Disclaimer: Securely not mine.

A/N: Written for Dragon Dancer, who requested Yami, 'strength' and 'protection'.

Night at the Hospital

© Scribbler, July 2011.

The silence of night meant little in a hospital. All the lights were on, for one thing. Yami perched on the chair someone had pulled up next to the bed, chin propped on a fist. He listened with one ear to the noises outside this little room: squeaky trolleys, clattering equipment, the chatter of nurses and orderlies going about their duties. Down the corridor, a thin voice called for a bedpan. Someone else cried softly for a loved one destined never to leave this place.

Yami frowned. That wasn't the case for Yuugi. Tomorrow, he would leave here, and that moment couldn't come soon enough. 'Observation' the doctors had said when prescribing a night away from home. Yuugi's burns had been superficial, but he had inhaled a lot of smoke in the burning warehouse. They wanted to make sure everything as fine before letting him out of their care. Yami supposed he should be grateful. Instead, anger percolated inside him.

This should not have happened, he thought fiercely. I should have been able to protect you.

Yuugi had been hurt putting the Puzzle back together. He should have run while there was still time, but he had stayed, prepared to sacrifice his own life to ensure Yami wasn't trapped in the scattered pieces again. If it hadn't been for Jounouchi and Honda …

Yami's fist tightened. Yuugi had been hurt trying to protect him. That wasn't the way things were supposed to work between them. He was Yuugi's guardian. He was meant to shield Yuugi from danger and people who would hurt him, not the other way around. Yami didn't know much about himself, but he knew he couldn't be injured in spirit form. Yuugi should never have taken such a stupid risk over the freedom of a spirit.

His frown became a scowl. This was unacceptable. He would not permit it.

I must become stronger, he thought. I have to be strong enough that this will never happen again.

Curled in the ugly green sheets, Yuugi rubbed at his nose with a loose fist of his own. Yuugi's hands weren't built for fists. He sighed at some dream and smiled to himself.

Yami's expression faltered, before hardening once more, this time with resolve. "I will protect you, aibou," he promised. "Nobody will ever hurt you this way again. Not over me, or anything else."

It was an impossible promise, but making the impossible a reality was what he did best.

He thought.

Fin.

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