywhere she wanted. She wasn't used to having a limo all to herself besides Malik sitting across from her playing with the button for the skylight. "Yuugi won't mind us coming and I'm sure she doesn't hate you Malik."

Malik didn't look certain but went quiet after that.

Ryou took the silence and thought back on the night before. After the party and allowing Bakura to give her his number, Ryou went home to friends who were all pissed off over nothing. All they could talk about was how they felt like Yuugi had betrayed them. Now Ryou wasn't normally the violent type or to even raise her voice at anyone, but after getting sick and tired of their complaining she let them have it. She yelled at them for a good five minutes before leaving the room to let them think over what she said. Basically she thought they were being unfair in not hearing Yuugi out this time like they did when they met her parents.

All of this just felt like a big misunderstanding. Instead of hanging out and having a good time in Tokyo for a few days, all the others were planning on leaving that afternoon. Malik being the only one who thought about staying, which surprised Ryou. Malik pulled Ryou aside after breakfast that morning and told Ryou she had thought about what Ryou had said the night before and she wanted to talk to Yuugi to see if they could clear the air.

While the others wanted nothing to do with Yuugi at the moment, it put a smile on Ryou's face to know that at least one person out of the group wanted to talk to Yuugi. This led them to being in the limo on the way to the Sennen manor. Ryou had already had plans to go over there to see if Yuugi wanted to get out of the house. She hadn't been to Tokyo before and thought maybe Yuugi could show her around. Hopefully Malik would be willing to join them after a talk with Yuugi and Atemu.

After a thirty minute drive the limo entered the gates with no problem and took the long driveway up to the Mansion. Surprisely there were no more paparazzi or news reporters hanging around, probably because they got their fill for the moment after that party.

Malik continued to play with the hem of her shirt even after getting out of the limo and walking up the steps to the front door. Ryou rolled her eyes not sure why Malik was so nervous, if anything Yuugi would be happy Malik came to talk to her. She would probably be a little upset that Malik didn't want to talk the night before, but as long as they talked Ryou did not care. The white hair adult hated seeing her friends like this.

She rang the doorbell and she didn't have to wait long before the butler, Henry, opened the door. He gave a smile to the two and allowed them to enter.

"I presume you are here for Ms. Yuugi?"

"Yes, is she busy at the moment?"

Henry led them into the living room. "No, she is on the back patio with Mr. Atemu. If you will wait here a moment I will be right back with her." He left the room, so Ryou and Malik made themselves comfortable on the couch.

Malik looked around the high class living room. Last night she had let her anger get the better of her and she didn't get to look around at the place. "This is awesome. I could live in a place like this. Yuugi is so lucky to be engaged to Atemu."

Ryou giggled at Malik awe struck look. "Yuugi has lived a high class life since she was little. I think she enjoyed her time in Domino more. Simple things are Yuugi's style."

"I know, but it makes me wonder why she would rather give all this up…"

"Because life isn't all about being a celebrity and having money…." Ryou and Malik turned to see Yuugi standing in the doorway.

Yuugi smiled at the two and took a seat in one of the chairs across from them. "I asked Henry to bring us some tea unless you would like something different."

Ryou shook her head. "No tea will be great. How are you this morning?"

"I've been better…" Yuugi looked toward Malik. "I'm surprised to see you here."

Malik blushed and looked away in embarrassment. "Ryou talked to all of us last night and I had some time to think about how I acted." She looked back at Yuugi as a guilty look took over her face. "I can't say how sorry I am for how we treated you."

Yuugi shook her head. "Given the fact you didn't say anything at all last night to me is bad enough, I can't see a reason for you to say you're sorry. Anzu and Joey should be saying sorry for those hurtful words they said. I only wanted to explain myself, but they chose to push me away."

"Still I should have said something." Malik argued. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything. I came here with Ryou hoping you would still be willing to explain to me everything that went on. I'm here to listen and not lose a good friend."

Yuugi couldn't deny Malik that, because Yuugi didn't want to lose a good friend either. "I'll explain everything if the two of you would stay for lunch."

Ryou and Malik quickly agreed glad that things were going so well.

Before Yuugi got up to leave she asked one more question. "What about the others?"

"It might be a while for them Yuugi," Ryou explained. "This morning they were talking about leaving back to Domino today. I don't know if they will come around and see you or leave."

Yuugi hated to hear that, but she had to give her friends time. They would come to her if they wanted to keep their friendship alive. "I'll go let Atemu know we will be having two more guests for lunch."

After that she left and neither Ryou nor Malik saw the single tear that fell from Yuugi's eye before she wiped it away.

Lunch was taken outside on the patio since it was nice and sunny outside. The meal consisted of different finger sandwiches, vegetables and fruit along with tea or lemonade to drink. Yuugi and Atemu sat beside each other while Ryou and Malik sat across from them. Once everyone got what they wanted on their plates, Yuugi decided to start telling Malik the truth about everything.

"I wasn't trying to hide it from you guys," Yuugi said to start off the conversation. "It's just I wanted to keep this private from the whole world."

"Why?" Malik asked.

"It's just when I came back to make things right with Atemu after we had been apart for so long I didn't think he would propose to me. We are taking things slow at the moment, but in our hearts we both know we want this marriage. I just didn't want anyone finding out about it since I will be starting college soon."

It seemed realization dawn on Malik at those words. "Now you are all over the news, but why didn't you trust your friends with this secret?"

"Honestly I wasn't sure how you guys would take the news. You all took the news of my parents rather well, but it's a whole different story being engaged to someone like Atemu. Plus in a way I wanted to keep this quiet until after college. It's not that I don't trust you guys it's just I was scared." Yuugi explained. "I mean I come to Tokyo thinking I'm just going to make things right with a friend and the next thing I know I'm engaged."

Atemu grabbed Yuugi's hand and gave it a kiss. "There was no way I was letting you get away again. I had feelings for you when we were little and they never went away. I'm going to make sure this relationship works out so we are both happy."

Yuugi blushed, but gave Atemu a kiss on the cheek. "You are so sweet."

Malik couldn't help but smile. "So what happened between the two of you for Yuugi to have gone to Domino?"

A look crossed both Atemu and Yuugi's face showing they probably didn't want to talk about it.

"It's not that I don't want to talk out it, but it's just we rather not talk about it now." Yuugi told her friends hoping they would understand.

Ryou nodded. "We will listen when you are ready. There are some things you and Atemu should be allowed to keep private."

Malik agreed with Ryou, but had some questions for Atemu. "You don't have to answer any of my questions, but I was just curious what kind of accident caused your disability."

Atemu didn't seem to mind at all as he lean back in his chair and relaxed before replying, "It happened when I was twelve. My siblings and I were returning home from the airport after having taken a trip to Egypt over Christmas break. My parents wanted us home for New Years so we could celebrate together. My brother Amun was driving, since he liked to drive himself places instead of having a limo drive him. I was in the passenger seat and Kek and Yumi were in the back. I really shouldn't have been in the passenger seat since I was the younger of the four, but we were all in good moods and like any preteen I wanted to fell like an adult," Atemu took a drink of tea before he continued.

"The roads weren't bad, but it had snowed the day before so drivers had to be careful of slick spots. It happened just as my brother was driving through a green light. A truck ran the red light and hit my side of the car. I don't remember much of what happened after that, I just know I was in a lot of pain. It wasn't until I woke up in the hospital a day later that my parents informed me of what happened. The truck driver's brakes went out on him and it didn't help that he had been drinking a little. Kek and Yumi walked away with minor cuts and sore bodies because the truck hit more of the front than the back. Amun walked away with a few crack ribs and a broken leg. I wasn't so lucky I had been trapped in the car for at least an hour with a bad head injury, cuts and bruises all over me, a broken arm, and spinal cord damage. The doctors were surprised my legs weren't broken because of the way they had been trapped between the floor board and dashboard."

Ryou and Malik listened to his story and both couldn't image going through all that pain.

"When did you find out you were paralyzed?" Malik asked next.

Atemu thought back on the memory of when he had woken up. "At first I was in so much pain when I woke up that I didn't realize it. It wasn't until the day after I woke up that I found out. The doctors had come in to do a check up on me to see the damage the crash did to my body. Like I said I suffered spinal cord damage but the doctors told me they wouldn't know how bad the damage was until I tried to move some. My arms and neck worked find but were sore, it was when I tried to move my legs just a little I realized I couldn't even feel them. I went into a state of shock and doctors had to sedate me to calm me down."

Those memories haunted Yuugi and Atemu because after that accident everything changed. "Atemu wasn't the same anymore after that," Yuugi told them. "He changed because the accident took is ability to walk away. He wouldn't be able to hang out like he normally did with me or his siblings."

"I fell into a sort of depression and didn't want anything to do with anyone," Atemu confessed. "I feared I would be treated different, so I locked myself away so I wouldn't have to face any of it."

Ryou was curious as to what helped Atemu change back. "You don't seem so down now. What changed to help you?"

Atemu looked at Yuugi. "I lost the one person I cared about. It took a while for me to figure that out with the help of my other friends, parents, and siblings. I broke down and got the help I needed to get my life back."

"It all worked out in the end." Yuugi said and that was the end of that conversation. They all went back to eating until Henry walked in with two very familiar people.

"Sir, Bakura and Marik are here…"

Atemu waved his friends over as Henry took his leave. Bakura happily took a seat beside Ryou, while Marik took a seat at the head of the table, but close to Malik.

"It's good to see the two of you made it for lunch." Atemu greeted them.

"Traffic was murder downtown…" Bakura explained as he filled his plate.

Marik did the same, but his eyes kept glancing over at Malik. Malik saw the looks and glared at Marik.

"What is your deal?"

Yuugi sighed hoping Malik would be on her best behavior. "Malik this is Marik and the one beside Ryou is Bakura. They are friends of Atemu's since childhood."

Malik and Marik looked at each other before Malik smiled and put out her hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Marik. My name is Malik Ishtar."

"The pleasure is mine…" Marik shook Malik's hand and noticed the firm grip. "Let me guess you like kick boxing and martial arts."

Malik nodded. "I do it in my spare time, how did you know?"

Marik took his hand back. "My father runs a bunch of different types of gyms and I am a champion in martial arts. Do you know of the Istar family?"

"Yeah, they have a gym in Domino that I go to all the time," then Malik realized something. "You are Marik Istar aren't you?"

Marik nodded. "Sure am. Maybe you and I could spar together sometime."

Malik smiled back at him. "I would like that."

Ryou and Yuugi looked at each other and could easily tell Marik had a growing thing for Malik. Either it would turn into a good friendship or a new romance. Only time would tell and at the moment they all just wanted to enjoy a nice afternoon together.

Yuugi may have gained back one friend, but she would have to keep holding on for her remaining friends. Hoping and praying they would come around so they could make things right.

Sakura: Malik came around, we learned some more things about Atemu, and Marik may or may not have a thing for Malik. Everyone will just have to wait and see what I have in store next time for Yuugi and Atemu and maybe Yuugi's other friends will come around.

Yumi: Review!