Author's note: This chapter was surprisingly hard to write. O.o
Prob'ly because it's about to get rather bloody, haaaahaaaaaa pun. No, but, seriously, you'll hate me. And that's okay, 'cause I hate me, too, and we'll start a club where we can all hate me. SOUNDS FUN, RIGHT?

Thanks again for your patience and reviews!

Enjoy!

Practically storming back into the department, Yami darted up the stairs. His sides ached from running, soft wheezes escaped from his lips with every step he took and his head was spinning, but he had to tell Kaiba. There was a big, fat chance that Kaiba would fire him on the spot, seeing that he was no longer allowed to blame Yugi for everything, but it just couldn't be a coincidence any longer. Yugi was the one who broke into their office not too long ago, even though Yami had no idea why he would do that in the first place.

All he needed was the exact time of the break-in and pay Yugi one last visit. The guy was constantly surrounded by people; surely someone must have seen him leave that day.

As soon as Yami reached Kaiba's personal office, he slammed his shoulder against the door and was finally able to regain his breath.

"Kaiba," he panted and wiped the sweat off his eyebrow with his sleeve. "I— Huh?"

The room was empty. Yami blinked and looked around, dumbfounded. There were a couple of messy piles on his desk, along with his personal notes and half-empty cup of coffee. And when Yami's eyes fell on the chair that had been roughly pushed against the wall, he figured that Kaiba had been in a hurry.

"Great," he muttered and took a few steps back so he could close the door again.

"Excuse me," someone suddenly said, making Yami jump and turn around. "Are you looking for Kaiba-san?"

A tall woman was standing in front of him, holding a bunch of files. Her blonde hair was tied back into a high ponytail with white bow, giving her an innocent look. Curious green stared at him over the rim of her square-shaped glasses while Yami casually pretended to straighten his shirt.

She was not the only one who had noticed him barging in. Several people had looked up from their work to stare at him incredulously and were muttering things to their fellow colleagues.

"Uh, yeah. Do you know where he is?"

"He's in a meeting on the fourth floor. It was rather last-minute," the girl explained softly and shoved the glasses farther up the bridge of her small nose. "I highly suggest you wait till he's done because he seemed to be in a pretty bad mood."

"What else is new?" Yami said dryly, not in the least bit intimidated.

Much to his surprise, she giggled and shrugged. "Oh, well. At least I tried to warn you. See you around."

With a small wave, she went back to her desk and laid down the pile of files. Yami gave her a small, awkward wave before he decided to take the stairs. His poor heart had calmed down but was picking up the pace again. There was a gloomy atmosphere on the fourth floor and he didn't like it at all. It was awfully quiet as Yami looked for the nearest conference room.

He didn't even bother to knock.

The door swung open with a loud squeak, grabbing everyone's attention right away. Yami stood in the doorway, staring wide-eyed at the huge amount of people. Most of these were strangers to him and Yami could only guess they were from different departments. The only people he recognized were Mai, Otogi, Jounouchi, Malik from security and his beloved psychologist, Ishizu.

Kaiba, who stood at the head of the table, glowered at him. "Tanaka, no one invited you. Leave."

Everyone else remained silent and simply watched the two having a staring contest. Yami narrowed his eyes and reached for his pocket where he had put the two pieces of fabric. After he had carefully fished out the handkerchief and held it up.

"Trust me, you want to talk to me."

"If it's about Mutou again, I don't wanna hear it."

"If you would just listen to me for once, you'd realize that I'm not making this up!" Yami barked, earning a few mutters from their small audience.

"For the love of…" Kaiba rubbed his forehead and closed his eyes, looking beyond exhausted. "I really don't have time for that right now. Can't you see I'm busy?"

"You're not gonna tell me I can't even bother you for five minutes. You and I both know that's bullshit," Yami countered, not caring that he was putting everything on the line. It didn't matter anymore; Kaiba had threatened to fire him before, but even if Yami did lose his job, he'd continue to look for answers. They were so close that he could almost taste it and Kaiba was not going to take that away from him.

For some odd reason, it stayed silent. There had been a change of atmosphere ever since he interrupted their meeting. Every time people looked up at him, they averted their gaze right away, as if they were guilty of something. Even Kaiba hadn't really looked him in the eye and Yami felt his stomach drop upon realizing this. It made him nervous.

"… What's going on?"

Kaiba opened his mouth and then closed it again. No one said anything for a solid twenty seconds while Yami waited for an answer, the hand that was holding his precious proof trembling. Even Ishizu appeared to be having an internal battle and right at that moment, Yami completely lost it.

"Oi! What is going on?!" he yelled, his voice shaking.

Several of his colleagues winced at the loud outburst, but remained quiet nonetheless. It didn't soothe Yami's nerves at all, in fact, it pissed him off even more.

"I swear, if someone doesn't speak up—"

"Your father's body is missing."

It was as if time stood still. Yami was completely frozen from head to toe and merely stood there, his absent eyes on his boss. A surreal feeling took over his entire body. A strange sense of calmness coursed through his veins, but his fast heartbeat and clammy wrists ruined the illusion of feeling collected. There was no need to breathe anymore because the black hole in his chest would probably swallow it anyway. A familiar shiver ran down his spine, making goose bumps appear all over his arms and legs and somewhere in the far back of his head, something finally snapped.

People were casting worried glances in his direction as Yami slowly nodded and calmly left the room. It was as if someone else was steering his body. His legs moved to their own accord, to the nearest restroom where he closed the door behind him and continued to stare off into space.

However, hasty footsteps became louder and within seconds, he wasn't alone anymore. Kaiba appeared in front of him and held his shoulders.

"Yami…"

Said person released a small breath and cleared his throat. "So, that's why I wasn't invited."

"You need to understand that we're dealing with a psychopath," Kaiba said seriously. "This person knows what they're doing and we're constantly being outsmarted because of it. We know very little about this person, and don't know whether they have something to do with the murders or not. We arranged this meeting to exchange tactics because we'll never catch this guy if we don't do something fast."

"Or maybe he's simply necrophilic," Yami snorted bitterly and hung his head, snickering. "That'd be funny."

"I think it's best if I send you home—"

"No." Taking a few steps back so Kaiba was no longer touching him, Yami unfolded the handkerchief in his hand and pulled out the two black threads. "This is why I needed to talk to you. The first time someone broke in, they went to the autopsy room and left something behind."

Yami held up the right thread and twirled it around in his finger. "It was a piece of clothing. And here's the thing," he continued and looked back at Kaiba. "I compared it to the fabric of Yugi Mutou's cloak and they were a match. All the roads lead back to him and you can't deny that."

After sighing, Kaiba ran a hand over his face and shook his head. "It… That's not possible."

That was not exactly the answer Yami had been expecting. "What do you mean it's not possible?"

"I mean that the intruder didn't leave any traces. We checked every room, remember? You sure it's not yours?"

"Of course it isn't!" Yami exclaimed and clenched his jaw. "Someone had spilled water, shoved my notebook aside, and the black thread was wrapped around a handle. Unless I have a second personality that I'm unaware of, I don't see how that would make any sense. Besides, I wear a uniform all the time so it's impossible."

His boss kept looking away every few seconds and clutching the fabric of his pants between his fist. He probably felt sorry for Yami and didn't want to make it worse by yelling or getting angry at him, but Yami couldn't care less.

"Like I said, we couldn't find any trace of the intrusion and on top of that, nothing was stolen. It's highly unlikely that we missed all those things in the autopsy room. And I told you to leave Yugi Mutou out of this. He's not our guy," Kaiba explained as calmly as possible. "Stop obsessing over him."

"If you would just give me the exact times of the break-ins, then I can check—"

"I said stop," Kaiba snapped, beyond annoyed now. "How many times do I have to tell you that Mutou will always have enough alibies? Okay, let's be hypothetical for a moment and say that he did steal the body. Don't you think someone would have seen the famous Yugi Mutou carrying around something that's twice his size? Or are you suggesting he used his magical powers?"

Blood rushed to Yami's face and balled up his fist. "Stop mocking me."

"How else would you explain it?" Kaiba threw up his hands. "I really am sorry about the situation, but I can't allow you to make a fool out of yourself. It's best if I remove you from this case. You weren't ready to begin with and now you're all emotionally involved as well."

"Then you should remove yourself from the case as well," Yami shot back and folded his arms over his chest. "'Tis only fair, seeing that you haven't been the brightest ever since your brother tried to strangle you."

That was the final blow and Yami knew it. His fists were itching to punch something or someone and now that he had driven Kaiba to the edge, he had an excuse. Just like he had predicted, Kaiba grabbed his collar and slammed him against the door. Pain soared through his lower back and he gritted his teeth to keep himself from screaming.

"Shut your mouth," Kaiba whispered harshly and tightened his grip on his collar so the edges of his jacket scraped against his sweaty skin. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Admit that you have no idea what you're doing anymore," Yami bit back and flinched when Kaiba pressed him harder against the door. "You're just as emotionally involved as I am and that's why you can't solve this case. You'll never find Mokuba because you're too busy lying to yourself—"

Wham.

A fist was slammed into his cheek and Yami immediately took his chance to fight back. The disgusting taste of his own blood filled his mouth, a red hue covered his vision and before he could even give it a second thought, he threw himself at his boss to beat the shit out of him. His knuckles hit Kaiba's chin and Kaiba responded by kneeing him in the stomach, forcing the air out of him.

Grunts of pain and the squeaking of boots scraping over the tiles, filled the air as the two fought endlessly. Bruises were starting to appear on Yami's hands and face and his knuckles were already covered in small wounds, but it didn't stop him. With every punch, he felt a little bit better. The pain that coursed through his body was oddly soothing and made him feel in control. It didn't matter anymore; he just wanted to strike Kaiba with his fist over and over again until his arm would fall off.

At some point, tears of anger and frustration blurred his vision and made him vulnerable. Kaiba turned into a big black spot and blended in with his surroundings, causing Yami to lose his focus for a second. However, it fueled his anger even more and with a loud, hoarse scream, he raised his fist and aimed for the black blob for one final blow.

A loud crack resounded through the restroom and a deadly silence fell over them. Splinters of glass cut through his skin and fell down onto the floor as the mirror slowly fell apart. A single tear slid down his pale face as Yami tried to regain his breath. Kaiba had jumped out of the way just in time and was right next to him, panting as well. Droplets of blood moistened his hand and Yami slowly uncurled his fingers, staring at the palm of his hand with a blank expression.

It was as if he was yanked back into reality and had only now just realized what he had been doing. There were no excuses this time and he knew he deserved it to lose his job and never be allowed to walk through the doors of the headquarters ever again.

Very hesitantly, he looked over his shoulder at Kaiba who was wiping away the blood from his lips with the back of his hand. Yami opened his mouth to speak, to apologize for his behavior, but no sound came out. His throat felt raw and talking would surely hurt.

"Kaiba…" he managed to whisper, trying to keep eye contact.

"It was self-defense because I hit you first," Kaiba stated stoically and dusted off his clothes. "It was my fault. Now go."

"What?" Yami exclaimed, frowning in confusion. "What the hell are you talking about? I pushed you!"

"Leave."

"Kaiba, I—"

"Now."

It sounded demanding but there was a hint of desperation in his voice as well. Kaiba had stopped looking at him and was biting his knuckles, his lips quivering. The twinge of guilt in his chest grew with each passing second until it was large enough to consume his entire body. It was his fault that Kaiba had lost it and it hurt.

For the first time, Yami bowed to him. He had never showed any respect to him and refused to bow every time he demanded it, but now he wanted to. His hands trembled at his sides as he straightened up and he gave Kaiba one last glance before he left.

"My god, Yami…" Anzu mumbled as she ran her fingers over his injured hand. "I'd just taken the bandages off. What were you thinking?"

They were sitting on Yami's bed, surrounded by bandages, plasters, disinfectants and other stuff they could find in Anzu's first-aid kit. Ever since he lost Mana, Anzu had stayed home to keep an eye on him and even though they had fought over it, Anzu wouldn't budge. Yami felt like she babysitting him; asking him how he was doing everyday, if he wanted anything specific every time she went to the grocery store, forcing him to hang out with her… she was desperately trying to keep him on his feet and it was annoying.

As she was wrapping the bandages around his hand, Yami noticed she looked drained. Her hair was dirty, there were bags under her usual bright eyes, her skin was pale and to his horror, he saw that her clothes were too big. His eyes carefully scanned her body and saw that she had indeed lost weight.

He opened his mouth to ask her what was going on, but he already knew the answer. She had been so busy taking care of him that she was suffering because of it.

"Anzu—"

"Can't talk while I do this," she quickly interrupted him and reached for the scissors. "Gimme ten seconds."

Yami tapped the bed with his free hand and watched her while she finished up his hand. After she was done, she patted his arm with a small smile and pulled back. "What's up?"

"You look terrible."

A little taken aback by this, Anzu tucked some of her hair behind her ear and looked at him nervously. "Girls don't always look cute, you know. I just didn't feel like dressing up today."

"Stop worrying about me," Yami said, ignoring her excuse. "It's my fault you're like this. Don't do this to yourself because I can't get a grip."

"And this is exactly why I'm worried." Anxiety glittered in Anzu's eyes as she gave him a look. "The way you deal with your problems is unhealthy. You never give yourself a chance to take a breather. You always tell yourself to suck it up and move on with your life. Why do you think I keep trying to get you to talk to me? You never talk about anything."

"That's not true," Yami argued and gripped the sheets.

Anzu snorted bitterly. "Oh, right. How could I forget?" she folded her arms over her chest and glared daggers at him. "That one time I called you and you told me what happened on the night your—"

"Don't," Yami snapped and looked down at the sheets. He knew exactly what she was going to say and didn't want to go there. Not today, not after what Kaiba had told told him.

But it was too late. Memories of him crying on the phone flashed in front of his eyes and Yami groaned, tightening his grip on the sheets until his knuckles turned white. Fortunately, before he could get sucked in, Anzu placed her hands on his shoulders and squeezed them gently.

"When will you start to realize you don't have to do everything on your own?" she whispered, one tear trickling down her cheek. "You're not okay and it's fine that you're not. It literally hurts to see you falling apart more and more everyday. This job is killing you and you don't even realize it! Or maybe you're punishing yourself because you think it's your fault that…" she swallowed and Yami's eyes widened.

"… I gotta go."

Yami got up from the bed and was about to leave, but Anzu grabbed his elbow in an attempt to stop him. Her grip was weak, as if she was somewhat hesitant, and it made his stomach do a couple of flips. The trembling fingers against his bare skin, the uneven breaths, the smell of salty tears and finally… a sob.

Taking a deep breath, Yami turned around and saw a hunched up Anzu, her face flushed and tears streaming freely down her cheeks. Quiet whimpers escaped from her dry lips as she let go of his arm and covered her face. Her shoulders shook while she cried silently into her hands, oblivious to Yami watching her. The sight was so very frightening and heartbreaking that Yami wanted nothing more than to hug her and comfort her, but he couldn't. He psychically couldn't.

"I don't wanna lose you," Anzu whispered quietly after she had dropped her hands, revealing her wet face. "You're my best friend and you-you mean so much to me. Ever since you started working on this case, you haven't been yourself and it's tearing me apart. I'm so scared all the time."

More tears rolled down her face and she quickly wiped them away, sniffling. "Just… stay. I want you to stay tonight."

"I have to go see him," Yami blurted out and Anzu shut her eyes in response. "Look, I'm sorry, but if it turns out I'm right, we'll be able to arrest that asshole and it'll all be over!"

"Yami, you don't even know if it's him!" Anzu shot back, anger burning in her bloodshot eyes. She slowly got up from the bed and stood in front of him, her lips quivering. "If you keep going like this, you'll get hurt."

"You're starting to sound like Kaiba."

"Well, maybe Kaiba's right. Has that thought ever occurred to you?"

"He's not thinking straight."

"Neither are you! You're in over your head and refuse to acknowledge it! I'll cuff you to the bed if I have to because you're not leaving!"

The fact that she was practically quoting Kaiba, infuriated him. But he couldn't afford to fight with Anzu, too since he was already beyond exhausted and still had to go back to Tokyo. So, instead of throwing a remark right back at her, Yami held up his hands in defeat and nodded. Anzu, clearly confused, stared at him for a few seconds before she sighed and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"You'll stay?" she breathed against his neck.

"I'll stay."

It wasn't the first time Yami had ever broken a promise, but he still felt guilty for leaving Anzu behind. They had been sitting on the couch, watching one of their favorite movies, and after an hour or so, Anzu had fallen asleep. Using her arm as a pillow, she was curled up on her side, sleeping soundly. Yami carefully picked up her legs, which were draped over his own and placed them back on the couch. After laying a blanket over her, he left.

Since it was around eleven at night, Yugi had probably finished his performance, which was why he had to get there as soon as possible. And because he had been so careful not to wake Anzu, he had forgotten his car keys in the kitchen and cursed himself for it when he paid the taxi driver.

Still, it looked like he had come just in time. He was practically invisible between the people who were too busy to talk about Yugi's performance as he made his way into the building. No one noticed him, not even the security guards at the front doors, and Yami gladly took advantage of it.

After a few minutes of walking around aimlessly, Yami found the auditorium, went backstage to look for Yugi's room, but had to keep himself from falling over when he unexpectedly found the person he was looking for.

Yugi was standing in front of his room, taking off his cloak. As soon as Yami's eyes fell on the cloak, his chest tightened.

"Mutou-san!"

He quickly hid behind the wall at the sound of the new voice. He took a furtive look and saw the stage manager running towards Yugi, waving his arm frantically.

"Yeah?"

"There's still some people who want your autograph and take your pictures. Do you have a sec?"

A small smile appeared on Yugi's flushed face. "Sure."

Yami kept following them with his eyes until they were out of sight and opened the door to Yugi's room. He wasn't sure what he was going to look for, or if he was going to find anything in the first place, but he was determined to find something. And if Yugi came back, they would have a nice, long talk, anyway. Of course it was possible that Yugi was completely innocent and had absolutely nothing to do with anything, but it was too late to go back now.

However, after rummaging through his personal belongings for a few minutes, Yami found himself panicking. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, not even some sort of journal, or personal notes. The only things he had found were his clothes, some old books, his stupid wand (Yami had resisted the urge to snap it in two), a couple of dried out pens and two packs of gum.

"Shit…" Yami mumbled to himself and scrubbed his face with his hands. "I'm so stu—"

Footsteps.

Freezing on the spot, Yami listened closely and felt his heartbeat in his throat when the pounding became louder with each step. Yugi could walk in any minute and he would see the horrible mess Yami had created. The room looked like a bomb exploded in it and, granted, Yugi would have enough reasons to sue him.

He frantically looked around and felt his jaw dropping when his eyes fell on the wooden closet. Hidden behind the tall, square-shaped object was a small opening. The golden handle stuck out like a sore thumb and Yami couldn't believe that he had looked over it.

"Great show tonight, Mutou-san!"

"Thanks," Yugi chuckled. "See you tomorrow!"

Yami was too busy trying to shove the big closet aside to listen to the muffled voices. Every inch brought him closer to finding out what Yugi was hiding; maybe it would lead him to the missing kids or maybe… maybe Mana was there. The thought gave Yami a new burst of energy and with one final push, he came face-to-face with a white door.

"Oh, really? You thought that was my best trick so far?"

With a small sigh, Yami placed a trembling hand on the doorknob and, fortunately, it was open. It revealed a wooden staircase that led to some sort of basement, or at least, that was what it looked like. There was nothing else there; just the stairs and another door. He quickly closed the door behind him and noticed that the voices instantly died down. His heart, that was about burst out of his chest, pounded in his ears and made him dizzy, but it was almost impossible that this door could block out those loud voices.

Yami shook his head at the thought of pressing his ear against the wall; there was no time. The steps creaked loudly under his boots, so he practically ran down the stairs and opened the other door.

The lights were turned on instantly and Yami squinted at the sudden brightness. He was standing in a large room, which was completely empty, except for a wooden chair that was right in the middle. The walls were dark red, very close to a blood color and it made Yami feel rather nauseous.

"What is this place…?"

Without really thinking, he walked over the chair and frowned when he saw a piece of rope draped over its back. Sweaty fingers reached for the small piece and Yami felt his knees going weak when he saw there was blood on it.

"Well, it sure took you long enough."

Before Yami could turn around, something heavy collided with his head and his vision went black.

Author's note: HA. Didn't see that one coming, did you? :DDDDD

So, since it's been a while, I'll upload the next chapter on Sunday, 'cause I feel reeeeaaaalllly bad for taking forever.

… Let the fun begin.

Please don't forget to review!