Note: Some liberties were taken with the severity of injuries in the manga here. Yuugi wore his collar prior to volume six, but Domino High seems rather wishy-washy on the whole uniform enforcement policy, so there is a small chance that he would have gotten away with it on some days, but not on others. Anyway.

Yuugi's classmates had never seen the strange scar on his neck before. When they finally did, there had been some awkward hurt feelings and some calls home to his mother involved, but the tides of tension eventually eased back to their normal levels. After that day, none of the teachers or his physical education coach ever asked him to take off his worn leather collar, no matter how much it went against the school dress code.

He had earned that scar fighting at Jounouchi's side. A certain amount of pride swelled in his chest when he saw it in the mirror each day. While it was, really, a reminder of his own weakness, it was also a reminder that Jounouchi had come so far in the last year – that his past would never drag him down again, no matter what. Jounouchi was a better person now.

That made Yuugi happier than anything else.

But people had a bad habit of staring at his marred skin as if it were a bad thing, so he covered it. He still felt proud of his very best friend, and he still wore the mark with honor, but attention made him dizzy and uncomfortable. He didn't like people pointing and staring at him in that way that implied the scar was from something else.

Yuugi was proud of it when he didn't have to hide it.

On the bad days, he was overcome with self doubt when he looked into the very same mirror. He could remember the terror and the pain of hanging from that hook, the sharp burning as the ancient rope fibers had dragged across the skin below his choker and ripped his flesh open. He remembered the guilt he'd felt when Jounouchi was hurting because of his inability to save himself. He had promised his reflection each and every day since that he would someday be as confident and strong as his friend.

Just like Jounouchi had grown into such a reliable companion, unafraid to voice his feelings despite danger or odd looks from passersby…

Someday, Yuugi thought, he would be that comfortable with himself. Maybe then, when he could wear his scar in plain sight, he would be worthy of Jounouchi's unabashed friendship.

"Are you all right?"

Katsuya Jounouchi, feared ex-member of one of the most ruthless street gangs in Domino City, known for slacking in school and spitting in the face of authority, would have been the laughing stock of his class were it not for the raw intensity in his voice. His classmates had long since come to accept how he and Hiroto Honda had become the most obnoxious pair of mother hens toward small, frail Yuugi Mutou, but acceptance didn't always equal silence. Plenty of teasing went down on a daily basis. Today, that was not the case.

Yuugi was hunched forward, elbows on his desk in typical Monday morning fashion. He was always like that, either staring off into space or scrawling in his notebook in some sort of illegible shorthand until his friends showed up, but something was different. Today he wore bandages – quite a lot of them, especially on his hands and wrists. Of course, the reason for his absence throughout the entirety of the previous week was no secret. He had refused to leave the Otogi family's game store as it had burned to the ground around him, according to the few kids from the next class over who had witnessed the tragic grand opening firsthand.

Nobody dared ask what had kept him in the building. Nobody felt brave enough to ask if he was doing all right. Nobody except for that thug Jounouchi, who had never really seemed bothered by the fact that most people who even spoke with Yuugi usually wound up in the hospital.

Yuugi's voice was normally quiet and subdued, hard to hear in the hubbub before class started. Without the usual ruckus, though, every student in the room could hear his response to Jounouchi's worried question.

"Fine." His voice was laced with pain, his breathing lacerated by a low, wet cough that the doctors said would last a few more days at the very least. He was very clearly the exact opposite of fine, but he smiled up at Jounouchi anyway, baring his teeth in his typical lopsided grin.

Jounouchi smiled back.

They stood side by side, waiting for their turn.

Jounouchi didn't so much as flinch when the other students' eyes stopped on one of the many marks on his body. He was covered from head to toe with scars; some were small and straight, while others were long and ghastly. Jagged white lines told tales of a eighteen-year-old boy who had sewn himself back together time and time again.

Yuugi stood as close to Jounouchi as possible, as if trying to hide in his friend's shadow. His scars were less noticeable, aside from the very distinct marks across his throat, but they were still a harsh contrast to his soft countenance. Splotches of white and pink dotted his forearms, marking places where his skin would never really look normal again. Ever since the fire, he had tried desperately to hide the worst of the discoloration with long sleeves and gaudy accessories, ashamed of himself for some reason.

With a sad smile, Jounouchi nudged Yuugi's shoulder. "We're up next," he murmured. "You gonna be okay there?"

"Y-yeah. I'm fine."

Yuugi might have been able to hide the scars on his body most of the time, but he couldn't hide the ones on his heart. Maybe it was the bright morning sun, reminding him of Atem… Or maybe it was the pool water, telling him – telling both of them – how they'd almost died in the depths at the pier. The look on his face let Jounouchi know that it was deeper than that, though.

Their classmates were staring at Yuugi, alienating him with their curiosity. They all expected Jounouchi to have scars from his days as a thug, but nobody had ever stopped to consider that Yuugi would give him a run for his money.

It didn't help that Yuugi still doubted himself too much.

"I bet you a thousand I can make it to the other side and back before you."

His friend looked up, snapping out of whatever trance his thoughts had lulled him into. "I bet you two thousand you're wrong."

Jounouchi knelt by the poolside, watching for the coach's signal, grinning to himself. That little confident grin, the way Yuugi's eyebrows drew together at the challenge – that was all he needed to know that things would be okay. All Yuugi needed was a little push now and again, a reason to keep proving himself in Atem's absence.

Even if Yuugi's scars never faded, Jounouchi knew he'd be able to wear them with pride. Someday.