A/N: Finally, some more Yami/Tea. ^^ Many thanks to Atemusluckygal for keeping my love for this pairing alive! This isn't my favorite piece of work, but... whatever. It takes place the night after Yugi gets trapped in the Oricalchos, and Yami and Tea are left alone. I'm not sure if it's strictly canon, so bear with me on the details...

Words: 952
Characters: Tea, Yami
Time: During the Oricalchos saga
Genre: Angst/Romance

Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to the creators of Yu-Gi-Oh, not me.

They were moving quickly through the deserted landscape, but when darkness fell, they could go no further. The forbidding mountains, the roaring winds, and the whole of nature seemed determined to halt their progress, but as long as there was light in the sky and strength in their steps, they moved on. Nightfall, however, stopped everything.

Tea stumbled over something that she didn't see. She gasped, but didn't even have the energy to throw her arms out in front of her. Yami, however, reacted more quickly, catching her tired body before she hit the ground.

"Thanks," she breathed, struggling to regain her posture. Her arms and legs trembled.

"We need to stop," Yami said. "This is ridiculous. We have to rest."

Tea shook her head, then winced. A headache, on top of everything else. "We have to find everybody. We have to keep moving."

"Don't be foolish. We can't go on like this."

Sighing, Tea glanced at the train tracks they had been following, then out at the incomprehensible nothingness around them. "Where will we sleep?"

Now Yami gazed around them, too. From what little light the moon provided, Tea could see real worry in his eyes. When he moved one hand to point at a nearby sandy hill, Tea suddenly realized, by the lack of strong warmth supporting her, that he had been holding her shoulders even after he had steadied her.

"There." He started to walk, determinedly.

She stared after him for a moment, uncomprehending. Then she pushed her feet back into action and caught up with him. "It'll be – it'll be - "

"Uncomfortable, cold, and largely unhelpful," he said. "I know. We don't have much choice. We have to sit down, even if we can't sleep."

Tea fell silent. When they reached the slight shelter of the hill, Yami pulled off his jacket and spread it on the ground, motioning for her to sit. Tea opened her mouth to protest, but he just raised an eyebrow, and Tea knew he wouldn't relent. She managed a small smile before virtually collapsing onto his coat.

In an instant, he was beside her, his knees in the sand. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," gasped Tea. "I – I'm fine."

"No, you're not," he said, cupping her face in his hands. "Your skin is clammy. Are you ill?"

"Just a headache."

Yami paused a moment. Then he dropped his hands and looked away, staring at the freshly risen moon. Tea, however, leaned back against the sand and closed her eyes, desperate to relieve her throbbing head. Somehow, the natural silence of the night made it worse. Squinting open her eyes, Tea glanced wearily across at Yami, who was still awake, but his eyelids were drooping.

"Yami? I'm sorry – I know you're tired – I just need to talk a little bit," said Tea.

His gaze became alert again. "Talk?"

"When I was little and couldn't sleep, my mom would come in and talk me to sleep. You know, pointless stuff. Fairytales, stories from work, anything. When I got older, I'd just talk to myself. And if I couldn't close my eyes… I'd watch this little nightlight I had. It was the moon and stars. I'd never actually slept outdoors, though, till Duelist Kingdom."

"Mmm."

"I just got used to the sound of voices… I know it's strange, and it's the opposite of what it's like for most people, keeping them awake and all. It just…relaxes me."

Yami gave a small nod. "It makes sense. You are a social person, most comfortable when smiling and talking, and sleep comes with comfort. What do you wish to talk about?"

The stars, though largely outshone by the full, bright moon, still sparkled valiantly above their heads. If Tea squinted, cutting everything but a sliver of the sky from her vision, she could almost imagine that she was at home once again, staring bleary-eyed at her little nightlight. It seemed almost as bright as the sun to her narrowed sight. "What are you scared of, Yami?" mumbled Tea.

"Many things." His voice was as soft as hers. "I am scared we will not be able to free those trapped in the Orichalcos. I am scared of the darkness inside of me that allowed me to play that card, to summon that which trapped Yugi… what if, due to my blackened heart, he is lost forever? That is my deepest fear."

In the half-dazed, painful, twilight state between dreary wakefulness and anxious sleep, Tea turned her body toward Yami's. "Your heart is not black," she said.

"How can you know that?"

"I… just know," she sighed. Her head fell involuntarily onto his shoulder, and she was too tired to stop it.

"You… just know," murmured Yami.

But Tea's eyes had already fluttered closed. Her breathing deepened and steadied, warm feathers of air brushing across the skin of his neck and collar where her lips rested. Absently Yami threaded his fingers through her soft hair and rested his head on top of hers.

"And I am also scared of losing you," Yami said, so quietly that it was barely even there, barely audible over the roaring desert winds. "So very, very scared."

Neither moved or spoke again till the night's chill had gone, the vicious black gales chased away by just the slender crescent of an emerging sun. With the light came the fresh determination to continue on, and with the dispersing of the darkness, so too did their voiced fears dissipate into mere memories.