Shadowing Glory

'Thought'

"Spoken"

Reality (Normal Realm)

Fantasy (Card Realm)

~Dream~

[Shadow Realm]

/Yugi's voice in his head/

//Yami's voice in Yugi's head//

A/N: Ignore any of the following: - lack of clarity, O.O.C.ness and severe weirdness.

I have 3 more chapters to go on this, including the epilogue. I'm cranking up the rating to 'PG' because I'm going to have a bit too much violence to keep it as 'G'. It's rather mild writing for me though, still.

Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh. Freaky asparagus and cheese. Don't ask why.

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Part 4 - Tenderness' Hand

Smack! Yugi cried out as the stool he was perched upon toppled forward sending him smacking into the floor, bounding off of the desktop firstly. He cringed in pain as he lay on the floor, the crystalline tears still rolling down his face, now mingling with the dark droplets of ruby blood resting on his pale flesh. At least he was out of that god forbidden place…

He just lay on the cold, hard ground, his small chest heaving, and the flow of tears growing stronger.

He was scared.

Scared by the constant dreams, scared by the darkness. But most of all, because of the way it felt… real. His whole body was writhing in pain, only the minority because of the topple. The majority had been from the dream. He could still feel the impression of the darkness squeezing his body to the point of suffocation. He could still feel the cold, unforgiving squeeze of the hand round his chin…

"Yami…" he cried, "I need you, Yami…"

It was unbearable. He wanted Yami to come, to make it all better. But he was alone.

'Deserted…' he felt deserted by Yami when he really needed him.

"…Yami…" he said in a whisper as he shut his eyes and continued to weep.

He really had him scared. The dark Yami was cold, conniving, hurtful and evil. Yami was the total opposite. So why did he feel intimidated by him? Why, in his mind, was he beginning to doubt him? Yugi slowly pulled himself up and leant his back against the desk, staring down at the floor with his reddened eyes. 'Don't be so stupid,' he told himself, 'you know in your heart that Yami wouldn't do anything to hurt you…' he quickly raised a sleeve to his face and gently dried it. 'At least you have luck on your side, had the stool not toppled over…'

Yugi pulled himself to his feet and decided that if he were busy, he wouldn't have to linger over his fears and pain, and so he picked up a stack of empty boxes and carried them out of the shop, towards the rubbish collection spot in the alleyway.

Due to his small height and the large stack of empty boxes, Yugi couldn't see the approaching figure coming down the path towards him, seemingly deep in thought, until they collided. Being smaller and weaker than him, Yugi found himself falling to the floor with a thud, dropping the boxes. He raised his exasperated violet eyes to see a very familiar face looking down at him with regret and concern.

Yami bent down, holding out a hand. "I'm so sorry Yugi," he pleaded, "let me help."

Yugi pushed his hand away with his own and rose by his own accord. "That's okay, I get up on myself…" he peered deep into Yami's eyes and sighed, before scurrying for the boxes.

Yami helped him pick them up and then placed a hand upon his shoulder. "Shall I -"

Yugi shook his head and continued walk along, looking at Yami over his shoulder. " Don't worry about it, I can cope."

Yami felt confused. He couldn't understand why his angel was being like this… "At least grant me the request that I can look after the shop now, whilst you rest."

After placing the boxes on the floor and turning round, Yugi gazed at Yami, who was looking rather…hurt. He walked over to him, then laid his head upon the other's shoulder. "I'm sorry, I didn't - " his gentle blubbering drowned his words out before he could finish.

Yami instantly pulled his angel closer and held him closely, trying to calm him down. He was beyond concern… scared so much for his angel that it hurt.

After a couple of minutes, Yami gently lifted Yugi and carried him inside. Yugi buried his head into Yami's chest and lay silently, until Yami placed him carefully into his bed, and he let go.

"Rest peacefully, my angel," Yami soothed as he pulled the cover over Yugi, and then gently stroked his hair, before pulling away, heading down to the shop.

When he got there, he slowly walked round the counter, to take a seat at the desk.

He froze.

His saddened eyes caught sight of the glimmer of recent tears, and recent blood. He cupped a hand over his mouth as he bent down, to further inspect. 'Yugi…'

He clenched his lose fist tightly and bit his lip. He was so scared for him he felt physically sick.

* * * * * *

Yugi was surprised the next morning when Yami hadn't argued against him going to school. Yami had been rather quiet though, even for him.

The shrill ringing of the bell for lunch ran throughout the classroom, and all 30-odd students in the class hurriedly made their way through the door and outside. It was an unusually bright day; the sky was clear and the weather mildly warm. Téa dragged the three guys along behind her towards an isolated spot, perfect for sitting and eating outside on a day like this.

"You must really like this spot, eh?" Joey groaned, as Téa dug her nails into his back, pushing him along.

"Yep, it's beautiful, I don't want anyone else taking it."

Tristan chuckled at them both whilst Yugi walked along, silently. Téa took her attention from stabbing Joey with her nails to the small, silent Yugi. She dropped back until she was beside him and began to speak. "You okay?"

She was slightly shocked when her question was greeted with an impassive glance, before its focus returned to the floor. After giving him a look of inquiry, she sped up, resuming her attack upon Joey, just when he thought himself to be free of it.

When they finally reached the spot, Joey jumped upon the bench, pressing his back up against it so Téa's nails couldn't reach it. Téa decided to take the middle of the seat, Tristan took the end spot next to her and Yugi took the other end.

As all three of his friends began to chatter away, Yugi lifted his knees up and held them to his chest, resting his head upon them. He didn't really feel hungry, so he stared at the landscape ahead of him.

When he felt a hand upon his shoulder, he looked round as Joey leant towards him. "Something's wrong with you, Yug, you shouldn't be isolating yourself," he said quietly.

Yugi stared up at him.

"I ain't gonna bother asking what, 'cos if you wanted to speak you would've said something, but, I'm right here for ya, 'kay?"

Yugi weakly smiled at him, which was reassuring, since everyone else only got a blank glare. Abruptly, Yugi froze, looking as though he was somewhere else…

[This place was far too familiar for Yugi's likings. He gasped as he looked around, into the darkness of the Shadow Realm. His eyes widened in shock. "But…how…?" he said in a quiet splutter as he clutched his arms tightly.

"I was about to ask you the very same thing," Yugi watched in horror as a figure emerged through the darkness, "You banished me here and now you'll pay, Yugi Motou!"

Before he could get a clear look at the figure, he found a tightened fist flying straight into him face, another to his nose and an uppercut under his chin, sending him flying back, glistening blood seeping from his nose and mouth.]

"Oh Jesus!" Joey exclaimed as he caught sight of blood dribbling down his friend's face from out of the blue. "Yugi!" he yelled, shaking him, but there was no response. He was in a trance.

Téa and Tristan quickly crowded round to see what the fuss was about, and were taken by as much surprise as Joey.

"What do we do?!" Joey said, freaking out.

[Yugi cried out as a foot swooped into his gut whilst he was trying to get back to his feet, causing him to fall back to his knees, and yelped in pain when a heel dropped down onto his back flattening him against the floor, bruising his ribs. After coughing up blood, Yugi could feel the tears falling again as his attacker dragged him back up to feet, only to be thrown face first back down. ]

As more blood rolled down his pale, delicate face, his friends became increasingly desperate. They couldn't snap him out of it, nor could they stand to see anymore of it.

"Yami! Please, if you can hear me, help him, please!" Joey pleaded, both his hands over Yugi's shoulders.

Joey stepped back in relief when all three saw Yami emerge from the Millennium Puzzle. The second he caught sight of Yugi his face recoiled. He ran over and held his angel close.

[Yugi was blinded by pain. He could taste the blood and tears running down his face and into his small mouth. "…Please…no…no more…" he begged.

// Yugi! It's okay, Yugi, I have you here in my arms, please, come back to me… trust in me… //

Yugi's violet eyes opened. "Yami…" he gasped, before he fell limp.]

Yami smiled when Yugi blinked, and he gently wiped the blood and tears away with his sleeve from his angel's face, holding his as close as he could. Yugi weakly clutched Yami, silent in his pain. "I'm taking him home," Yami said, standing up, cradling Yugi, "I'll leave it to you to inform the teachers he had to return home, and if they have any queries to ring there."

As he turned away, all three noticed the single tear roll off of Yami's cheek and shatter upon the floor. The biggest pain of all was seeing his angel hurt…

To Be Continued…