Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Fading Like a Flower ❯ One ( Chapter 1 )

Title: Fading Like a Flower.

Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh!, or the movie Black. I wouldn't be writing fiction then now would I?

Summary: Loosely based on the Hindi movie: Black and on a personal experience. It started with Yami being Seto's partner in the Bio lab, then a little chat with Yugi that revealed to Seto the incident taking place with Yami a few months ago, landing him into the state he was in recently.

Genre: Angst, a tinge of romance.

Rating: M

Warnings: Cutting, self harm, and since there's cutting, then there is a massive amount of blood, duh!

Pairings: Yami/Seto.

A/N: I'm writing a cutting fic? No way. Okay, Yami should kill me for what I'm doing to him in this one, mwahaha! I can't blame the guy actually; maybe you'll want to kill me too. But believe me; this is going to be different from my other stories, really. But I still feel a little nervous about what you people will think about this, dunno. Anyways…

 

Chapter one

 

“Yami, wake up, we'll be late for school.”

 

Yugi shouted at the top of his voice, standing in the middle of his and Yami's shared bedroom. But his Dark obviously didn't want to get up no matter what, “I don't want to go.” He whined, pulling the covers tighter around his body.

 

“Yami, c'mon, you can't skip school today. Hurry, we'll be late.” Yugi said in exasperation, poking Yami in the ribs, from above the covers. The other squirmed slightly in stubbornness before huffing in annoyance and opening his bloodshot eyes that were clouded with sleep and surprisingly weariness.

 

“Fine. I'm up. Don't ever, ever poke me again like that.” He said, glaring at his light, before rising up from bed to go to the bathroom, yawning widely all the way.

 

Yugi shrugged and started changing into his school uniform.

 

Thirty minutes later, both Yami and Yugi were saying their goodbyes to Solomon as they headed towards school. Yugi ran over to Joey as he met up with the blonde and both started chatting non-stop till they reached school.

 

Few minutes later, when Yugi and Joey met Téa and Tristan in the school campus, Yami moved away from them to his locker to get his books and get ready for their first class, Biology. He strode over to the Bio lab.

 

But to his annoyance, he wasn't the only one who thought of going to the lab early; Seto Kaiba sat at the end of the room, reading The Street Lawyer: John Grisham. He lifted his head up to look at the newcomer coldly, something stirring inside the deep blue orbs before he shook his head and looked back at his book, totally ignoring Yami.

 

The former Pharaoh scowled, then took a place somewhere in the center of the laboratory. Slowly students drifted inside the lab, then the bell rang, and the teacher came inside, carrying his books with him.

 

“Good morning class. Today I want you all in pairs, since we're doing practical work and here's how it goes…” he said, then started to call out the names of different students, “Jerry Simpson with Tristan Taylor, Wheeler with Bakura, Yami Motou with Kaiba and finally, Yugi Motou with Gardner.”

 

Yami groaned as his name was called out and his partner revealed. He glared heatedly at the teacher, who merely replied with a smile that got on the ends of Yami's nerves. He got up from his place, and moved towards Kaiba, who was having the same facial expression like Yami's.

 

Yami glared at the brunet, who glared back. In retaliation, the former pharaoh rolled his eyes and took his place beside him.

 

“Right, now that we are all seated and comfy,” the teacher said, but got a number of disbelieving and mocking snorts as a reply, but he carried on anyways, “We will start today's lesson, Food Tests.”

 

Yami narrowed his eyes in his concentration, and beside him Kaiba watched with interest as the teacher started planning out a table on the white board occupying most of the space behind the teacher's desk.

 

“For today, we will only study the test for glucose and proteins. As all of you can see in the table, the method for checking for starch is to add Iodine solution to the sample. Anyone can tell me if the test was positive, what color the sample will turn to?” the abnormally cheerful teacher asked. (A/N: By god he's exactly like Ma'am Rena, our Bio teacher!)

 

No one answered, Kaiba smirked, knowing the answer, but giving the teacher a bad time. Yami rolled his crimson eyes, and then his deep voice rang out through the whole class, “A blue-black color. And if it is negative, the iodine solution remains the same color.”

 

“Okay, that was correct.” The biology teacher nodded his consent and admiration, making the former Pharaoh roll his eyes once again, and shake his head in disgust at the simplicity of the question, making the brunet beside him snort.

 

“Okay, and for proteins, the table instructs adding potassium hydroxide, mix well with the sample, and then add a few drops of 1% copper sulphate solution. Okay, lets check you in chemistry: which instrument can we use to get no more than a few drops into the sample?” he asked again cheerfully, obviously not put down by his previous futile attempt.

 

It was Kaiba's turn to roll his eyes, “Don't this guy ever give up?” he said in a whisper so that only Yami heard him and shake his head in agreement.

 

Again, no one answered. The teacher looked around hopefully, then his eyes landed on Kaiba's smirking expression, “Ah, Mr. Kaiba. Do tell us.” He said in a challenging tone of voice.

 

Kaiba rolled his eyes, “you use a pipette, you big duh!”

 

A few people snickered, and the poor man narrowed his eyes, “Oh, okay. Then why don't you speak up if you already know the answer?” he seethed.

 

“I don't feel like it.” Kaiba replied coldly, glaring at the teacher.

 

“Alright, fine. Okay, everyone, as you can see, each pair has a sample to test. You will work as pairs, and tomorrow, we will be taking the tests for other nutrients. Go on, start working.”

 

Yami took a few seconds observing the samples they had to work with; there was a potato in front of them, along with a test tube full of milk, he heard Kaiba mumbling a complaint beside him, “What the heck? Everyone knows that potatoes have starch in them and that milk has protein.”

 

“Kaiba, stop being a jerk and start working.” Yami snapped, taking the potassium hydroxide from inside the cupboard underneath the marble counter of the lab. Kaiba rolled his eyes and moved to get the 1% copper sulphate. By the time he had got it, Yami had already put the potassium hydroxide with the milk. He pushed it into Kaiba's hands, “Shake it.” he said sternly.

 

“Don't boss me around.” Seto growled but shook the solution anyways, watching with interest as Yami put one end of the pipette inside the dark bottle of copper sulphate, and with the grace and gentleness of a butterfly he sucked on the other end, “Be careful, don't swallow it.” the CEO said.

 

Yami ignored him, then removed his mouth from the end of the pipette, and put his thumb there, blocking the liquid from escaping through the other end, “Kaiba, I did this before, unlike you. I know when to stop drawing up the liquid.” He said coldly, before putting the delicate instrument at the mouth of the test tube, removing his finger to allow the air to pass through it and the liquid to escape.

 

“Damn it, Yami. For the past while you've always been in this foul mood. Why the hell is that?” Seto said, annoyed.

 

“Look, a positive test. The milk turned a purple color.” Yami said, ignoring Seto's protest and pointing at the liquid.

 

“Of course it will be a positive, its milk! And don't change the subject.”

 

Yami ignored him once more and took out a knife from a nearby drawer to cut the potato in half. Seto watched, marveling the way the blonde bangs fell on the flawless, tanned skin of Yami's face and the way slender fingers handled the knife delicately, `he's got beautiful hands! Actually, I can't find one thing about him that's not…' Seto started thinking, then he got distracted when one of the hand he was watching got stained by bright red blood, and a gasp of pain left Yami's mouth.

 

Seto flinched at the sight of the nasty cut that ran up from the tip of Yami's forefinger to its middle; it was deep, very deep that is. Seto moved up beside Yami, “Oh my god. That is deep. Here let me…”

 

“No, I'm fine.” Yami interrupted, taking his hand away from Seto's.

 

Seto ignored him, and grabbed Yami's arm back in a vice-like grip, “Stop being childish and let me see that nasty cut.” He barked, and he was about to examine the cut but stopped as Yami gasped loudly in pain. The brunet lifted his gaze to look into Yami's crimson eyes that, to his surprise, were filled with sheer agony and fear.

 

Seto questioned Yami silently what was wrong with him, and in return he got a very heated glare, that was a very scary mixture of anger and pain, “Kaiba, I told you I was alright, now let me go and leave me alone.” Yami snapped angrily, pulling his arm out of Seto's hand, but hissing once again in pain, as his arm was grazed under the dark, navy-blue jacket's fabric.

 

“No, wait.” Seto insisted, his mind begging him to ask Yami what had pained him so much.

 

“GOD DAMN IT, KAIBA. I SAID LEAVE ME ALONE.” Yami yelled at him, catching everyone's attention in the room. Immediately, murmurs were heard, hushed whispers and the Bio teacher strode to stand beside them.

 

“Boys, boys. Why are you fighting?” he said sheepishly staring at both of them. Seto let go of Yami's arm, letting him glare one final time at the teacher, then at everyone in the room, before picking his books up and running out of the lab.

 

“What did you do to him?” the teacher asked nosily.

 

Seto ignored him, and then he noticed something on the hand that was catching Yami's arm, and he gasped in shock because he knew for sure that he hadn't come anywhere near Yami's bleeding forefinger; bright crimson blood was staining his palm.

 

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Yami got out of their economics class, heading for the school building's exit. He needed some fresh air after the previous agonizing hour with their elderly economics teacher, who kept rambling about how a firm should stop producing goods and services when their costs reach their lowest point, and their production highest, in what he called as `Economies of Scale'.

 

The cold November air hit his face, and he moved out towards the back of the building, unaware of the two pairs of eyes following him. Seto watched him and Yugi did so too.

 

After the Bio class, both of them couldn't stop thinking about Yami. So, to end it all, Yugi excused himself from his friends, and strode up to Seto, his face set in a determined expression, that the brunet didn't usually see on the shorter boy's features.

 

“Kaiba, can I have a word?” he said seriously and Seto nodded, seeing this as a chance to ask him about Yami's bleeding arm. They moved out of the lunch hall to the corridor leading to the school's library.

 

“Yugi, before you say whatever it is, I want to talk to you about Yami. Why…” Seto started, not giving Yugi a chance to say anything.

 

“I know what you want to talk to me about, Kaiba. As a matter of fact, I needed your help, concerning Yami, too.” He said, interrupting Seto. He got a questioning gaze from Seto, so he resumed speaking, “You must be wondering why he had snapped at you today in Bio class, right?”

 

“Yeah, something of that sort. And I'd also like to know why I got blood stains on my hand when I caught his arm and why he looked ready to faint from the pain of it.” Seto said in an angered voice, demanding an explanation.

 

“That's exactly the reason I'm asking for your help. If you would wait for a second without getting angry at me, I'd be able to explain.” Yugi snapped at him, his fists clenching in anger. He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath, and ran a hand through his spiky hair, “Sorry I snapped. Its just things are really tense with Yami right now. You sure did notice how Yami's been really off mood for the past while, right?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“And you remember that before that he had been absent from school for about two to two and a half weeks, and when he came back, we both said that he'd been out of town for a while, right?” Yugi asked him once again, making his curiosity grow thousands of times more.

 

“Yes?” the CEO said, mentally wondering where these questions led.

 

“Well, actually, Yami was not out of town. He was in the ICU in the Domino Hospital for the first three days then in a private room for the rest of that week, before he was allowed to come home back with me and grandpa.” Yugi said all in a frank tone of voice and in one breath.

 

Seto's eyes widened in shock, and his eyebrows inched closer in concern and inquiry, “Why?!” he asked in a low voice.

 

“I swear, Kaiba, if you tell him that I'm the one who told you, by Ra I'm going to hunt you down and your multi-billions won't be able to save you from my wrath. No one except me and grandpa know about what happened.” Yugi threatened and inwardly, Seto shuddered at the seriousness in Yugi's voice.

 

He nodded, urging Yugi to continue, so he did, “At the start of those two weeks, after school, Yami told me and the others that he'll be staying in the school library for a while, to do some research. I didn't give it much thought, till after four hours. He wasn't yet home and he wouldn't answer his phone. Minutes later, just as I was deciding to come back here to see where he was, I saw a car stop in front of the shop and someone dumping Yami outside as though he were an old rag doll. They drove away at a breakneck speed before I could even glimpse the car's registration number. I rushed outside, telling grandpa to call an ambulance.” Yugi explained, and as the memory came back to him, he folded his arms closer to his body, trying to stop the shuddering he felt.

 

Seto felt rage building inside him, “What did they do to him?” he demanded flatly, his fists clenching; he and Yugi were lucky that rarely anyone came to this corridor in the lunch hour.

 

Yugi gulped heavily; he didn't want to tell, but what was going on with his dark had to stop. And it had to stop right now, “When I sat there on the curb, I saw the visible injuries; he was bruised brutally and his arm was bleeding as though a vein or an artery was torn. And when we went to the hospital, they said that he was raped.” (A/N: Damn, I always do that to him, poor baby!)

 

Seto's eyes narrowed in seething anger. He went speechless with shock.

 

“They kept him in the ICU because of the blood loss, and he didn't talk the slightest bit about it when he woke up. Hell he didn't even want to press charges, although I argued with him for a very long time about it.” Yugi explained.

 

Seto shook his head disbelievingly, “Didn't he even say who did it?”

 

“No. So do you get it now? Why he's acting so pissed whenever anyone got near?” Yugi explained.

 

Seto let the words sink in before he found his voice once again, “Actually, I wondered if that cut you just mentioned still bleeds.” He said remembering the blood he saw today morning.

 

“Umm… actually no.” Yugi said, and Seto could see tears shining clearly in his violet eyes. “That's the reason I needed your help.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“After that time he spent recovering, he some sort of, stopped eating and started cutting.” Yugi said, looking elsewhere as he started crying helplessly.

 

For the second time in this conversation, Seto lost his voice as he tried to let Yugi's words sink in properly.

 

“You wouldn't like to see how his arms look nowadays. They're covered with scars, every inch, and he bleeds like hell that he always winds up unconscious. And to make matters worse, he lives off coffee and the little bit of sugar in it. Whenever I try to knock some sense into him, he gets really pissed off. He sort of…” Yugi stopped sobbing as he tried to speak, “Blames me, because when he was given the choice to stay here or go back to the afterlife, I convinced him by saying that this world would be amazing.”

 

“Let me guess, what happened to him was the furthest away from amazing, right?”

 

“Precisely, and right now, I can't do anything to help him. He's fading away, and very soon, there'll be no hope left for him; he'll just want to end it all, killing himself either by starvation or by that sharp knife of his.” Yugi said, wiping away his tears.

 

“Wait just a second. So now you're asking me to help Yami out?” Seto asked, his intense blue eyes narrowing.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Why me?”

 

“You're the only person I could think of. I couldn't imagine someone like Joey or Tristan or even Téa doing such a thing, they don't even know.” Yugi said in exasperation, “Seto, please. I give you permission to do anything. Just try and stop what he's doing to himself.” Yugi pleaded, then from somewhere above them, the bell rang, announcing that the lunch hour was up.

 

Seto frowned, “Fine by me, Yugi. I'll tell you what I plan tomorrow.” And he walked away, leaving Yugi standing in the corridor, wondering if he did the right thing.

 

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That night, in the Kaiba Mansion, Seto sat in his office late at night, thinking over what Yugi had told him. It was almost midnight but he couldn't sleep. He wasn't the least bit nervous about what he had been planning all day long, but he just hoped Yami would handle it.

 

He'd make sure the former Pharaoh handled it; even if it were the last thing he'd do.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

At the same time, in the Game Shop, Yami sat on the bathroom floor. Yugi was knocking on the door constantly, desperately pleading him to stop what he was doing, but he wouldn't unlock the door no matter what.

 

“Yami please, stop this right now.” Yugi said, knocking once more and trying to open the locked door.

 

“Go away Yugi.” Yami said his voice distant. His eyes were glazed over as he watched the blood dripping slowly from his arm onto the floor in a steady way. For some reason he decided to lock himself up today in the bathroom. Flashbacks of his previous encounter rushed to his mind and his mysterious tormentors' laughs echoed in his ears. Large crystalline tears dripped out of his crimson eyes as thick as the blood that dripping from his arm.

 

A loud sob left his mouth. He felt dizzy and nauseous but he looked intently at the blade in his hand, it was small and had ancient engravings on it that he could read easily. They spoke of an ancient curse of misery. It was the reason why this blade was Yami's favorite; the curse reminded him of himself.

 

Yugi pounded on the door once more, but Yami huffed and ignored him. He brought the sharp object nearer to his arm, searching for an empty or a free spot, but there were little of these. When he found one he pressed the sharp edge of the knife to the soft skin and gradually increased the pressure till the skin broke and the blood started spilling once more.

 

More tears left his eyes as he felt the warm liquid leave his body, before starting to cool in a deadly way. His arms were a mess. He had gone really far today; both of them were smeared with the crimson liquid, some of it had clotted and some formed a powdery substance as it dried completely. But the rest of it flowed vigorously down his arms to his fingertips.

 

Yami closed his eyes as a wave of nausea and dizziness overtook him. The knife fell from his weakened hand with a loud clunk.

 

Yugi gasped from outside the door as he heard that. He started searching for some screw driver to try and break into the bathroom and when he found one, he silently thanked Joey for teaching him such things like how to break through a door in such a way.

 

A few minutes later, the lock gave a quiet tick and the door was forced open. Yugi gasped at the sight of Yami sprawled on the floor, arms bleeding like hell. Yugi pouted and shook his head, then moved towards the cabinet to retrieve bandages and a disinfectant. He took the towel and wet it with hot water and very gently wiped away the blood.

 

That took a long five minutes due to the fact that the blood had dried and was giving Yugi a hell of a hard time. But after that was finished, the boy applied the disinfectant and then wrapped the pearly white linen bandages around the thin arms.

 

He didn't know how to get Yami onto his bed, so he just stayed there, pulling Yami nearer to him so that the former Pharaoh lay against his small frame. Yugi rocked back and forth, singing a low, soothing lullaby in Yami's ear. And that was how he fell asleep.

 

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

 

A/N: Well, do you like? I got the idea from a previous personal experience and I was watching a Hindi movie called Black for Amithabhat Chan (weird name, I know) few days ago so I just had a plot bunny eating away at my brains.

Anyways review and tell me what you thought,

Hathor.