Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Memories Should be Treasured ❯ Going Home ( Chapter 5 )

Yami, Nuka, and Kiore arrived at the hospital about thirty minutes after the ambulance with Yugi did. Yami rushed over to the front desk with his cousin and caught his breath before asking the secretary about Yugi.

"You'll have to sit and wait, I'm afraid, sweetie. That poor boy had a terrible concussion from what I saw and there was a gash on his head that was bleeding that needed to be taken care of immediately as well. Why don't you go wait over there with your," she glanced over at the blonde women standing behind the boys, "mother. If I get any word, I'll let you know?"

Yami nodded, not trusting his voice anymore. Nuka patted Yami's shoulder in reassurance and glanced at the nametag on the secretary, "Thank you, Miss Klender," he said, smiling sadly.

Doctors came in and out through the whitewashed double doors of the emergency room, and each time Yami seemed to get more and more anxious about Yugi, hoping one of the men and women in white lab coats would carry some news about Yugi's condition.

Hours later, a brunette with graying hair walked out and over to the secretary for a second, bending over to ask her something. Miss Klender nodded and pointed to the group of three people that were watching him anxiously. The doctor nodded and walked towards them. Yami jumped up as he did and bombarded him question after question about Yugi before he the doctor could say anything.

"You're friends of Yugi's?" The doctor finally asked when Nuka grabbed Yami's sleeve and told him to take a breather. The three nodded, Yami wanted to get to Yugi as fast as he could. "I'm Doctor Welkins." The doctor continued "I'm afraid," Yami panicked; everything that went wrong in his life started with those two words. "That Yugi has slipped into a coma because of his head injury; there's no telling how long he'll stay like that. You're still welcome to visit him of course, it might do better if you do come and try to talk to him. Some times patients are just lost deeply inside there own minds, only voices they recognize can bring them out of it."

Nuka nodded on behalf of all of them and started to lead Yami out of the waiting room and towards the exit. "I think this is too much for my cousin in one day. He and Yugi are very close and I'm sure it would do better if he got some rest. We'll come by again tomorrow." He called over his shoulder to the doctor.

~~

Yami and Nuka went to the hospital for the next two days together. They'd been refused to see Yugi because of all the machinery and nobody wanted them to trip over anything or accidentally pull something important out of place. Yami had a problem with it at first and was fortunate that Nuka was there to calm him down. He felt a little better in the hospital than he did just sitting at home; at least at the hospital he could be told of any changes in Yugi's condition without dealing with the inconvenience of the miles between them.

There was only one telephone call from the doctor but he had wanted to speak to his mother he didn't want to overhear any of it since he knew his mother would disapprove so he left the room. The doctor had sounded a bit worried though.

"Hello?" Yami asked as he picked up the phone.

"Hello, this is Doctor Welkins. I'm calling about Yugi."

"How is he? Is anything wrong? Has he woken up?" Yami asked immediately.

"No, I'm sorry. I'll have to speak to your mother, but I'm sure if she feels the need she'll tell you. Please, can you go get her? It's very important."

"Yeah, hang on." Kiore walked past just as he said this. "Mother, the doctor wants to talk to you; it's something important about Yugi."

Kiore nodded her thanks and watched her son leave the room before bringing the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Kamekage?"

"Yes, there's something about Yugi?" She asked curiously.

"Yes, I didn't want to tell your son this, I feel it would be more appropriate if you did. In any case, Yugi is doing very well, though he still hasn't woken from his coma.

"That's good I suppose." Kiore said hesitantly, surely the doctors wouldn't be calling about something this trivial.

"There's more of course." The doctor continued, "according to regulations, we're supposed to check our patients, like Yugi, who come in by ambulance with severe injuries. It's a procedure for the hypothetical, just-in-case as it were."

"Of course, Doctor Welkins, did you find anything?"

"I'm afraid we have, Mrs. Kamekage, and it isn't very good news at all. We know about your son's and Yugi's relationship because he's told us when he first came in here and we asked questions about Yugi. That's also how we know that he doesn't have any living relatives."

"Yes."

"Well, he informed us that he and Yugi occasionally engage in sexual intercourse. However, upon treating Yugi, we've found that there're recent signs for rape."

Kiore gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my goodness! Could you tell how long?"

"Incredibly recently, we checked the day he came in, just so we could get him on the machines to help him breathe while in the coma. In my professional opinion, including today, it has been three days since it's happened."

"But that's impossible!" She started to argue. "That was Saturday when Nuka and Yami were together for the day. Yugi had been with me the whole time except for when one of my friends called and needed my help. Only Keith was there and my husband would never have done such a thing!"

"I'm afraid I have to say this, Mrs. Kamekage, but maybe you should find out just how well you know your husband. Talk to your son perhaps, even his cousin might know a few things."

"I don't have anything to worry about when it comes to the trust I have in my husband, Doctor Welkins, but if you insist on it I will, I'll prove just how wrong you are."

"If I am wrong, please accept my humblest apologies. I'm sorry to accuse your husband, Mrs. Kamekage, but if he was the only one at the time then he'll have to be guilty until proven innocent. Have a good day ma'am."

"Good afternoon." Kiore placed the receiver back into the cradle a little harder than she intended to, full of indignant conviction. But the seed of doubt had been planted in her mind; she was already starting to see the flaws in Keith because all evidence pointed towards him. `I'll have to talk to Yami; he's the only one I know will tell the truth.'

~~

Nuka had to go home before Yami went to visit on the third day Yugi was there, but Yami promised to call him if anything changed. It was on the fourth day that a doctor came up to Yami in the waiting room.

"Mr. Kamakage, we have some news about Yugi; he's awake."

Yami's eyes widened and he jumped up. "Please, can I see him? I just need to see for myself to know he's okay, please?"

"I'm sorry, Yami," Dr. Welkins used his first name, having seen him so often in the past week that he'd gotten to know the boy quite well. "I have something very important to tell you about Yugi's condition. You might want to sit back down before I tell you." After sitting down reluctantly and watching the graying man in the white coat for a minute calculatingly, he nodded that he was ready. "Yami, we're afraid that Yugi's lost bits and pieces of his memory from when he hit his head."

Yami's world suddenly froze and the words `he's awake' repeating in his head crashed to a stop. "I need to see him," he jumped up suddenly after a moment of silence. "He'll know me, he has to!"

Dr. Welkins nodded with a small smile and gestured for Yami to follow him. They twisted and turned through the halls, went up a few floors and walked a bit further until they stopped at a door with a chart on the wall next to it reading `Yugi Mouto.' "I'll let you go in alone, Yami. I trust you won't mess around." Yami nodded, staring at the door. A beeper hooked on Dr. Welkins' belt suddenly went off and he looked down at it. "I'll have to let you go now. I have another patient that needs my attention. I trust you can find the way back?" Yami nodded and watched as the doctor turned and headed down another hall.

Yami turned back to the door, he took a deep breath, and with a determined look set on his face, walked in. "Hey, Yugi."

Yugi looked up curiously as the door opened but his face bunched in confusion when he saw who walked in.

Yami sat down on the bed, unaware of the expression on Yugi's face.

Yugi swallowed nervously and hesitantly opened his mouth and asked, "Excuse me, but who are you?"

For the second time in ten minutes, Yami's world froze. Despite his pain and shock, he somehow managed to choke out an answer to Yugi. "I'm Yami, Yugi. You and I were together." He swallowed around the lump in his throat. "How's your head?" He asked abruptly.

Yugi nodded, "It's okay. What do you mean together?" The teen asked innocently.

Yami didn't think he could take this anymore. He wanted to see Yugi so badly and now he either wanted to shake Yugi crazily to try to get his little lover to remember, or make an excuse and run away. "It's… nothing important, don't worry about it. Well, you need your rest; I should get going." He stood and left the room before Yugi could say another heartbreaking word that told Yami he didn't recognize him.

After making sure the door was shut completely he slid to the floor and let his tears fall. The words `he doesn't remember me; he doesn't love me anymore' kept repeating in a continuous cycle in his mind.

A hand on his shoulder caused him to jump and he looked up into bright green eyes.

"Are you okay, honey?" the woman asked him, her wavy red hair falling in front of her face as she bent down to wipe his eyes free of tears.

Yami shook his head, not trusting his voice to repeat what he'd discovered.

She sat down on the floor next to him and pulled out a hankie, handing it to him so he could clean up a little bit. "Don't ask why I'm asking a complete stranger this though, because I usually don't care about anyone but me, but would you like to talk about it? I'm Tawny by the way, Tawny Miloki."

Yami swallowed and nodded. "Yami," his voice croaked, "Hitokage." He took her offered hand and shook it lightly before he began to clean his face up.

"Is it really bad? Like your mother or father?" She asked, trying to make it easier for him.

"No, it's my… boyfriend, but I really shouldn't call him that now."

"Why shouldn't you?" She asked confused.

"He lost parts of his memory because he hit his head on the floor." He explained, neglecting how he managed to hit his head in the first place. "I went in there with my hopes up too high I guess. He doesn't remember anything about me and I just sort of broke."

"That's okay; I would've done it too if I had a guy. Were you really close?"

Yami nodded and wiped his nose on his sleeve. "Yeah, we were. Now I regret I ever having yelled at him when I really had no reason to. I'm just glad he didn't get mad at me for it." He told her absently, hoping she wouldn't ask what he was yelling about in the first place.

"I'm sorry; what's his name?"

"Yugi Motou; he looks a bit like me, without as much blonde hair, and he's got violet eyes. He's the most beautiful being I've ever laid eyes on."

Tawny smiled at him and leaned against the wall more to get comfortable. "And I thought my reason was bad."

"Why are you here?" Yami asked, glad to have the subject changed.

"My mom's having a baby." She snickered. "My bet, it's a boy and he'll be an obnoxious pain in the ass as well as a spoiled brat. If I could pick though, I'd probably hope to have him a lot like you."

Yami's eyes widened. "Me? Why me, you barely know me."

"I know, but I already like you. I've only been talking to you for about," she glanced at her watch, "five minutes now and I can already tell that you're a really caring person who'll do just about anything for the one they love; am I right?"

"I'd like to think that; Yugi tells me I'm like that all the time, but I don't think I am. Especially not right now, not after what I did. I wasn't there for him."

"Tawny! There you are!" A scrawny blonde ran towards the pair. "Mom's just had the baby; it's a boy!" He shouted excitedly.

Yami glanced at the boy and then Tawny and then back to the boy. "Okay, Jeice, I'll be there in a minute."

"Okay." He turned and ran back down the hall he came from, almost running into a passing nurse and a man in a wheelchair on the way.

Tawny turned back to Yami. "That was my stepbrother, Jeice."

"I was starting to wonder; he didn't look anything like you."

"Yeah, biologically I'm an only child, my mother's first. Then she divorced my dad for some stupid reason and married another guy where I got my first half-sister, Clara. It kept going like that for about five times until my mom finally settled on Jeice's dad. Since my mom has a really good lawyer she got to keep all the kids if she was their real mother every time she divorced."

"Tough life then? I wish my mom would divorce my step-dad; I hate him."

"It's not so bad, but I never have any time to myself anymore. Why do you want your mom to leave your step-dad?"

"Let's just say that I know the real him and Yugi will too as soon as he remembers, if he doesn't know already. I'd rather not talk about that though; I don't like telling people unless I really know them, no offence."

"None taken." She stood and wiped the dust off her khaki pants and pulled down her `1% Angel, 99% Devil' shirt. "I better go before they send the rest of the family horde after me, later. Good luck with your boyfriend!" She called out just before she turned the corner and disappeared.

Yami smiled and stood up as well, slapping the dust off his pants as well. Surprisingly, he felt a lot better than he had before Tawny stopped to talk to him.

~~

A few days later, the doctors finally allowed Yugi to go home with only `try your best to get him to remember' and vague instructions on what to do to help.

Upon entering the house, Yugi looked around a bit before turning to Yami, only recognizing him and knowing him from the times he visited in the hospital.

"Do you remember any of this place?" Yami asked gently as he gestured around the entrance hall.

Yugi started to shake his head `no', but changed it into a nod a second later. "I remember a little." He said hesitantly, trying to think at the same time. He pointed to the two doors on the left side of the room. "I know the one closest leads to the kitchen and the other leads to the dining room." The teen looked to Yami for affirmation.

Yami nodded with a smile, but at that moment, Keith and Kiore walked in with Shiro. Yugi eyed them for a minute before breaking into a smile.

"What do you remember?" Yami asked hopefully.

"I remember Kiore. She was a very nice person and made me feel welcome, but…I can't remember anything else about her." Yami nodded towards Keith and asked about him. Yugi stood in thought for a minute and with an unsure frown he lent towards Yami and whispered, "I think he's a nice person, but I know something about him that's also really bad; I just can't remember what."

Yami nodded, but didn't want to look too conspicuous because he was hiding something, so he straightened and pointed to the little one-year-old in his mother's arms. "How about her, Yugi?"

Yugi shook his head. "I'm sorry, Yami. I don't remember anything about her." He looked down and started to shuffle his shoe back and forth, ashamed.

"Don't be sorry, Yugi. That isn't your fault," he eyed Keith evilly as he said the second part. "That's Shiro, she's my half-sister."

Yugi nodded to show he understood and started to walk towards the stairs. He turned back to Yami and motioned upstairs. "I remember that I slept somewhere upstairs, but I don't remember where exactly. Could you help me?" He asked innocently.

Yami's faded smile returned a bit at the thought of Yugi's wanting his help and nodded. He followed Yugi upstairs and led him to their shared room. "This is our room."

Yugi looked around for a minute and then to Yami with a confused expression. "Where did I sleep?"

"In my bed," Yami answered uneasily, not sure how Yugi would take it when he didn't remember anything about him, "with me."

Yugi quickly looked at the bed and stared at him with uneasily. He just nodded and walked over to the desk to sit down.

Yami felt terrible, he didn't like Yugi's dejected stare at the bed. `Maybe I could surprise him by making up a separate bed in here and telling him that if he wasn't comfortable, he could sleep in the made up bed. I suppose I wouldn't want to sleep in the same bed as someone I didn't know either.' Yami just watched Yugi until the younger boy asked if he could have something to eat.