Welp, me and the guys have nothing to say so...Let's get this chapter started!

Both Yugi and Atem once again entered Emily's room, to see that her face was tear-stained, but she was calm. She saw the two and smiled as best she could.

"Hello you two." They both smiled and Yugi sat next to her on her bed, Atem standing close by

"You feeling any better Emily?" Yugi asked. Emily sighed a little, but kept her smile.

"A little bit I guess." Both boys knew that she had a lot of information to take in, so they decided to talk to her slowly.

"Emily...Do you...?" "Blame you?" Emily asked, interrupting Yugi. She shook her head before continuing, "I'll admit, I am a little upset that you two kept this from me. But..." She turned her head away. "I feel as if I'm at fault too. I mean...I should've already known my mom was getting weaker because of her heart condition. Now I know the truth, even though it's hard to believe. Dang it, I don't want to believe it." She placed her head in her hands. "Just a few days ago, everything was fine, everything was ok. Now..." She started crying again. Yugi looked down, his golden locks covering his eyes. He reached out and placed a hand on hers.

"Emily...I'm sorry. I should've told you earlier. But I didn't want you to hate me...No..." He looked up with tears in his eyes. "I didn't want you to hate yourself." Emily looked at him wide-eyed. "I knew how much you blamed yourself for your mom's condition, so I didn't-" Yugi was cut off by Emily hugging him.

"Yugi, your so sweet...You think about everyone but yourself, and you do your very best to keep everyone happy...Your a great friend Yugi..." Finally, Yugi's composure snapped. He hugged Emily tightly, breaking down, finally realising any guilt or sadness he had, and Emily did the same. Atem watched them as a friend would, but something didn't feel right with him. He felt something inside him that didn't sit right, but what was it...? Maybe it was...Jealousy? Why was he jealous of Yugi comforting Emily? Why was he jealous at all? Yugi was his best friend. He watched the two separate, Yugi drying his tears.

"Sorry about all this." Emily said.

"Not at all Emily." Atem sat next to her. "You never bother us with anything." He took her hand. "You are our friend, and you are very important to us." Emily found herself blushing, but she smiled shyly and said,

"Th-Thank you Atem." Atem smiled and Yugi looked at the two. He seemed to notice something going on between the two and decided to leave them alone with each other. He stood up and said,

"I'm gonna let the others know you're feeling better Emily." He walked out, as Emily watched him go. She then looked at Atem, who smiled at her, causing her to look down embarrassed.

"Th-Thank you for being here Atem. It means a lot." Atem smiled,

"It's no problem. You mean a lot to m-" Atem cut himself off and faced another direction. Emily looked at him curiously as his face turned a beat red. Atem had wondered where that came from, but a small voice had started to say something at the back of his mind. This voice was saying that he was falling for Emily, but he tried to ignore that. She was just a good friend, but still Atem felt that Emily was very important to him.

"Are you alright Atem?" Atem jolted out of his thoughts and looked at her.

"Yes, thank you Emily." They stared at each other, and were stuck in an uncomfortable silence for about a minute before Emily broke their eye contact, her face turning red once again.

"It's very strange y'know..." Emily began. "I mean, very strange. All this information is coming at once, and I'm supposed to acknowledge it. I'm not blaming anybody, because that is something that my mom and dad taught me gets you no where in a situation." She looked out the window. "I guess I'm more scared than surprised." Emily placed a hand on her chest, obviously thinking about her condition. "Thinking about what could change, not even knowing what could happen tomorrow..." She looked at Atem and smiled sadly, "Listen to me, I'm such a downer..." Atem shook his head.

"No Emily. It's perfectly ok to be unsure and afraid of the future. Don't worry, you can talk to me about anything you want." Emily's face turned pink, and tried to avoid eye contact with him. Atem found himself liking this new-found shyness about Emily. It made her more...cute. He placed a hand on Emily's cheek and forced her to look at him. Emily blinked as Atem said,

"I'll keep you safe Emily. You don't need to worry about anything except getting better. Don't worry anymore ok?" Emily's face turned a deep, deep reddish hue before smiling with tears in her eyes. She placed her hands on Atem's, holding it in place.

"Thank you Atem. You're very sweet. I can see Yugi has rubbed off on you." Atem chuckled at this,

"Yes, Yugi has taught me much, just as I have taught him." Emily smiled,

"And what have you taught eachother? Both you and Yugi seem very smart and charming in your own rights." Atem laughed before he looked out the window.

"We both went through many changes. Some I didn't even think possible for me, but he was more a teacher to me than I was to him." He looked at Emily. "Without Yugi, I don't think I'd be able to sit and talk with you here today." Emily stared at him, but nodded understandingly.

"I see. You two could be like brothers." Atem blinked, but then chuckled and said,

"Yes. He and I are very close. I'm really glad to be surrounded with people who care for me." Emily smiled and placed a sweet kiss on Atem's cheek. Atem though he was hallucinating for a minute, maybe even daydreaming. Three seconds had to pass before Atem realised that Emily was giving him a smooch. Atem's brain seemed to have forced all of his blood to rush to his face, because when Emily separated from him, he looked like a bubble-gum lollipop. Emily giggled sweetly as Atem tried to regain as much composer as he could.

"Are we interrupting something?" The two turrned to see the whole group smiling. Atem's face turrned stern and looked another direction.

"N-No." Emily looked at him and giggled more. Then the group heard some type of growling, and turrned to see Emily's dad looking very angry, complete with an eye twitching.

"What are you doing to my DAUGHTER?!" He immediately ran to Emily's side, pushed Atem away and hugged Emily. "Oh Emily, he didn't assault you did he? Why are you growing up too faaaast?" His eyes had waterfall tears falling from them as Emily sighed as if this was a natural occurrence.

"Daddy..." The whole gang watched this in confusion,

"What is even happening?" Tristan asked nervously.

"My husband is very...overprotective." Iana explained. Sarah shuddered and said,

"I know the feeling..."

OoOoOoOoOoOoOo

A half an hour went by with the group just talking about the usual stuff, and Emily's parents were happy to watch her interact with others then them.

"So Emily, when's your birthday?" Tea asked.

"Oh, its next week, but I usually just relax at home with my parents." Everyone's mouth dropped, but before anyone could say anything, Sarah jumped up,

"Say what?! No no no! You need to have an awesome birthday! I'm going to ask my parents to have a party at my house for you! No objections!" Everyone looked at Sarah, wondering where that speech came from. Sarah blinked an looked at them,

"Wh-What?" Emily giggled and said,

"It's just that you seem to be very energetic today." Sarah blushed and sat back down. Bakura chuckled, but then saw that Sarah's fingertips were red. He held one and saw she had bitten her fingernails down to a point where they were actually bleeding.

"Sarah, your fingers!" Bakura exclaimed. Sarah blinked and looked at her hand,

"Oh...Oops." She had a nervous smile on her face, and Bakura, shocked by her answer, pulled her out of the room. "B-Bakura?! What are you doing?!" Bakura turned and looked at her,

"Sarah, your fingers are bleeding, and you are just ignoring that?"

"It's not that big a deal! Emily is more important now!" Sarah said, trying to get her hand back, but Bakura dragged her to the information desk and asked for band-aids. The nurse asked why and he looked at Sarah, who refused to show her hands. Bakura sighed in annoyance and took her hand again and showed it to the now shocked nurse. She quickly looked over Sarah's hands and sighed in relief, and said that it was only due to extreme nail biting. The nurse gave Bakura a medical kit and explained to disinfect them first before applying the band-aids. Bakura thanked the nurse before walking to a seat and opening the kit.

"Sarah, sit down, I need to clean your fingers." Sarah crossed her arms, obviously pouting.

"Like I said Bakura, I'm fine! My fingers-" She was cut off by Bakura's stare. It was deadly serious, almost like he was about to yell at her if she didn't do what he said. It frankly scared her a little, so she did what she was told. She gave Bakura one of her injured hands and he started to clean them, which burned of course. Sarah cringed in pain, and Bakura didn't like seeing her in any type of the sort, so he blew gently on her fingers; cooling the burning sensation. Sarah looked at him, who looked right back. His face was so innocent you'd think he came out of a orphanage recently. Sarah blushed and turned away, leaving Bakura to look on curiously. As he began to wrap her fingers in the medical tape, Sarah sighed,

"I'm sorry Ryou..." Bakura looked at her and smiled.

"It's alright Sarah. I just want to make sure you're ok." He kissed one of her fingers. "You're very important to me." Sarah blushed deeply and started to shake,

"Y-You don't mean that." Bakura looked at her and smiled nervously,

"Of course I do. I...I really am happy you are going to the dance with me this Friday by the way." Sarah's eyebrows knitted together, but she smiled,

"R-Really? M-Me too." Bakura chuckled at Sarah shyness, and then finished up wrapping her fingers. Sarah felt her fingers, seven of them now wrapped in medical tape. "I hate this stupid nervous habit. Half the time I do it unintentionally, and sometimes I do it because I want to keep them 'symmetrical'. I really hate being fricken autistic..." Bakura looked at her shocked as Sarah covered her mouth,

"Oh man I...I'm sorry I have to go!" Sarah got up to run but Bakura stopped her by grabbing one of her hands. She turned to him,

"Sarah, you're-" "Ya, I'm autistic." Bakura shook his head, "No, you're really so upset about just being yourself?" Sarah blinked, but said nothing. Bakura looked at her sadly and said, "Sarah, there is nothing wrong with who you are." Sarah turned her head away.

"Yes there is. I'm not like other girls."

"And what's wrong with that? To be honest, more girls should be more like you." She looked at him like he grew three heads.

"Why?"

"Because you're one of those who aren't afraid to go and achieve what they want to do. It doesn't matter that you have autism, that only makes you more creative and you shouldn't feel limited because of it. You are a very amazing person, and many would be proud to call you their friend." Sarah felt tears in her eyes as she hugged Bakura. He jolted back a bit, but smiled and hugged her back.

"It's just that...so many would judge me for what I do, even if it was something simple as speaking my mind. I would always look at other girls because they were so much prettier than me and they always got better grades. Every single time I saw a type of beautiful portrait of a girl or even a famous statue I wanted to be just as flawless and pretty. Every single time I tried to fit in, it never worked." She buried her face in Bakura's shoulder. "I felt like such an outsider because of my autism, and no one was going to except me because of it...Then...When I was a little girl...I felt as if I couldn't trust people because of something that happened to me. I was able to do anything, trust anyone because when you're a 6-year-old kid you don't think about the world much. Until..." She started to shake in his arms, beginning to cry, "Until I was betrayed by someone I knew..." Bakura started to feel himself stiffen.

"Sarah...You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to..."

"He...He was supposed to be my brother's friend...My friend...He seemed to be friendly enough, I knew his little sister for pete-sake...He walked into my brother's room, where I was watching t.v.. He just walked over, asking me what I was doing. Being the little 6 year old that I was, I answered in the most innocent voice I could...'I'm just watching T.V...He...He just walked over and...I-I had no idea what was going on...But it's the reason I don't let others in...It's the reason I'm afriad of...Of letting someone get close..." She clutched Bakura's sweater, who was stunned at the information he was just told. Sarah was assulted when she was young?

"Sarah...Why didn't you say anything?" Sarah spoke through her sobs,

"B-Because he bribed me with a video game. And I thought no one would believe me. I-I KNEW no one would believe me, because who'd believe a little 6-year-old girl?" Bakura shook his head in disgust. He held Sarah even tighter, whose head turned to face the crook of his neck. She looked up at him and he looked right back at her, serious but gentle. "R-Ryou...?"

"Shh..." Bakura brushed her tears away and kissed her forehead. Sarah could've sworn her face was a newly found form of heat induced energy, her heart included. It was racing faster than a lion lunging after it's pray. Bakura brought his forehead to her's as he chuckled nervously,

"S-Sorry." Sarah looked down embarrassed.

"N-No, it's ok." Her mind was overwhelmed with questions but one stood out from all the rest. Was she ready to trust someone so much that she'd let them in? "Ryou...?"

"Yes?"

"I...I think...What I mean is I-" Sarah was cut off by Bakura placing his lips on hers. As her spine tingled, she slowly relaxed and kissed Ryou back. No words were needed.

O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o-O-o

Me: This chapter was hard to write...*Face in hand*

Yugi: I know. *Places hand on shoulder*

Me: Well, at least it's done. Onto the next best thing! *Starts playing Harvest Moon*

Joey: How'd I know?

Atem: *Chuckles*

Emily and Tea: R&R! :)