Author's note: *sweatdrop* Maybe I can finish this story before I turn 18, I still have seven months, I should be able to do that… Right?
And wow, people are still reading this? I feel so loved~. Thank you so much for all the reviews! x3

There were a lot of questions about Atemu, which is understandable, hopefully this chapter will make everything clear.

Enjoy the new chapter~.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The annoying noise came from his right, he wanted nothing more than to make that noise stop. It had been bothering him ever since he woke up. A warm hand wrapped itself around his own hand, lifting his fingers up one by one, then he felt two fingers right under his jaw, pressing softly on the skin. His steady heartbeat let the person know he was perfectly fine and that he could be left alone, because after two more seconds, he heard footsteps walking away from him.

His eyes were closed, he could not open them, the bandages prevented it, they were wrapped securely around his head and the knot was on the back of his head, hurting him every time he tried to lean the back of his head against the soft pillow it was resting upon.

'Is he all right?' a familiar voice said. 'You see, we're his friends and we didn't know about this operation until his father told us about it. We need to speak to him.' Alarming bells rang in his head, he had to get up and get out of there. When he tried to sit up he fell back down again, his whole body felt like a heavy bag filled with stones, he would never be able to lift himself up. Though it did not stop him from trying.

'He just woke up, sir. I don't think it's wise for you to talk to him right now, let him rest.' He kept trying to sit up and get out of the bed, but his body did not obey. The squeaking of a door reached his ears, he looked around to find the source of the squeaking and found it to be at his right. 'Fine, but know that we usually never do this, sir.' The nurse spoke in a kind voice, but it was a bit forced.

'Yeah, thanks.' The same footsteps from before walked away again to give them some privacy, and he wished the nurse would stay to be there for him. A person leaned over him, their breath was shaky, as if they were nervous. 'Yugi? What the hell, man?' It was Jounouchi. He felt a couple of hairs on his face, gently caressing his skin, Jou must have been real close to him.

'Hey,' he managed to croak out. His voice was hoarse. His brain was not functioning well, he could not fully control his body or the words that wanted to come out of his mouth. He tried to sit up again, bumping into Jou's chest as he went and he started to laugh. 'Oops. Sorry.'

His shoulders were loose and it was as if his arms were glued to the mattress. A sharp pain shot through his hand, he made an unpleasant sound and looked down at his injured hand.

'Why didn't you tell us about this operation? We're your best friends, you know,' Jou said angrily. Yugi merely shrugged, a smile spreading across his face. 'What's so funny?' He managed to raise his injured hand and waved it around a bit.

'It didn't hurt in case you were wondering. However, what they did to my hand… That really hurt,' he said quietly, rubbing over his hand, meeting his infusion and a soft tube. 'The operation did not hurt, but this did. It still hurts…' He kept mumbling, he could not stop himself. The other was silent, the smile grew distant on Yugi's face and he felt like talking more. 'I need to get these tubes out of my nose.' He tried tucking them out and, surprisingly, it worked.

'Maybe coming here wasn't a good idea after all, we should probably leave him alone, he's still under anesthesia,' another voice said. It was a girl's voice, a very worried voice that lingered nervously in the air.

'Anzu!' Yugi looked up to find where her voice was coming from. 'Hey! How are you?' She let out what sounded like a soft gasp and he felt weight on the bed, right were his knees were. Warm, yet shaky hands placed themselves on his knees, gently patting the joints. 'Anzu?'

'I-I'm fine, Yugi. How are you feeling?' He shrugged, leaning to his left and then to his right, he shifted his shoulders as if to stretch them. 'Do you think the operation worked?' The words did not mean a thing to him, he had to concentrate on the words to understand them and he was way too tired to do that. Instead, he opened his mouth again and said the first thing that was on his mind.

'Someone's after me.'

'What?' Jou and Anzu said in unison. Anzu had jumped off the bed and Yugi felt Jou reached forward to grab his shoulders and shake him somewhat roughly. 'What do you mean by that? Why did you never tell us that?' The waterfall of words slowly leaked out, he could not control them anymore, a permanent silly smile was on his face as he started explaining.

'When I was four or five, I can't remember, I made a promise to a guy, he said he was going to take me to the most wonderful place. I want to know what kind of place that is, maybe I will be able to see there… Maybe my parents would actually pay attention to me…'

'What promise? What did you tell him?' Jou was urging him to speak, he sat on the bed, almost straddling Yugi's waist and shaking his shoulders until he started speaking again. It did not hurt him, Jou's grip was almost too strong for him to handle, his brain was still trying to gain its control back and his body felt rather numb.

'That he is going to pick me up and he's been following me ever since,' he told his best friend with a lame smile. '… Beautiful deep voice, always cold, though… So cold... I'm tired…'

'Yugi! What the hell are you—'

'Jounouchi-kun.' The shaking stopped and the grip loosened, Yugi was free to move around again. A cold feeling slowly crept over his shoulders and his neck, it felt like fingers, cold fingers. 'It's best if we leave him alone. He needs to sleep and he's still recovering from the operation. We'll come back later today and ask him about it.' Anzu's voice was calm, forced, but calm. She was probably worried about him, though he could not fully register it in his mind. Instead, he leaned backwards and forwards repeatedly, bobbing his head in the process. Then he heard a small whisper, 'I mean, look at him. He's not himself. He could be lying for all we know.'

'What is going on here?' It was the same nurse as before, a sweet smelling perfume washed over him, the cold feeling around his neck was gone and he smiled contently. 'Sir, can you please get off my patient? I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to leave; my patient needs rest.'

A cold hand was wrapped around her throat, the scream that had wanted to escape her lips died down after another hand was placed on her mouth. Cold blood red eyes carefully studied her face, the eyes were so deep and intense, she could have drowned in them. She could not see his face for it was hidden underneath a cloak, only his red eyes peeked through blond bangs. His cool breath ghosted over her face and she could make out two small fangs. The small room felt as cold as ice, not warm like it was before, the air felt tense, so tense she could almost taste its sour taste on the tip of her tongue.

'Anzu Mazaki,' the man whispered. Anzu's pupils had grown so large that they appeared to be black holes, the color of her irises was barely visible. 'I do not mean any harm, so calm down.' If only she could, her body was being painfully squished between the stranger and the sink, his hands felt cold, as if no warm blood was streaming through his veins. His eyes were boring holes into her own, never did he look away or blink.

The only thing she could do was nod, though she was anything but calm. Her eyes darted to the door, he followed her example and immediately pushed her further into the sink, making her moan in pain. 'Do not even think about escaping. I want to make some things very clear. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it. But you see, I cannot hurt you in any way, because it is simply not your time to leave this place, yet.'

Her eyes widened at his words. If only she could see his face to find some more answers, she had always been good at reading people, but now that it was concealed she could only hope for more words to clear things up. She said something, her muffled voice softly lingered in the cold air, the stranger's eyes softened, he removed his hand from her mouth, slowly tracing her jaw as he pulled his hand back.

'So young and fragile,' he whispered.

'Who are you?' Anzu demanded softly. She had gathered all of her courage to stand up straight, she walked around the sink, leaning against the wall so she could sooth the pain in her back. 'I want to know.' The stranger stayed still, he made no movement whatsoever, only stared at her, she hated to deny it, but she admired those beautiful capturing eyes.

'It does not matter who I am, only what I want. And what I want,' he took a step forward, putting his hands above Anzu's head so he could lean forward. She wanted to sink to the floor, anything to avoid his gaze, it was as if he was hypnotizing her. 'is for you to leave Yugi Mutou alone. He does not need you, anymore.' Her startled blue eyes widened at his words, she squirmed under his gaze and tried to get away, but he took a step closer, so she was unable to move. She started to wonder if Yugi could hear this conversation, had he not heard this man walk in?

'I will not leave him alone. He's my best friend and I care too much about him to let him go. I don't care about you, I care about him,' Anzu said, pressing her lips together. She was on the edge of crying, she was shaking so badly that she was surprised the wall did not move along with her. The stranger smirked, leaning forward until his breath caressed her skin, his lips lingered in front of hers and she suddenly felt weak as the stranger drew a sharp breath, it was as if he was sucking the life out of her.

'You do not want me as your enemy, Anzu Mazaki.' Her ears perked at her full name, alarming bells rung in her head, she wanted to get away, kick this guy, throw something at him to knock him out, anything to get away, but she was frozen on the spot. She felt so cold and so weak that she could barely breathe. His deep voice sent shivers down her spine. 'If you do what I want, I will leave you alone, I will not cheat, I always play fair and square.' He drew another sharp breath, their lips were so close that she could almost feel the fangs poking her flesh.

'…Cheat?' Anzu whispered breathlessly.

'I only want one thing and you are not going to take that away from me.' She looked down and resisted the urge to scream again, she was surrounded by dark purple smoke, it teasingly curled itself around her slim legs, trapping her. 'You only want the best for your best friend, correct?' She nodded. 'Then leave him to me. Leave this hospital and do not come back to visit him. And to make sure you will not tell anyone about this…' he lowered his hand and placed it over her mouth, she squirmed, but he wrapped his other hand around his throat, immobilizing her. The stranger said something she did not understand and that is when the pain began. She desperately tried to scream for help, her lips tightened as if they were being pulled close by a zipper, it hurt. He chuckled softly and let her go, she fell to the ground with a loud thud and he disappeared.

'Anzu? Anzu!' Yugi was desperately shaking her shoulders, she had been in the bathroom for more than ten minutes and he had heard absolutely nothing except for that loud thud. And now he felt that Anzu was lying on the ground, on her stomach, he had to turn her head to the side to make sure she would get some air. He felt around for some kind of wounds, but only felt her clothes, not any gaps or worse.

Then, he heard a small moan. A smile spread across his face and he crawled backwards so Anzu could get up. Jou and one of the nurses were in the bathroom, too, Yugi had almost bumped into Jou's lower leg. A new bandage was wrapped around his throbbing hand, he could barely move it, because the nurse had tied a real tight knot around it.

'Let me check her over,' the nurse said as she walked past Yugi. He felt the small wind and strong scent of a good smelling perfume swirled around his head, it reminded of something.

The heels of the nurse's shoes ticked against the tiles and they stopped to bend down, they did not hear any sounds for the next couple of seconds. Warm fingers gently gripped Yugi's shoulder and squeezed it, he placed his hand over Jounouchi's, enjoying the simple gesture. 'She must've tripped; she's okay, I don't see any injuries. Though I must say her lower back looks a bit bruised.'

'What could have happened?' Yugi asked after Jou helped him to his feet.

'Anything could have happened,' the nurse said calmly, the small clicking of a flashlight echoed softly through the walls of the bathroom. 'Her pupils are responding, that's good, it means she didn't hit her head. She should be fine after she wakes up. Yugi, you should get back to bed, you still needs some rest. Don't worry, after tomorrow you are free to go home.' With a small hum, Yugi carefully walked out of the bathroom and walked back to his bed, taking a seat on it. He had a bad feeling about Anzu, she had always been a strong person, it was hard to scare her, she was always so… down to earth.

'Yugi?' Jou had taken a seat next to him and rubbed his arm soothingly, sliding his hands down until it reached his hand so he could intertwine their fingers. 'She'll be all right. I think she has to get used to the fact that you're in the hospital. A lot of people can't even handle the smell of hospitals, it makes them sick.' Yugi could only pay attention to his own thoughts, he was so worried about Anzu that he had only heard half of what Jou had said. He could not stand the thought of losing another person in his life.

'Oh, good, you're awake, maybe you should lie down for a few minutes to make sure—Hey, where are you going?' Yugi jumped off the bed when the loud bang of a door rang through the room and hasty footsteps of Anzu's shoes dying down.

'Anzu?' Jou brushed past him and he could only stand there, his hand was lingering in the air, not sure if he had to ran after her or let it be. Maybe she could not stand hospitals after all and he should not worry about it, his paranoid mind had always been one of his biggest enemies. He was alone in the room, the nurse and Jou had run after Anzu, he had the feeling that it would be pointless to chase Anzu, too, he would only bump into walls and hurt himself on the way. He was not going to be able to find her, anyway. He silently hoped she would come back another day to visit him again and forget about the whole incident he could not even remember himself.

Nobody was supposed to know that someone he did not even know was chasing him. No one. Not even Atemu.

The night after that, Yugi was packing away his things, carefully feeling around for the clothes he had brought with him to put in his bag. He had not heard anything from Anzu, nor from Jou, he could imagine that school was very tiring and that they needed to do their homework or prepare for an upcoming test. He had learned that the nurses were constantly in his room to check up on him, he was starting to get the feeling that he was a special case, and yet, he was also questioning that silly idea. What could be so special about that eye operation?

Even though it was a childish thing to do in his eyes, he reached for his bandage and touched his eyes through the soft fabric, the very top of his lids were still very fragile and a bit swollen. Letting his fingers slide down his face, Yugi slowly turned around when there was a gentle knock on his door.

'Come in,' he commanded quietly. It took a while before the person on the other side of the room finally did come in, the steps were slow and careful, as if something was holding them back. 'Everything all right?' His eyebrows furrowed under the bandage, he felt the bandage moving along with his skin, it felt weird.

'Yes, I'm fine. Could you move a little to the left?' It was Atemu. Rather confused, Yugi took a step towards the said direction, he always remembered what left and right was because he himself was right-handed. There was a soft thud, it sounded like something had been dropped onto his bed. 'You told me you loved playing piano, yes?'

If he could blink, then he would have blinked at least twice, he hadn't touched his piano in months. Though, he did remember telling Atemu that playing the piano was one of his hobbies and that he never found a decent teacher. He gave a quick nod and felt around for the bed so he could sit on it, letting his hands wander around until he felt a cold surface. It was a keyboard.

'To tell you the truth, I've been playing myself ever since I was little. And I thought that, since you've never had a real teacher before, I could teach you some things. I brought my keyboard so you could show me how good you are, I'd like to hear you play. I think it's very impressive that a blind person can do that.'

A warm feeling made its way over Yugi's body, it was as if he was glowing on the spot, Atemu's voice was very close and it made him feel uncomfortable. Not trusting his voice, he nodded again and reached for the keys. If he was going to be honest with himself, he had to admit that he had no idea where to begin, he could not even remember the name of the keys. Everything was a big blur.

'Here, let me help you,' Atemu said softly. Suddenly, a larger hand was placed over his and guided him to a key, gently pressing his index finger down so he heard the small sound of that key. 'This is a C. And this…' he pulled up his other hand, too and placed it on the other side of the keyboard. 'is the other C. Now that you know that, it should be easier. Show me what you got.' The warmth of Atemu's hands was driving him crazy. For many weeks, he had only experienced cold touches, so cold that it had made him shiver almost every time. The soft skin that was resting upon his was pleasant and caused the corners of his lips to move upwards. Even through the bandage, the warmth radiated like a powerful source, it was almost unnatural.

Atemu lifted up his hands so Yugi was free to play, but not before patting his hands, a simple gesture to wish him luck.

And so, Yugi played. One of the melodies he had heard his mother play several years ago when she still had the energy to play. He remembered sitting next to her one time, savoring all the notes she played, every sound that erupted from the keys, the laugh that left her mouth as a sign of happiness. He reached a certain part of the song and heard her laugh in his head, the whole scenario was repeating itself, he forgot his surroundings, even Atemu, who was watching him intensely. His fingers were practically gliding over the keys, he was absolutely sure there was not a single mistake, everything was natural, the way his wrist made swift movements to reach the other keys and the way the tips of his fingers lingered in certain places to intensify the sound.

When he was done, he let his hands rest on the keys for several moments before he finally lifted them up. He had to admit that he was not used to the sound of a keyboard; it was definitely different.

'That was one of my mother's favorite songs,' he whispered. 'I didn't change one note. It was her song, I wouldn't dare to make my own version of it. It's perfect the way it is now.' Yugi was startled to hear Atemu clapping, very softly, it sounded like he only used his fingers to clap. He scratched his cheek with his finger, lowering his head in embarrassment so his face would be hidden by his bangs.

'That was absolutely beautiful, Yugi. You have something very special, you have the ability to lose yourself in a song and not a lot of people can do that,' Atemu said proudly. Yugi was about to answer, but he was interrupted by yet another knock on his door. This knock was very soft, it sounded more like a nervous knock than a normal knock. It made him feel quite nervous himself, but he answered nonetheless.

'Yes?' The door opened very slowly, causing the hinges to squeak to the point where Yugi scrunched up his nose at the unpleasant noise. The soft clicks of high heels reached his ears, it was a nurse.

'It's Shizuka, Yugi. And, ah, Atemu I see you're here, too. Am I interrupting an important conversation?' It was the same nurse who wrapped a new bandage around his hand and that helped Anzu a few hours ago. She was one of the nice nurses in this hospital, one of the few that did not intimidate him with long hard words. Atemu chuckled in response, apparently this was not a very important thing to him.

'I stop working after ten, Shizuka. Yugi and I were playing around with this old keyboard that I still have. He's very talented, you know,' he said casually. However, Shizuka did not pay further attention to the subject, she remained silent and walked up to Yugi. He stayed still, he was probably looking at her stomach instead of her face, he had the odd feeling that something was wrong. Shizuka was usually very nice, she always visited his room every now and then to check up on him and talk to him, since she could imagine how boring it would be to lie in bed all day.

'Yugi, I'm going to have to ask you some questions about the wounds on your hand,' she said in a dangerous low voice. A cold feeling wrapped itself around his neck and teasingly crept down his spine, causing him to shiver in response. She took a deep breath and continued, 'You see, you told nurse Robinson that your cat scratched you. Right?'

Yugi buried his fingers in the sheets of his bed, he did not like where this was going. 'Yes, I squeezed her tail and she scratched me. I probably startled her.'

'Well, I had to change the bandage today and I noticed something,' Shizuka urged. Then, he heard her shift and he felt a hand on his knee. 'Cat scratches are usually very thin and straight.' Her hand wandered up to his arm so she could take hold of his hand, stroking the bandage softly with one of her fingers. 'Your scratches look too fresh to be at least a week old and they are too big to be identified as cat scratches.'

He remained silent, he was not quite sure if she had finished or that she was still not telling him something. It couldn't not be true, he remembered Maria scratching him before she jumped out of his arms.

'I need you to be completely honest with me. Are you being abused or did you do this to yourself?'

His vision seemed to darken, he felt lightheaded and he would have lost his balance if Atemu had not grabbed his arms to steady him. Jack would never do that to him and Maria… Maria had never scratched him before, not even when he had accidentally hit her with the back of his hand when he was little.

His mind wandered back to that day, he did scratch himself back in the restaurant and, when he thought about it, he could not remember that he had truly squeezed Maria's tail; his fingers had curled up, but did he truly squeeze her? She just suddenly jumped out of his arms, he had assumed it was her, because that was the most logical solution. He remember laying a paper towel on the wound with his uninjured hand, but even before the paper towel had gone wet, his fingers had already been covered in blood.

'I…'

'Well, apparently they're healing. You're already scratching.' Yugi held his head, burying his nails in his scalp. Jou's words echoed through his mind, over and over again until he could not take it anymore, he was shaking like a scared puppy and he shook his head back and forth. He could not have done this to himself, he would never hurt himself over and over again.

'…' It all made sense. The way his wounds always started bleeding again, the nurses coming in his room to check on him every hour. Probably to make sure he was not hurting himself. 'No…'

'Yugi?' Shizuka tried gently.

'I'm not crazy!'

She rose to her feet, her heels clicked on the tiles and she let out a soft sigh. 'I know enough. Thank you.' She left the room without another word, her long hair brushed over Yugi's bare arms, it was soft and he smelled the same perfume he had smelled earlier that day. A sweet and innocent fragrance.

'I'm not crazy.' Yugi was rocking back and forth on the bed, his hands still nailed to his scalp, tears were pricking in the back of his eyes, threatening to soak the bandage. 'I'm not—' The words died in his throat when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. He had completely forgotten about Atemu. He turned his head, letting his hands slide down his face, feeling his sharp nails scraping over his cheeks. '… Am I?'

A soft chuckle was his response and the hand squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. Unknown to Yugi, Atemu's blood red eyes darted to his injured hand, a small smirk forming upon his lips. 'Of course you're not crazy, Yugi.'

Author's note: For the longest time, I had this scene in my head of Atemu teaching Yugi how to play. Honestly. And that was, what, three years ago? Haha… Oh, I'm so late.

If you're thinking: "What the hell did you do to Yugi at the beginning of the chapter, woman? That is not normal!" This is perfectly normal. I'm sure you've seen at least one video on YouTube of someone who was under anesthesia and I've also seen it happen in real life.

Anyway, now that I've made that clear, I can officially ask you guys to review this somewhat creepy chapter, yes~? :3