Well, I'll be kicking myself in the morning for staying up to finish and post this, but I don't really care. I own nothing. Oh, and there is now a part two to "I Am." And, even though this gets heated, there is no lemon.

Stay With Me

"Whoa…I won…" Anzu muttered before her sapphire eyes slid shut and her head lolled to the side.

She felt weak…and so cold…It didn't feel so bad in the darkness…if she just went a little closer to it, everything would go away, the sharp ice that bit into her soft flesh that was tinged blue from the cold, her exhaustion, and of course, the cold itself. She had never felt so cold before. She was certain that if she was in her bathing suit in Antarctica, it would be warmer.

The crystal ice that encased her body faded away and she collapsed to the frozen, unrelenting ground below with a groan.

She was certain her body ached, but she was too numb to feel anything besides the cold.

She crawled closer to the darkness and let it consumer her.

Aahh…bliss…

X

Yuugi watched from the hole in the ice wall that Black Magician had made as Anzu collapsed to the ground after her victory against Krump. When she didn't move after falling, paralyzing fear twisted through him and landed hard and thick in his stomach. His amethyst eyes dilated and blood pounded in his ears.

"Anzu!" He screamed, terror plain in his voice.

Realizing the danger, the Pharaoh easily took over. It wasn't like when Yuugi had first awoken the spirit and he would fight to regain control. Yuugi easily let the wise spirit take over. Now, it was as easy as breathing to let him take over. Yuugi faded into his soul room as the Pharaoh placed a hand on the lip of the ice bank and propelled himself over it.

Yami was running towards Anzu the instant he touched the ground. He would be lying if he said that he was not as worried as Yuugi. He was more so actually.

What if they had arrived too late? What if, even though Anzu had won, she had still lost her mind?

He dropped to his knees as soon as he reached her. His breath puffed out around him in small white clouds. He could feel the cold seeping into his body through his thin layers. Already, he was shivering fiercely. He worked to steady his hands as he reached for Anzu and carefully rolled her onto her back.

No white clouds of oxygen escaped her blue lips. Yami leaned his head down and placed his ear atop her breast, straining to hear her heart beating. He stilled his breathing and waited in agony until he heard the faintest of thumps.

She was still alive. For the moment.

He straightened and his sharp eyes ricocheted around, searching for something, anything. He needed a virtual door or a cave.

A short lived burst of happiness swelled in his pounding heart when he spotted a brown, wooden virtual door ahead. He quickly scooped Anzu into his arms and jerked to his feet before rushing towards it. It was so close…only about fifteen yards away.

He glanced down at the frozen girl in his arms. Her head lulled to the side and rested on his chest, her chocolate hair hanging limply in her face. And…she was growing heavier by the minute. He had carried Anzu before, had held her in his arms before, and he knew, she was a light girl. She weighed very little from her years of dancing. Therefore, he should not have been struggling to hold her up.

Only one thing could explain that…and he refused to believe that she was dead weight.

"Anzu, if you can hear me, stay with me. Keep fighting the darkness. I know that you can. You are strong." He spoke to her loudly, hoping his voice would keep her in the here and now.

His only answer was that she grew the slightest bit heavier.

His head shot up and he cried out when the door was merely two feet before him. He twisted to the side and propelled himself against it. It shot open and he stumbled into the waiting darkness, the door disappearing after him.

The first sensation he felt was warmth of the new environment. The second was the stone ground below as he crashed onto it as he lost his balance, Anzu falling atop him. He groaned before focusing his attention on the frozen dancer on top of him. He carefully rolled them so that he was now on top.

He looked up and took in their surroundings. They were in some kind of cave; the only light was from the mouth of it that seemed to be a mile away. From it, all he could see was bright, white light.

He decided he would find their way out later. First, he needed to save Anzu. He turned his determined gaze down to the girl below him. She remained still and her lips still were faintly blue.

He moved to sit beside her and began to roll his shoulders, shrugging his backpack off. He pulled it into his lap and ripped the top flap away. He dumped the contents out on the ground beside him and began to examine everything.

And he so very much wanted to slap his aibou at the moment.

Everything in the bag was useless for their current situation. L'Oreal hair gel, a pack of gum, dice, a Duel Monsters rule book, their extra cards, and a wallet was all he found. His thin brow twitched. Next time they went on another Duel Monsters tournament, he was so packing the backpack.

Yami's crimson gaze fell again on Anzu. He had no idea how to save her. He had never taken any medical training courses. However, he could not let Yuugi in control. Yuugi would not be able to handle it if…It was better for them all if Yami was there incase the situation grew dire.

He forced his jacket off. He may not know how to properly treat her, but he knew that he needed to keep her warm. His eyes raked over her perfectly curved body. First…he needed to take off her freezing clothes.

His face heated as he thought this. He only knew that from some documentary Yuugi had watched in school one day. Yuugi had fallen asleep and he had taken over the body so that he could at least make sure his vessel did not miss anything important.

Apparently Ra had been smiling on him that day to have allowed him to learn that small fact.

He swallowed thickly and reached out his shaking hands to the top button of her green blouse. His face grew more heated as he slowly undid the first button. His nimble fingers moved down to the second. As the second button was undone and the cloth moved away to reveal the beginning of her supple chest, he grew tremendously embarrassed.

He licked his lips and moved down to the third. He needed to find something else to focus on…

"Anzu," he called out. He decided he would talk to her. If she could hear him, then he could explain what he was doing. If she could not, then, well, he had something to focus on other than how he liked the way her breasts swelled nicely beneath her sky blue bra. And how her skin, though freezing, felt soft to the touch as his fingers moved against her flat stomach to remove the last of the buttons…

Focus, Pharaoh, he scolded himself. He might have been an ancient spirit, but he had still been a human man at one time. And now, he was currently residing in the body of a sixteen year old boy with hormones that raged day and night…

"Anzu," he started again, mostly to distract himself now. "I know not if you can hear me, but, I need to get you warm."

He pulled her shirt out from where it was tucked in her shorts. He gently pulled it off of one shoulder and arm and then the other. He laid it out carefully beside them. He then turned back to her and eyed her jean shorts. He didn't want to expose her anymore…

"I am very proud of you, Anzu. You dueled well against Krump." He told the silent dancer as he pulled her sandals off carefully and then her long white stockings.

He figured that he could leave her in her shorts.

He pulled his black muscle shirt off and placed it beside Anzu's blouse. He then lay beside her and pulled his jacket over them both as much as he could. He positioned them so that Anzu's head lay atop his chest. He wrapped his arms around her frozen waist, his hands lightly moved over her bare lower back. He lay back on the hard ground and stared up at the stalagmites above them.

He had never been good at speaking with his friends. Yuugi still had to coerce him into opening up every once in awhile. Nevertheless, he needed to continue talking, not only so that Anzu would hear his voice and possibly wake up, but also so that he would not be driven mad by the feel of her breasts pressed against him through her cotton bra or the fact that he might very well loose her.

His chest tightened as his arms constricted around her slender waist.

"You have to come back to me, Anzu. I need you." He whispered, his gaze still on the natural ceiling above him.

He was surprised by his own words. He had never admitted that before. Not even in his mind.

"I remember when I first saw you, Anzu. You were so beautiful, even in that ridiculous uniform you were required to wear for your occupation." He chuckled and softly trailed one of his hands up to her head to brush the wisps of hair from her face. His fingers lingered and lightly stroked her cheek.

"I suppose it is true that you never know what you have until it is gone," he continued. "So many times have I nearly lost you. However, this time is unlike the others. This time I was unable to reach you in time and for that I am immensely remorseful. Had I only defeated Gansley and then found our way through the maze sooner, I could have dueled in your place.

"We heard your voice as we traveled through the maze. Hearing you in pain tormented us both. We never wanted you to be targeted." He slipped into the plural as he thought back to having to calm Yuugi down, to keep the boy from panicking and to solve the riddles.

Anzu began to mold closer to his body as the cold slowly left her. He felt an odd primal victory at the thought that he was saving her, that his minimal warmth was driving away her immense cold.

"Even though I told Yuugi that he needed to believe in you, I still worried for you. If you had lost and your mind was…" His throat tightened. He held the fragile girl closer.

"Without you, I would undoubtedly retrogress back to my days of being an absolute terror. The days in which Yuugi feared me…I never wish to relive those horrid memories…" He whispered.

His fingers brushed against her cold, soft lips. His eyes glanced down towards her face. A secret desire he had longed for was to be able to kiss her. Would he ever be able to kiss her now?

X

Feelings slowly returned to her as the numbing coldness began to fade ever so slightly. A soothing, deep voice called out to her from where she lay in the darkness.

'Yuugi?' Anzu wondered.

She felt something organically soft brush against her lips like a ghost. "I beg of you, Anzu, wake up. You can't die."

'Die? Is that what happened to me? Am I dead?'

"Yuugi and the others could never bear it if you left us, precious Anzu." The hauntingly beautiful voice continued.

'Yuugi and the others? If it's not Yuugi, then who is…' The underlining confidence in the voice that spoke gently to her finally allowed her to realize who was speaking.

'Yami…'

Her memory slowly returned to her. She had dueled Krump. And somehow she and her Deck Master, Black Magician Girl, had won with the help of Black Magician. And if Sage's Stone summoned Black Magician from a nearby player's deck, then that meant that Yami had found her.

She struggled to open her eyes. Her head ached and the world around her was blurry. All she could see was brown. She blinked her eyes again and it slowly cleared. She could see shapes now and more colors. Sensations slowly returned to her.

She was partially lying on someone and on the ground. Something soft -a blue jacket, she realized- was draped over her and the person. She could feel the silky skin of the person's chest against her own.

She slowly tilted her face up. Yami stared down at her with wide crimson eyes, his lips slightly agape.

"Yami?" she whispered, her voice raspy. She lightly cleared her throat.

She felt the Pharaoh tense. A dull ache formed in the back of her head. She was confused. Where were they? Why could she only feel her shorts on her numb body?

"…What…happened…and my…clothes?" She mumbled. She felt tired. She wanted to go back to sleep. Her eyes began to drift closed.

Her eyes weakly flew open when Yami rolled them so that he was hovering over her, his hands gripping her shoulders tightly and his knees supporting his weight on either side of her hips. His jacket fell to the ground beside them.

"Anzu, you have to stay awake. You can't go back to sleep. Stay with me." His voice was urgent and rung of authority.

She slowly shook her head side to side. "No…sleep…I want…" Her eyes fluttered again.

He shook her again. "If you go back to sleep, you might not wake back up, Anzu. I just spent the past hour thinking you might not wake up and now that you have, I am not going to loose you now. Stay with me." Now, his voice was desperate, pleading.

She worked to focus on the blurry Pharaoh above her. He wanted her to stay awake. Why did he need her? The edges of her version grew black. A small nap wouldn't hurt anything.

Something soft, yet forceful crashed against her numb lips. For a moment, the world around her cleared, her head ache left her, and all coherent thoughts returned to her.

Yami was kissing her.

She didn't know why. And, she didn't really care. She gasped around his lips and returned his fervent kiss, her arms flying to around his neck as she pulled him closer, her chest pressing against his. Her fingers massaged his hair and a deep moan came from the back of his throat.

His hands, nimble from his years of playing card games, moved from her shoulders up to her face, cupping it and holding her closer.

When he asked for entrance, she easily let him into her mouth. And they began an exciting dance that she had never tried before. She decided that she would never want another partner for that particular dance.

When her lungs began to burn and scream, she pulled back, gasping. Also panting, Yami lowered his head to rest it upon her forehead.

She gazed intently into his unique crimson eyes. His eyes were warm as they gazed back into hers.

"Will you…stay awake now?" He panted quietly.

Anzu smirked; the numbness gone now and replaced by a fire that burned from her core. "Only if you kiss me like that again."

He easily complied.

Hope you liked it. I left it off so that you can picture what you will. Already started on my next one shot.

~MutantEnemy6789