Disclaimer:  Well, I own two Legend of Blue Eyes White Dragon packs, one Curse of Anubis, and one Spell of Mask, nope, don't see nothing else…

A/N - Wow, first attempt in this category.  (Hope it does well.)  Minna, this is Takato, my traveling companion in the anime universe.  You may know him from Digimon Tamers.  (Hi, thank you, on to the fic!)

Shindeiru

I wish
Why are we here?
Please tell me soon
What we see isn't everything

~I Wish

                "Yami.  Please wake up.  You promised you'd always be there when I needed you.  Why aren't you here now?  Yami.  Wake up…"  A boy, petite and little, sat cradling the limp boy in his lap.  His eyes, usually so bright and happy, were sober and quiet.  "Yami.  I'm afraid.  Please wake up."  His clothes were blood-stained, and had rips and tears.  "Yami…  Please, I'm begging you!" 

                "I'm sorry I yelled at you.  I bet you knew I didn't mean it.  But I thought you had just attacked without thinking.  I didn't think…  Oh, gomen nasai a million times, Yami!"  He began to cry.  "I'm so sorry Yami.  You saved me, Yami, even after I yelled at you.  You're the nicest person I've ever known…  Wake up…"  He hugged the elder, sobbing all the harder. 

                "I didn't think anyone would be able to hurt you.  You're so brave and strong.  Yami?  I'll get revenge for you, I promise.  I'll do anything, just please open your eyes…"  He watched intensely, but got no sign from the still boy he held.  "I didn't know why you stole his soul, Yami.  I wish I had let you tell me.  Then you wouldn't be so sad.  I never saw you cry before, Yami.  And I made you cry.  Wake up, please, and tell me…tell me you're not mad…" 

                He shot a nervous glance to the other body nearby.  It lay on the ground, dead.  The boy shivered, and returned to the boy he cradled.  "I don't blame you, Yami.  I think you did the right thing.  I'm sorry I let him do this to you.  I'll die for you, Yami, if you only wake up…"  He didn't bother to wipe the tears that strayed down his own face, but carefully wiped the tearstains from Yami's pale face. 

                Yugi paused a moment in his ramblings.   He surveyed his friend, a feeling of despair spreading over him.  Why, of all people, did it have to be Yami?  He loved Yami more than anything in the world.  Yami's hair, so wild and beautiful, lay in harsh locks about his face.  His skin was a deathly white, a eerie contrast to how it was before.  His clothes were torn and his jacket was gone.  Yugi saw it, caught on a branch--and shredded--nearby.    His eyes were closed.  And… There was blood everywhere.

                "Yami.  Why won't you wake up?  I love you Yami, I really do.  You said before that you would rather die than watch me get hurt.  Is that what you did, Yami?  Did you sacrifice yourself for me?  I wish you hadn't.  Wake up, Yami."  Yugi ignored his own wound, seeping blood.  He removed his own jacket, and carefully wrapped it around Yami. 

                "What did he do to you?  I never saw you so hurt before.  Before I came, I heard you screaming, screaming for him to stop.  What was he doing?  It must have been bad.  And when I came, you were lying on the ground, looking scared.  But Yami, you're never scared."  As he stared at the other body, a melancholy thought occurred to him.  "Yami, did he rape you?" 

                "Yugi…"  A voice from behind him made him jerk around and hug Yami closer.  It was his friends, what was left of them, anyway.  Anzu had spoken.  She gently bent down near him, and tried to make him look at her.  "Yami won't wake up.  It's too late, Yugi…"  Yugi refused to look at his friend, but instead stared at the ground.

                "Go away."  His voice, so quiet and sad, startled them all.  "Go away!  I hate all of you!!"  His tears, which had dried up, started up again.  "Go away, leave me alone.  Yami WILL wake up, he promised before…"  They exchanged glances, and quietly went away.

                "Yami.  Please, please wake up… I'll never yell at you again, or let anyone hurt you.  Even though I'm weak, I can do something, can't I?  You never let anyone hurt me, can't I do the same?"  He noticed then, for the first time, why Yami rarely engaged in physical action.  Yami's body was as his own was, merely taller.  Yami couldn't rely on physical strength, so he relied on magic.  "Please Yami…" 

                "You tried to fight without magic, didn't you?  That's why you're so beat up, isn't it?"  He stared at the other body again.  "Yami…  You knew you didn't stand a chance.  But you…tried anyway…and it's all my fault.  I'm the one who hates when you use magic…"  He watched as his tears flowed down his face and onto Yami's.  "Yami, you knew that you would never stand a chance against Seto Kaiba if he tried to rape you!" 

                On a sudden impulse, he bent.  And kissed Yami's cold lips.  He didn't enjoy it at all, but it was his quiet way of saying good-bye to Yami, the boy he loved.  "Yami…?  Did you love me back?"  As he spoke, he remembered something Yami had said, so long ago…  It was a happy, pleasant memory.  He had been lying in Yami's lap, while the elder stroked his hair.

                "Yami…  Do you love me?"

                "More than anything else in the world.  I would rather die than see you hurt, don't you know that?  I'd be insulted if you didn't."

                "Would you really?  Sacrifice yourself, I mean."

                "Of course I would." 

                "I love you, Yami-sama." 

                "Aishiteru, Yugi-kun." 

                "Of course you did."  He answered his own question, and decided to give into the longing to close his eyes.  "I'm coming, Yami…"