-- This chapter took me a bit longer, sorry about that. Been busy with work and what not.

This story is also a great challenge for me. It's the first real serious story I've written since My December and I've never written with Yugi/Atem being the main character.

I really hope I captured the mood in this chapter.

And before I go on, the death in the last chapter had it's purpose, I didn't do that for my own amusement... well, not totally my own amusement. I was supposed to kill Pegsy, but while writing the chapter I figured this death would have had a bigger affect on, well, everyone.

I hope you enjoy this chapter. --

Chapter Three

Yugi took deep breaths as he leaned against his closed bedroom door. He heart beat so fast he thought he might have a heart attack himself. Maybe there was an after affect of the Death Note... not only does it kill any name written in it.. it kills the writer too.

From inside his soul room the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle could sense Yugi's pain. Never had the younger soul felt so distraught. It tore at the the spirits heart.

"Aibou," said the spirit, materializing in front of the youth. Yugi gave one look at his other self before sinking to his knees, sobbing uncontrollably, "Aibou, please calm down."

The spirit knelt down, placing a hand on Yugi's shoulder.

"I killed him!"

His voice came out in a shuddered whisper. His breathing had become so hard he was almost hyperventilating.

"Aibou, stop!"

"I-it was just supposed to be for fun!" Yugi cried, "B-but I wrote his name down and he d-died! I-I-I'm a murderer!"

"Yugi!" the spirits deep voice barked. The youths head snapped up at that, his other never called him by his real name.

"Other me..." he whimpered.

"Calm down," the spirit repeated. Yugi forced himself to listen, his breathing slowed slightly, but tears still flooded from his eyes, "You didn't kill anyone with that notebook."

"But-but-but..." Yugi stammered.

"It was probably just a coincidence," even as the other Yugi spoke those words he knew there it wasn't, "Look at how hard Kaiba worked, how much he put on. It was only a matter of time before something like this happened. It just happened at an unfortunate time."

Yugi didn't reply after that, he just sat with his head bowed, tears still streaking down his face. The anguish the spirit felt from Yugi was too much to bare, he took the boy in his arms holding him close.

"Everything will be ok, Aibou," the spirit whispered, "I promise."

--(--)--

"Did you hear what happened to Kaiba?"

"I know, crazy isn't it."

"Guess this means the new duel disk project will be put on hold."

"That'll totally suck man."

"We've been waiting for this thing for those for six months and this happens!"

The murmur in the hallways made Yugi sick, not that he wasn't sick already. He had spent entire night locked in his room. he couldn't bare to see anyone, or do anything but sit and cry. He felt empty and sick inside. He skipped both dinner and breakfast... just that thought of food make his stomach twist into knots.

School just made everything worse. All he heard was Kaiba... but all anyone seemed to care about was what would happen with the company, not that a human being had lost his life.

Nobody in the group said anything about Kaiba or the Death Note Yugi was still carrying around in his bag. As if not speaking about it would make it go away somehow. Even through the halls of the school that were buzzing with gossip, they walked grimly, silent as a the grave the former CEO would soon lay in.

When he got home from school that day Yugi still didn't speak. He went straight up to his room, closing the door behind him. Setting his school bag on the floor he took out the Death Note from inside it. Anger flashed through him, he wanted to be as far away from the note as he could, he never wanted to see it again. He threw it as hard as he could a crossed the room.

It was only then that Yugi realized he wasn't alone in the room.

"That's no way to treat something so... precious," the creature said.

Yugi screamed and plastered himself against the door, it was unlike anything he had seen before. The monster towered over him, dark and lanky. It's head was pale and seemingly sewed on, his eyes bugged out, and his mouth was shaped in a very wide grin with extremely pointed teeth.

"Yugi?" Grandpa Motou called from the hallway, "I heard a yell, is everything okay?"

The other Yugi appeared between the two.

"Lie," he whispered.

"I-It's nothing..." Yugi called back, "I just saw a spider."

"You're not normally scared of spiders," said Grandpa Motou.

"It was a..." Yugi looked up at the creature, "Really big spider... But don't worry, I took care of it."

"Perhaps I should call an exterminator," the old man mused as he returned downstairs to the Game Shop.

Yugi felt the blood drain from his face as the creature to chuckle at him.

"Well, well," the other Yugi spoke, "I've been waiting for you... Shinigami."

"Oh? You've obviously figured out that that is no ordinary notebook," the Death God said, "I'm Ryuk, and I'm the one that dropped that."

"I figured as much," the spirit chuckled.

"O-other me?" Yugi squeaked.

"You see," the other Yugi continued, "I've been around the block enough to know that there was no doubt the Death Note belonged to a shinigami."

"You knew!" gasped Yugi, "You knew and you still let me write Kaiba's name down!"

"I must admit, I couldn't stop you," the spirit said shamefully, "Curiosity got the better of me, I just had to know if it was real or not. But that statements true, what is it Aibou? Curiosity killed the cat... or in this case the Kaiba."

Yugi sputtered at him.

"I've heard of a few Death Notes finding their way to the Human World before," Ryuk chuckled, "It's just human nature, I guess, to have to try it at least once."

Yugi gagged as his stomach churned violently.

"I-I used a shinigami's notebook," his legs gave out and he dropped to his knees, "N-now you're here to take my soul or something, right?"

"What's that?" Ryuk bent down to get a better look at Yugi, "Something you humans made up?"

The shinigami let out a laugh, the spirit moved between the mortal and the Death God with his arms out.

"I'm not going to do anything to you," said Ryuk, Yugi looked up surprised, "The moment a Death Note lands in the Human World it belongs to the Human World."

Ryuk lifted a finger towards the two Yugis.

"So it's yours now."

Yugi looked past the shinigami to the Death Note laying on the floor.

"If you don't want it, give it to another human. When you do I'll just have to erase all your memories of the Death Note," Ryuk continued to explain, walking over to the window in Yugi's bedroom, "Oh and since you've used what was my notebook, you're the only one that can see me."

Ryuk jumped out the window to prove his point. The passerby's on the street continued on, totally unaffected by the creature sitting above them watching from a telephone pole.

"Nobody can see me either," Ryuk said, "The Death Note is the bond between Ryuk the shinigami and Yugi the human."

"So there's no price to pay for using the Death Note then?" the other Yugi asked as Ryuk climbed back through the window.

"Well, not exactly," Ryuk chuckled, "But there is terror and torment that only a human who has used a Death Note would experience."

Yugi gulped and the spirits face fell grimly.

"And..." the grin on Ryuk's face seemed even more malicious, "Don't think that any human that's used the Death Note can go to Heaven or to Hell."

There was a pause.

"That's all," Ryuk finished.

Yugi looked up into Ryuk's eyes. He swallowed hard, working up the courage to pull himself up on his feet again.

"How do I get rid of it?" he asked, the other Yugi turned to him, "Do I just throw it out?"

"Aibou..."

"Other me," Yugi insisted, "He can make me forget everything, he can make it all go away!"

"Just because the memories are gone doesn't make everything go away," said the other Yugi, "Kaiba will still be gone whether you remember killing him or not."

"It's better then nothing!" cried Yugi, clenching his fists.

"Aibou, think about it," the spirit said calmly, "By pure accident, you killed someone with that note. There'd just be more deaths if it fell it someone else's hands. Who knows what it'd be used for."

Yugi sniffed, thinking over his other's words. He was right, there were so many ways the Death Note could be used, so many innocent lives could be lost like Kaiba. He felt the spirits arms wrap around him.

"Well keep this," he whispered, "And it will never kill another soul again."

"Okay, other me," Yugi said, "Whatever you say."

Ryuk chuckled at the two souls, "Humans are so interesting."