A/N: hello everyone... Thank you all for reading and all your lovely comments. I have a note to make that there is some violence later on in the chapter, as well M/F noncon/rape being hinted at. If you are triggered, then try not to read this chapter. Love you all *sends hugs*

Bows of Promise

Chapter Ten

He was wrong when he thought yielding and going out on the date would help tone down the way Seto openly harassed him at work.

If anything, it seemed he became more vehement in his attempts at flirting, as if making it a point to prove that their date did not mean he would stop trying. Yami was torn between feeling affectionate at the subtle reassurance that no one will know any details of their 'date' –which, not surprisingly, the entire hospital found out that it took place—and feeling the frustration that he has to continue admonishing the brunet for his less-than-proper comments.

It was such a time at work where Seto was trying his hardest to make his life more difficult. It was one week after that date. They were on a night shift, now that Yami once more took back his normal work hours and schedule. He had taken the chance that it had been a calm first few hours in the shift and as the clock hit past midnight, it meant that the rate of accidents and the people hitting the emergency room dwindled down, and headed towards the operating rooms. Easily, he located Rafael in one of the rooms standing at the anesthesia machine at the head of the patient undergoing a total-hip-replacement. He sat waiting for the surgery to finish, trying not to get uncomfortable at the students whispering and pointing at him with awe. Apparently, karma was getting back at him for all the times he did the same to older surgeons when he had been a student and used to gape in awe at them. He was glad when the surgery was over and he could meet the blond anesthesiologist outside PACU after he made sure the patient was stable, grateful for his privileges that these younger students did not have, which was access to the recovery area.

He apologized to the blond anesthesiologist for their last encounter. He had meant to do it over the past week, but Rafael had been located in ICU so Yami did not get to see him much. He told him that he hadn't really been angry at him, Rafael, but the situation in and of itself annoyed him and that he should have had better self control than to snap at him like he did.

Rafael was holding up a hand and rubbing the back of his blond head and looking sheepish and saying that he and Seto stepped out of line, really, when Seto's voice came from behind Yami, arrogant and hovering just slightly on the border of rudeness, "Can't wrong myself in any way; he is my boyfriend and you were flirting with him. You ass!"

Yami took a long-suffering breath and he turned, sighing it out and tiredly replying, "Seriously, Seto, don't start!"

Rafael was replying in a cold tone, "You never wrong yourself, Kaiba. Nothing new there."

Seto stepped beside Yami and stared directly into Rafael's baby blue eyes, mirroring the cold expression in them in his darker eyes. "Maybe there is. This time it's true."

Yami burst out laughing.

Both of them turned to look at him incredulously and he just shook his head, "You two…honestly," he said between peals of giggles. He turned to walk out of the operating rooms, knowing that his job was done now that he apologized to Rafael and made his point clear to him.

He found both his colleagues falling into step beside him.

"In a much better mood, isn't he?" Rafael asked Seto over his head.

Yami turned to glare at the blond.

"He has mood swings, don't worry about it," Seto replied calmly.

Yami turned the other side to direct his glare at him.

"You seem to know him so well, Kaiba. How long have you been dating?"

Yami rolled his eyes, shook his head once more and smirked lightly at the blatant way they seemed to decide to team up on him. He wondered why he usually inspired such a response to have people just taking Seto's side against him. He couldn't blame Rafael; after all, as Yugi himself had taken Seto's side eventually and he was supposed to be his brother. "Seriously, Rafael. That's a new low from you," he chastised the blond anyway, exiting the operating theaters wing and heading towards the elevators.

"Can't beat them, as they say," Rafael cheekily told him.

"You can't join me. I'm not into threesomes," Seto deadpanned.

"You are a little shit, Kaiba," Yami calmly replied, shaking his head when they both started laughing.

They stood in front of the elevators and he pressed the call button. At that moment, his cell phone rang and he pulled it out of his pocket, glancing at the screen and seeing Yugi's picture next to the caller ID. He missed Seto's comeback to his insult as he checked the time seeing that it was past one in the morning. Heart skipping a beat with sudden anxiety and wondering why his brother could be calling at such an hour, he answered.

"Hello," he said, trying to remain calm. He was aware of Seto and Rafael quibbling in the background and he ignored them.

"Hey Yami," Yugi's voice came from the other side of the phone. In the few moments until he spoke next, Yami felt his heart rate calming a little because his brother's voice sounded alright, healthy without breathlessness or pain. "You at the hospital now?"

He felt his heart sinking again.

"Of course, where else would I be? What's wrong?"

"Err… I am not sure how it works around here… I have a friend who needs some help," Yugi rushed out.

Yami easily recognized the tone; the one Yugi adopted when he did something stupid and was trying to ask Yami for help. And for God's sake, friend? How sociable was his brother anyway? He didn't even hit the three week mark in Domino and he already had friends?

Yami took a deep breath.

"Where are you now?" he asked, trying to remain calm and avoid getting frustrated with his brother.

"I'm in the ER. We're waiting for our turn."

"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes," he said with a sigh.

He hung up and automatically, his hand rose to the call button to frantically press it several times impatiently. He noticed the background noise faded. He blinked and looked behind him to find both Seto and Rafael watching him intently with identical questioning looks on their faces. He sighed and looked back at the closed elevator doors, once again pressing the call button.

"Really Yami, don't be an idiot, pressing it several times won't call it faster," Seto grumbled haughtily and Yami didn't deign a reply other than another roll of his eyes. "What did Yugi want?"

Yami looked up at him, "How did you know it was Yugi?" he asked suspiciously.

"I know everything," he replied with ease and Rafael chuckled disbelievingly behind them. "Is he okay?"

Yami nodded, "Yeah, he's downstairs though. Said that one of his friends needed help."

"Doesn't waste time your brother, does he?" Seto asked, voicing what Yami decided not to, as the elevator doors dinged open.

They let the group of junior ophthalmology residents out, Yami just barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes at the excited shrieks and chatter and general buzz they spoke with over a case of a ruptured globe, curbing the urge to show them the compound, grade four fracture they had to fix at the start of the shift, knowing that the group would probably faint considering how delicate their work was compared to his. He resisted the evil streak within him and entered the elevator's small space with Seto and Rafael trailing behind him.

"So where is he now?" Seto insisted.

"Downstairs, I said," Yami grunted.

"And why are you coming with us?" the brunet turned to Rafael.

"Kaiba, you don't own the goddamn building," the anesthesiologist replied.

Seto sighed. "I once owned a building, you know…" they didn't say anything to that, silence hanging over the elevator for a few milliseconds, then he added, "I actually owned several buildings."

"Sorry to let you know that that's in the past, Princess."

"You're a right ass, Rafael, you know that?"

Yami giggled and instantly felt the knot in his stomach loosen a little. The huge part of him filled with fond annoyance at Seto's antics and the way he seemed adamant to make him sound as if he has fallen head over heels for him was flooded with sudden affection and warmth. The realization that the silly banter between the two had been for his benefit, to soothe the change in his mood after his brother's call. He ignored the light flutter in stomach at the way Seto sounded so much like him more and more and what it implied.

There was silence after that until they reached the ground floor. Yami headed with steady steps to the emergency room's inner entrance, his eyes already searching the waiting area for his brother. Within a few seconds, he recognized the back of one of his hoodies –because no matter how old they were going to get, Yugi was still going to borrow his clothes without asking. There was a long- and brown-haired person sitting beside his brother, their head hanging low.

Only when Yami stepped in front of the seated pair did he realize that Yugi's 'friend' was a beautiful brunette with milky skin and blue eyes and a disturbingly similar appearance to one Seto Kaiba, that only with extreme difficulty did he refrain from turning around to admonish him for not telling him he had a sister.

He stopped himself just in time, though, seeing the frightened expression in the blue eyes, the bruise spreading hideously over the otherwise very beautiful features that such an injury had no place on. The brown hair covered a large part of a wound that spread along her hairline. It was obviously made with such force that the surrounding tissues turned an ugly shade of blue and red and violet. Very quickly, he made note of the jacket he recognized as Yugi's own draped over narrow shoulders, otherwise bare with the characteristic ballerina leotard she was wearing. That, coupled with the very short chiffon skirt she was wearing and white stockings covering unbearably long legs had Yami glance at his brother questioningly, exasperated at the pleading look in the amethyst eyes and the way they clearly begged him to ask questions later.

He sighed, doing just that.

"Hey," he greeted. The young woman gave no outward reaction to it, her eyes still wide with fear, almost like a deer caught in headlights. She was apparently in shock and there was no wonder why. A part of him could understand too well how she felt right now. Resolutely, he pushed away that thought and asked, "Can you tell me what your name is?"

A few seconds of silence passed slowly, almost like an eternity.

Finally, she opened her mouth and spoke, broken syllables at first and low at first, then clearer and louder. "A…Anzu… Anzu Mazaki."

"Do you know where you are, Anzu?" he asked, taking his phone out of his pocket once again.

"Hospital."

He switched on the flashlight on his phone. "I'm just going to check your pupils, alright? Don't be scared," he said and approached her carefully; he had seen too many trauma patients to have an idea what this young woman went through. This was too personal as well so he knew exactly how to approach her. He waited for her nod of approval and moved towards her with the flashlight, checking the pupil response in the eye on the uninjured side of her head first, then on the other side, breathing just a bit calmer when it gave an equal and even response. "Do you know what time is it, Anzu?"

"Err…an hour or two after midnight? I…I'm not so sure," she looked hesitant.

He nodded, "That's right… Don't worry, I am just checking if this nasty blow to your head did something more than a bruise. Come with me, let's get you inside an exam room and I will call one of the emergency residents to take a look at you."

He spoke slowly, letting his smooth voice do its job, soothing the nervous wreck this girl was. He exchanged another look with Yugi, then with Seto, whose blue eyes were narrowed thoughtfully, a hint of anger in them. He left them in the waiting area, gently placing a hand on Anzu's elbow to guide the way to the exam rooms.

She was walking slowly and Yami barely kept himself from trying to ask questions yet, knowing that Ryuji was going to ask and sparing her having to explain herself more times than necessary.

"Aren't you…?" she was asking softly.

"Aren't I what?" he asked her, leading the way behind the curtain in the empty exam room.

"Yugi said…you were a doctor…" she hesitantly said.

He grinned at her over the screen of his phone that displayed his contacts, then looked at it once again to scroll down to Ryuji's number. "I am… it's the proper hospital protocol that an emergency doctor looks at you first, though. I am just a surgeon."

She chuckled softly and he could feel, automatically, his grin widening at the soft sound. Now that felt so much more natural than the ugly bruise marring her features and he determinedly raised the phone to his ear, intent on getting this young woman help, no matter what her background was.

Ryuji answered after a few rings. He sounded breathless and Yami's eyes narrowed suspiciously at the, "Yes, Sensei!" he answered the phone with. He could clearly make the connection that the dark-haired emergency resident was with Honda right now, because Ryuji didn't pick up on the annoying habit of calling him that except after spending some time with the junior surgery resident. He now understood why Yugi was waiting for their turn, even though the emergency room was mostly empty at this hour.

He resolutely tried not to think of why Ryuji sounded so breathless and tried concentrating on the matter at hand, reminding himself that as long as Honda and Ryuji both focused on their work, it was none of his business what they did when together. With that in mind, he asked, "Where are you? Err… I need you to look at someone for me, please?"

Immediately, the younger man replied, "I'll be there in a minute, Dr. Motou… where are you now?"

"Trauma, room 3…" Yami replied and got another confirmation from him that he would be there immediately, then hung up. His concerns about his junior's and his boyfriend's activities were killed completely with how quickly Ryuji slipped into his usual professionalism at the mention of work. He turned back to the woman seated sideways on the bed, informing her, "He's coming over right now."

She nodded. The frightened look was back. He knew they might need one of their female colleagues to look her over, but he left that decision in Ryuji's hands.

"So what's the difference?" she asked. He stared questioningly at her. "You and him…?"

Realization dawned on Yami. "Oh… I am a surgeon. I carry out operations, to put it simply. I specialize in surgeries related to traumatic incidents, more often than not, but I can do a whole lot of other kinds as well. Ryuji is an emergency medicine resident; he deals with, as you can probably imagine, emergencies. Those can be medical like heart attacks and sugar comas or poisoning cases… or ones that require further action, like fractures, burns…"

He made sure he kept up the same tone of voice; low and soothing. It was the only thing he could do, seeing how tense she was. He wanted to ask how old she was, how did she and Yugi meet, what happened to her. He recalled the pleading look on Yugi's features and stifled a sigh.

"I didn't know there was a difference. You all look the same to me," she whispered, shifting slightly on the bed and Yami did not miss the wince that crossed her pretty features and disappeared quickly within moments.

He pretended he didn't see anything.

They stayed in silence, with the nurse prepping the area within the curtain's enclosure for the upcoming exam, until Ryuji walked in with hurried steps.

Unsurprisingly, Honda trailed behind him.

Yami stared suspiciously at the two of them and there was absolutely no way his usual state of hyperawareness of his surroundings and the people in them could miss the way both simultaneously blushed. He averted his gaze and decided not to tease them about it, seeing how embarrassed both of them were and turned to Anzu.

"What's up?" Ryuji asked, stepping beside him and taking the clipboard file from the nurse.

The redness on his features was gradually fading as he quickly scanned what was written in the sheet the brunette and Yugi filled out before Yami arrived and a grim look spread in the sharp green eyes. Ryuji sat on the stool beside the bed where Anzu was sitting, hung the clipboard on the bar on the edge of the bed and looked up at her.

"Hello," he said.

She blinked. She turned to look at Yami, as if for reassurance which he tried to offer in a tiny smile. She turned back to Ryuji. "Hello," she replied.

"Ms. Mazaki, my name's Ryuji Otogi and I am the emergency resident on call today," he calmly introduced himself. She nodded, signifying that she understood him. "Given the nature of your injuries, would you like me to get one of my female colleagues to take my place?"

Yami's ears rang for a moment and he wondered what exactly was written on the clipboard and he wanted to slap himself for not even sneaking a look. He grabbed Honda by the hem of his scrubs and pulled him towards the curtains. "Anzu, if you need anything, just let us know," he said, dragging his junior outside, quickly before they made the woman any more uncomfortable.

He only let go of Honda when the younger man realized the reason why he was being dragged away, the term patient-privacy obviously making a reappearance in his mind which was evidently still addled by whatever he and Ryuji were doing before they arrived. He fell into step beside Yami, asking as they headed towards the waiting area once again, "Who is that? She looks like Dr. Kaiba."

"Yes she does…and I don't know, she's one of my brother's friends," Yami answered him, distracted. Once again, his eyes sought out his brother in the waiting area and to his slight irritation, he found him sitting between Seto and Rafael, both of them clearly having a lovely time questioning the young man about him. "Yugi, let's get something to drink from the cafeteria," he hurriedly—and quite rudely—interrupted what seemed to be Yugi's way of helping him by patiently describing to both his colleagues exactly what he liked for breakfast and that he preferred latte over a cappuccino.

Thankfully, Yugi immediately excused himself and followed him, apologetically glancing behind him at the twin grumpy groans coming from Seto and Rafael. Yami shot back a glare at both of them, grateful that for once, Seto was acting mature and remained seated and didn't try to follow them.

Quietly, they picked two cartons of juice from the cafeteria and stood paying for them. Yugi grumbled and glared when Yami said he would pay, so Yami just let him pay for his own drink knowing that his younger brother was a complete idiot when it came to such things. They walked slowly back towards the emergency room, stopping just around the corner that took them to the waiting area, standing beside a decorative statue of one of the founders of the hospital. With identical movements that had Yami musing to himself at how alike he and Yugi were, they unwrapped the plastic around the straws, crushing it in their hands as they poked at the foil-covered hole in the carton, pushing the straw inside until they reached the crinkly little bend in it.

After the first sip, Yami allowed himself to ask questions.

"Who is that?"

Tactless, without finesse, he was aware. But it was the way to go with Yugi. There was no need to sugar-coat things and cajole information.

Unsurprisingly, Yugi answered honestly. "She lives in the room next to mine in the dorms I've moved to." He paused, taking a sip out of his juice. "She said hello a couple of times. I don't know anything about her but I heard noises and something breaking. I thought I'd keep to myself, but fifteen minutes later, she knocked and asked for help."

Yami looked at the labels written on the juice carton, staying silent for a few moments.

Yugi spoke again. "She looks better now than she did an hour ago." Yami looked at him. His lips were pursed, amethyst eyes resolutely fixed on the sign that read "RADIOLOGY" in bold, red font. He turned to face Yami suddenly, a closed expression on his features as he added, "She looked almost as horrible as you did back then."

Immediately, at hearing those words, Yami's eyes widened in realization.

"Yugi…" he whispered, closing his eyes and letting out a long suffering sigh.

"Don't start…" Yugi grunted at him quietly. Yami opened his mouth to say something, but didn't really have anything to say. He wasn't given the chance to think of something, really, since Yugi added, "I remember how useless I was to you back then. I want to do something for her."

"You weren't useless," Yami vehemently retorted. Yugi snorted. "Yugi… listen to me. You were not useless. There was nothing more you could do about how things went after that day, alright? I was an idiot. Oh my God…" he exclaimed, raising a hand to rub his forehead nervously. "I had no idea you had this stupid thought for all these years, Yugi…"

Yugi shot him a sarcastic look.

"Look…the decisions I took after that day were mine alone. You did your part, Yugi. You talked to me. You yelled and screamed and if it wasn't for the fact that you just couldn't do it, you'd have punched me in the face to make me listen to you. You did your part," he repeated, stepping away from the wall and standing in front of his brother. He held his gaze in determination. "Don't shoulder a burden heavier than you can carry, Yugi. This girl isn't me and what happened with me doesn't have to be repeated. Don't think this is some kind of project you can take on and it will magically fix things."

Quickly, anger rose in Yugi's pale purple eyes.

"This isn't a project, Yami; if this is what you think of her and yourself, then you better shut up right now or I will really show you that right now I can and will punch you in the face…"

Yami sighed once again, his head hanging for a few moments in which he took several calming breaths, allowing Yugi to do the same. There was no point in getting defensive or angry.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean it that way," he muttered, looking up into his brother's eyes. "I just don't want you to spend another decade or so thinking that you couldn't help yet another person like me. Not because it's true, but because you're wrongly blaming yourself for how late you think a person in such a situation chooses to walk away."

Yugi took a deep breath and closed his eyes, turning his head away for a few moments while letting out the breath he was holding. He opened his eyes once more and told him in a small voice, "I still want to help her, Yami… let's just make sure she's okay and take it from there, alright?"

Yami pursed his lips, for a moment thinking of trying to continue arguing with Yugi, then decided against it. He knew his brother had determination five times more than anyone he ever met. There was no stopping him from doing something once he set his mind to it.

"Alright, kiddo…" he said, resigned. Yugi looked up at him in shock. "Don't give me that look; I know you won't shut up about it or let anyone stop you doing what you want so let's go check on her and we'll see what we can do after that. Just…be careful."

Yugi numbly nodded.

Yami waited for him to drain the rest of his juice while he held his own bottle. His appetite was lost suddenly at the unexpected conversation and the equally unexpected memories sprung on him against his will even as he tried so hard not to think of them. Ever since he set eyes on the brown-haired ballerina with an expression in her blue eyes too familiar to him since he saw it countless times staring back at him in the mirror through strange crimson eyes that he no longer recognized with how haunted they were.

He swallowed, taking deep breaths and practicing grounding exercises to prevent sending himself into a panicked state. Once he was sure he had himself under control, he told Yugi to come on, directing him to a waste basket so he could throw out his empty carton, then they turned around the corner where they had been standing to reenter the emergency room's waiting area.

Seto was in the process of sitting back down beside Rafael and Honda. They joined them, Yami pushing the mostly full carton of juice at Seto when he childishly pointed at it and puffed up his cheeks, clearly reminding him of his 'diet'. "Choke on that, Kaiba. Rid us of your stupidity," he commented.

He took a seat next to him, however, crossing his legs and sitting back, watching the entrance of the ER while listening to Seto's mock-hurt tones as he ranted ceaselessly about how Yami was being mean to him to anyone who would listen.

The doors opened and a tall man with olive-skin and dreadlocks entered. Yami tensed slightly, anticipating a case, but then saw that the man was walking briskly towards the reception, not appearing to be hurt or hindered in any way. He watched him for lack of something better to do and trying to drown out Seto's drone, next to him, as the tall, tanned man stood asking the receptionist something. Yami noticed that he had many piercings and wondered if that eyebrow one hurt as much as he thought it would hurt.

Unfortunately, his distraction disappeared towards the trauma area and he was forced to listen to Seto once more.

"As my boyfriend, you are expected to be romantic," he was saying.

Yami snorted.

"For some reason, Kaiba, I don't believe that he's your boyfriend," Rafael commented, chuckling and shutting his eyes tiredly.

"He is. We went out on a date together," Seto snapped.

"One date is hardly enough to say he's your boyfriend," Honda snickered out. Yami smiled, secretly deciding to let the kid scrub up with him on the next major surgery, just for his cheek. "I mean, Ryuji and I had to…" he paused, paling slightly.

Yami, Seto and Rafael all laughed at him. He turned a bright shade of red and covered his face with his hand, embarrassed. Yugi looked at the four of them questioningly and, from between evil little chuckles, Yami explained, "Honda and Ryuji are together. They think no one knows but we all knew already…"

"Sensei!" Honda exclaimed, his blush deepening impossibly.

Yami started laughing once more, but froze suddenly. In fact, all of them stopped laughing and turned as one towards the loud sound of banging coming from the trauma areas. A millisecond later, the loud, noisy crash of multiple stainless steel items hitting the ground was followed by the sound of a woman screaming and indistinct sounds of a male's voice grunting and yelling obscenities.

Next thing they knew, Ryuji's voice rang out throughout the entire emergency room. Unmistakable panic was lacing his words as he yelled, apparently at the top of his lungs, "SECURITY, TRAUMA ROOM 3!"

Honda, at hearing Ryuji's voice—usually quiet and soothing, never an octave higher than necessary—raised like that, jumped as if stung from his place and broke into a run towards it. Hot on his heels and without a second thought Rafael and Seto followed him. Immediately identifying what was happening for what it was, Yami ordered Yugi sternly to sit down and remain in his place. He had seen cases of violence against medical personnel far too many times in Egypt to remain calm about it and not rush into action, and Yugi knew of it as well so it was the same for him as well. He turned to the nurse, urging her to call security and direct them to the trauma areas and followed his three colleagues after that. He berated himself in his mind for his lack of concentration. There was only one case being treated in the trauma area. He should have known that the man with dreadlocks was trouble.

He pushed those thoughts aside as he reached the trauma room and took in the scene quickly.

The room was a complete mess. The curtain Anzu and Ryuji and the nurse were behind was torn down, two dressing carts' contents splayed and scattered all over the floor, in addition to the one that Ryuji and his assistant were using to treat Anzu. Saline was spilled all over the floor from where the kidney dish holding it was toppled over and the white tiles were streaked with the dark reddish-brown droplets of betadine solution. The strong smell of alcohol indicated that a bottle of that had been spilled as well. Cotton and rolls of fresh gauze were scattered near the toppled over cart and Yami could see a couple of unopened surgical blades fallen down beside it, along with scissors, needle holders and forceps.

The nurse who was with Ryuji when they left him was standing in the room's corner, hands clasped firmly on her mouth—quite uselessly since she was screaming once again—letting Yami know that she was the one who had screamed before. She was pressing herself into the wall as if trying to become one with it and avoid the scene that took place before her.

Yami had arrived to see Seto and Rafael both pulling the man with dreadlocks away from Honda, Ryuji and Anzu. Yami quickly understood what happened; Ryuji had been standing between their attacker and Anzu, protecting the young woman when this disaster started. Honda had arrived and placed himself between his lover and his assailant, while Seto and Rafael had hauled the latter away. To his horror, he glimpsed the glint of the pocketknife the man had been holding and his breath stopped for a second, realizing that this wasn't just a couple of fists thrown; this man was armed.

To his relief, Rafael was using his superior build to throw himself down on the man. They crashed to the floor together with equal grunts, Rafael making sure to firmly press the hand holding the knife down, pinning it well while Seto safely removed it from his hold, which had loosened with the shock of colliding with the ground. He had the sense to throw it to the farthest corner of the room and out of reach.

It wasn't without damage, however, Yami noted now that the immediate danger was removed and he could focus his attention on Ryuji and Anzu. The girl was not in a worse state than before, it seemed. At least not physically. She had a wild look in her eyes, horrified and panicked and about to pass out at being attacked twice in one night. There was no visible wounds on her except the ones she arrived with.

Ryuji, however…

The emergency resident's scrub-top was stained bright red at his right shoulder and his upper chest. Blood was quickly soaking through his clothes and Yami needed to see the nature of that wound, immediately!

Honda was in a state of panic that rendered him completely useless and Yami couldn't blame him. The kid wasn't a surgeon right now. He wasn't a medical person giving care. He was now the spouse of an injured patient and he needed to be treated thusly, especially since he was now holding Ryuji in his arms, swearing and yelling unintelligibly and generally getting in the way with his fear.

Yami, for the second time tonight, grabbed Honda by his scrub's top and pulled him closer.

"Take care of Anzu while I look at Ryuji's wound," he calmly ordered. Honda's wild brown eyes, whose pupils were narrowed to pinpoints with the rush of adrenaline, wandered from Yami, to the scared girl huddled close to them and trying to become smaller, back to Ryuji, then towards the man with dreadlocks who was still yelling obscenities and raving, only this time under the heavy hands of the hospital's security who just arrived to relieve Rafael and Seto of their burden. "Honda!" he severely snapped, raising his voice a little and tugging on the blue cloth once more. The younger man fixed his eyes on him once more. "Do what I am telling you to, I need to look at his wound right now and you are getting in my way!"

Honda blinked once, twice… then snapped out of whatever crazed trance he was in.

"Oh God…" he whispered, looking at his lover, who was still high on the adrenaline rush since he wasn't showing any outward signs of pain yet and was trying to get to Anzu, apparently his instincts telling him to continue protecting his patient and not allowing him to acknowledge his own injury.

Yami, once Honda let go of Ryuji and settled him down on the floor, immediately took over. He called the kid by his name twice to get his attention and keep it on him.

"Ryuji, I need you to stay calm," he said in a firm tone holding the green eyes' gaze with his own and speaking calmly. "I need you to calm down for me so I can see how bad that wound is, alright? You're bleeding too quickly and I need you to try and keep yourself calm while I look at it and we can see what we can do about it, can you do that for me please?"

He kept up a chatter in the same tone of voice for a few more seconds until, true enough, Ryuji began calming down, his heart rate calming beneath Yami's fingers which had reached for his neck and his wrist.

Yami felt Seto dropping next to him just as Ryuji took in a sharp breath. "Sensei," he spoke. Yami was pleased, the part of him that was worried about the patency of the kid's airway settling down when he talked. "Did the security get him?"

"Yeah, kid, don't worry about that and worry about yourself for now," Yami answered him. He took the pair of scissors that Seto produced seemingly out of nowhere and started cutting the scrub top away to reveal the injury properly to their eyes. Seto was quickly putting on gloves, handing Yami a pair and while he snapped them on, the brunet was holding his head close to Ryuji's nose and mouth, directing his face towards his chest as he looked, listened and felt for breathing. Satisfied by his findings, he grabbed a blood pressure cuff and wrapped it around Ryuji's arm.

Yami took a closer look at the wound. It was deep. It was located just two fingers' breadth below Ryuji's right clavicle and just three to the outside of his sternum. But although it was deep and bleeding heavily, it seemed that it wasn't a stab. He took a deep breath, feeling much calmer now and reached inside the wound, feeling its true depth under all that blood and reaching for its base.

"Ryuji… I want you to take a deep breath for me, kid, can you?" he said and was glad to see the dark-haired head nodding curtly. He watched for any paradoxical motions, kept his fingers in the wound to feel for air, paying close attention to the symmetry of the chest motions. All of his worries faded and he sighed in relief, nodding at Seto who was waiting for his verdict. "Just skin, soft tissue and muscles. No pneumothorax."

He glanced at the blood pressure reading, confirming a 130/90 and sat back down on his haunches beside his 'patient'.

"You're gonna be fine, Ryuji," he said. "You're gonna be just fine."

By the time the entire fiasco was over, it was a little past six in the morning. These things took a much shorter time in Egypt than they did in Japan, he decided as he made sure to let Honda know that he had the rest of the shift and a few days off to take care of his lover, who was now asleep in the passenger's seat of Honda's car as the painkillers he was given took away the pain he had been in and pulled him under to sleep.

Yami and Seto were the ones who stitched up the wound. It wasn't a stab but it was deep. Thankfully as they had both confirmed, it wasn't deep to reach the lung or its surrounding pleura and did not cause a collapse. Otherwise Ryuji would not have been sent home and their job would not have been simple stitches; he would have been sent to an operating theater to get a chest tube inserted and would have been a guest at the hospital for many days after. He and Seto made sure no significant lasting mark was left on him, though, stitching the torn muscles then perfectly aligning the open skin, Seto placing the most beautiful simple interrupted sutures Yami had ever seen in his entire life.

All in all, they made sure they gave Ryuji the surgeon-version of a good pampering.

They left the rest up to Honda, who thanked him and drove away. Yami watched him leave then reentered the hospital.

"What a night…" Seto grunted the moment he saw him.

Yami shook his head, not knowing what to say to reply to that. He could never get used to this. It was even more difficult for his colleagues here, he knew, since an attack on medical personnel on hospital premises was so unbelievable here. It had been a once a week occurrence –at least—in Egypt. And the difference was that usually, he was outnumbered, without backup from colleagues and with security smoking pot outside and laughing at their predicament. Here, things were different.

Here, statements were taken by the police from each and every one of them. Yami and Seto wrote reports in addition to that, describing the damage inflicted on Ryuji. A committee had been formed by the hospital to investigate the incident to try and prevent similar ones from taking place in the future. The syndicate was called and a representative arrived to take a statement. There was a bunch of other measures taken that made such a huge fuss out of the incident, Yami didn't know if the reaction was blowing it out of proportions, or Egypt just ensured absolutely no rights when a doctor was attacked thusly. His mind provided that perhaps it was a bit of both.

It didn't make it any less difficult though. They were all shaken badly by what happened. The head of the hospital had been notified immediately. He called the doctors and nurses who were to take over the next shift, asking them to arrive earlier to give them the rest of the shift off and he told them and the nurse who had been present to take three days paid leave to recover; Ryuuji was off until he made full physical recovery. He also said the hospital was to pay for counseling after the incident for all of them. Yami had wanted to giggle at that, but knew it would be inappropriate.

Yami had told Honda to take as long as he needed and that he would make sure his shifts were covered. Between himself and the other junior residents, he would ensure Ryuji had Honda by his side during most of his recovery.

"I'm glad it's over," he commented as an afterthought, distracted by his next worry.

Anzu was moved to the observation areas. She would be kept there for a few hours to ensure that the blow to her head –which needed seven stitches to a wound that Yugi had cleaned before their arrival at the hospital—didn't cause any delayed hemorrhage. She had given her statement. She wasn't going to press charges when she first arrived at the hospital, but after getting attacked a second time, she had a change of heart regarding the matter.

The man with dreadlocks was her dance instructor in the ballet school she was attending. He had a very weird name that sounded like a cheesy pick-up line. She had rejected him several times, but he obviously couldn't take no for an answer. Tonight, he had attacked her at the empty center, giving her the injuries she had arrived with. She had returned home and sought out Yugi's help, but apparently, the man was either very stupid or just crazy and decided he needed to look for her at Domino's hospitals, since he went to her place at the dorms and didn't find her there.

Yugi had been present at the statement she gave. She had insisted and he complied, sitting next to her carefully and allowing her to hold his hand while doing so.

Yami headed for the observation rooms, knowing that the police was done with them. He moved quietly so he wouldn't disturb the sleeping patients and their relatives. Gently, he pushed the curtain that surrounded Anzu's bed and stepped into the small enclosure. He turned and calmly took in the scene before him.

The woman was asleep on her side. Bandages were wrapped around her head. Thankfully, they did not have to shave a huge part of her beautiful brown hair off. She had a tight look on her face and Yami guessed she was either having unpleasant dreams or was in too much discomfort to rest properly. He had been struck by the uneasy thought that she had been sexually assaulted, especially that Ryuji had been offering a female resident to examine her. His curiosity caused him to double check the list of things used in the nurse's notes after one of those female residents examined Anzu anyway, continuing where Ryuji left. To his complete unease, he saw that a rape kit had been used. He had been feeling nauseous ever since.

He tried pushing away those thoughts and his gaze shifted towards Yugi. His brother was half seated in the bedside chair, half lying down on the bed next to Anzu. Their hands were close to each other. Apparently, they were holding them together when sleep caught up with them. He wondered if his brother knew the extent of the abuse this girl had seen. He then remembered that Yugi was present for the statement she gave; most probably, he was very much aware of what happened.

Yami sighed. Yugi was going to have his hands full…

Gently, he reached out and tenderly placed his hand in Yugi's hair in a gesture he remembered from their childhood years. Unfailingly, Yugi's eyes opened and he blinked, looking around him, then remembering where he was and what happened.

He rubbed his eyes and followed Yami outside the curtain.

"You okay?" Yami asked.

"I should be asking you that…" Yugi mumbled, voice thick with sleep.

"I'm fine…just another day at the office," Yami teased, a little smile tugging on his lips. "Are you going home?"

Yugi shook his head. "No…it's alright, I'll wait until she's discharged. She doesn't have anyone else."

Yami stared at him silently for a few seconds.

"Yami, for once, could you please believe me when I tell you I am a responsible adult and I know what I am doing?" Yugi groaned out softly.

Yami sighed, for what seemed like the millionth time this shift. "Alright… I believe you. And I believe in you. Just remember to eat and drink water. She needs you healthy." He told him. Yugi's frown smoothed out. He added, "If you need anything just call me. I will be going home now to get some rest. It's been a very long night."

"Go ahead. I'll be fine. Will they give me instructions when she gets released, though?" Yugi asked him.

Yami nodded, "They will tell you everything you need to know, don't worry. And as I said, if you need anything, call me any time."

And with that, he gave him a one armed hug, patting his head twice, then turning to leave.

Seto was waiting for him just outside the observation areas. He was carrying Yami's bag. He gave it to him and they walked side by side, slowly, out into the parking areas.

As they reached their cars, Seto spoke.

"Can we meet up for some coffee tonight?" Yami looked up at him. "Just to chat a little… I am not trying to be annoying," the brunet clarified.

Yami grinned tiredly up at him. "Yes, of course… of course we can. I'd love to," he mumbled. "You don't have to justify it, really."

Seto smiled back at him. Not a smirk, not that arrogant little twitch that annoyed him so much. No, this was one of those smiles.

The brunet told him they'd meet at the coffee-shop by the pier at five, giving themselves ample time to sleep. He then got into his car, started it up and drove away after saying goodbye.

Yami smiled softly to himself for a few moments, then started up his own car and drove home.

tbc…