Close Friends

"Yuugi!"

The boy turned to see Téa running up to join him.  He smiled at her.  "Hey, Téa.  What's up?"

"I really have to talk to you, Yuugi," the girl said, expression serious.

"What is it?" Yuugi asked, blinking at her tone.

"You know how we said that we'd be friends no matter what?"

He nodded.

"I need to know how much you meant that."

"I don't know what you mean...." Yuugi said.  "I meant that no matter what happened we'd be friends.  I still do."

"Oh good.  Yuugi, I've had a crush on you for a while now."

He blinked again, not knowing what to say.  Finally, he carefully answered, "You're very important to me, Téa.  I value your feelings."

"You have no idea how much it means to me that you said that, Yuugi," Téa said, a smile blossoming on her face.

Yuugi smiled in return, glad that he had dealt with the situation.

"...Because it means you won't object when I do this," she finished, reaching out and pulling his uniform jacket open.

The boy backed away a step.  "What are you doing?" he asked, eyes wide.

"You said I was important to you too, right?  Why shouldn't we have sex?"

Yuugi's eyes seemed to take up his entire face as he turned and ran.

"Yo Yuug, where's the fire?"

"Yeah, Yuugi, what's wrong?"

Yuugi stopped and turned to see Joey and Tristan, walking toward school with their bags thrown across their shoulders.

"It's just Téa..." he started to explain.  "You'll never believe--"

"Yeah, yer probably right," Joey interrupted.  "You know, we were just talkin' about you.  I was tellin' Tristan here that with yer collar an' everythin' you probably like bein' tied down, right?"

Yuugi blanched.  "Just because I dress like this doesn't mean I..."  He paused.  "Ok, maybe it does, but that doesn't mean you have the right to--"

"See?  He does," Joey said, cutting him off again.

"That didn't seem like a sterling agreement to me," Tristan said.

"Well then, I guess we'll just have to test the theory," Joey said, dropping his bag and taking a step toward Yuugi.

Without waiting to see what Tristan would do, Yuugi turned and dashed off again.

After a while he stopped to catch his breath, leaning against a building with his hands braced on his knees and the Millennium Puzzle swinging from its chain.

"Goodness, Yuugi, what happened?"

Yuugi looked up to see his pale haired friend looking down at him with concern.  He breathed a sigh of relief.  "It's just my other friends," he explained.  "I know we're close and all, but...."

Bakura nodded.  "They are all very close to you," he said, expression wistful.  "I wish I could be that close to you, Yuugi."

Yuugi didn't wait to let him expand on that before running away again.

'Kaiba!' part of him thought.  'Kaiba won't do anything weird like this!'

He frantically went in search of the older boy, finally finding him in his lab.  Before he could say anything, Kaiba turned and addressed him.

"Now, Yuugi Mutou, I have my chance to prove that I am the best in and out of the dueling arena!"  He shed his shirt and pulled out a thick piece of leather that Yuugi quickly recognized as a leash.

With a squeak, he skidded in a circle and fled again.

He found a niche to hide in that he didn't think anyone else could get in and sat against the wall cradling the Millennium Puzzle.  "Yami, I don't get it.  Why are they all doing this?"

A hazy form appeared in front of him.  "I don't see why not, Yuugi.  You're a good friend, loyal and true.  You're courageous as well, and have a good heart."  The figure began to solidify.  "I think they all have good sense to understand that about you and want you."  It took a step closer.

Yuugi scrambled to his feet.  "Yami...."

Yami took another step and touched Yuugi's face.

Yuugi ran.

Before he got too far he saw Bakura coming toward him.  He paused, then noticed a glint in Bakura's eyes that he had seen before when they had dueled in the shadow realm.

As Bakura came closer he backed away, finding himself returning to where Yami still stood.  Yami came forward and went around him in defense.

Bakura smirked.  "You don't realize that I don't care which of you it is, do you?" he said before pouncing on Yami.

Yuugi watched in shock, trying to figure out how to help Yami, when he noticed that Yami was tearing at Bakura as well.  Deciding that he wasn't needed, he continued running.

After a while he was stopped by a net coming down over his head.  He grabbed it and looked around wildly for the netter.  "MOKUBA?" he exclaimed in shock.

"And now that I have you I can bring you to my big brother.  He was upset that you got away earlier."

Remembering what had happened with Kaiba earlier, Yuugi screamed and ran away, trailing the net.

A figure stepped out of the shadows to greet him.

"Yuugi-boy," Pegasus said with a smile.  "You know, you're the only one who's ever beaten me...."

Yuugi screamed again.

And woke up.

He looked around his room a moment.  "I-- I'm awake.  It was only a dream."  He sighed in relief and got up to get ready for school.

He met his friends at the entrance of the schools.  "Hi, guys!" he called.  "I had the weirdest dream last night.  You'll never believe it."  He paused.  "Guys....  Why are you looking at me like that?  Guys??  GUYS???"

Fin. ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuugiou.