All that matters

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh- characters or the anime/manga itself.

I also do not own the teacher named Kyotoh for he is a real teacher appearing in volume 1: Battle 7 the true face, with teacher Tyono and the love puzzle for Ribbon-chan.

Hanasaki Tomoya and Nasaka Miho are existing Yu-Gi-Oh characters as well.

Any unfamiliar characters further are of my own creation.

Paring: Yami/Yugi. Though more strong friendship then anything else. Joey/Yugi friendship.

Warnings

Warnings: Harsh language, character deaths, violence, mind sickness from writer to be expected. Ooc-ness for the known characters present as well, I apologize for that severally

Summary: A psychopathic students takes eleven students hostage after a school shooting. The gang goes through hell. Completely rewritten on June 6th 2009.

This story was beta read by my friend Hisoka and checked will spell check twice so I hope all errors are out now. If you find one…please let me know!

Thanks to the wonderful people that reviewed the first time around :D I hope you guys like this new version a lot!

And special thanks to my friend Hisoka for her help!

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It was half through the morning when a lot of noise filled the halls of Domino High as the ten o'clock school bell rang and the classes emptied.

Hundreds of students filled the hallways as they chattered loudly and laughed while making their way to either their lockers or their next class.

Yugi made his way over to his locker and typed in the combo as he changed his books, looking up when a shadow came into view.

"Hey Yuug, you want to hang out after school?" Joey, Yugi's best friend, asked with a smile as he leaned against the lockers beside Yugi's.

"Hey Joey, sorry but Yami is coming back this afternoon and I said I'd pick him up from the airport." He said as he looked apologizing.

Joey blinked surprised before his smile widened.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot he was coming back today. You must be excited to see him again."

Yugi shrugged a little as his expression turned slightly sad.

"Kind off, it's been three months since he left to Egypt."

"Bright up pal, you know he's coming back for you." Joey said with a smirk and Yugi's cheeks colored slightly as a small smile crept up to his lips and he nodded.

"It's still hard to believe he came back out of the afterlife just to stay with us."

Joey smiled as he ruffles Yugi's hair.

"Well, you better believe it. Anyway, I'll go with you to pick him up."

Yugi smiled. "Think I can't manage on my own?" He asked teasingly and Joey smirked.

"Well, someone has to protect you from all those scary duelists."

Yugi laughed as he nodded. "Okay. Meet me here at a quarter past twelve. I have to attend a conversation with Kyotoh-sensei half way through class."

Joey nodded. "Alright."

He gave Yugi a playful shovel, making the other laugh before they made their way to the class, which was extremely boring.

Half way through Yugi closed his book and put it into his bag.

"A quarter past twelve by your locker Yuug, don't forget."

Yugi nodded. "I'll wait for you there."

Joey nodded and raised his thumb as Yugi stood up.

Taimako-sensei looked up from her explanation when he did, her expression confused for a moment before she nodded.

"Ah yes…you have that meeting with Kyotoh-sensei. Good luck Moto-kun."

"Thank you sensei." Yugi said with a smile and a nod of the head as he walked out of the class and closed the door behind him.

He walked through the hallway and put his books away in his locker before he walked Kyotoh-sensei's room and knocked.

"Enter."

Yugi opened the door and walked in, closing it behind him again.

"You wanted to talk to me Sensei?" He asked and Kyotoh-sensei smiled as he motioned for Yugi to sit down.

"Yes. You missed quite a bit of school during the last two years."

Yugi looked slightly down as he remembered the time he dueled all the time.

"I'm aware sensei."

"That's good Moto-san. I looked through your files but even though you missed quite a bit of school you managed to catch up with the classes very well and your grades are very good too."

Yugi looked up to Kyotoh-sensei confused as he had thought he was in trouble for missing school so much.

"Sensei…I'm not…in trouble?"

Kyotoh-sensei flipped through the file in his hands before he looked up to Yugi again.

"No you are not in trouble. I called you in here because of Wheeler-san. He missed a lot of school to, but his grades are not quite as good as yours are."

Yugi frowned a little bit but he thought he knew where Kyotoh-sensei was heading to with the conversation.

"I would like to ask you to help Wheeler-san into catching up. He is not going to be able to make his finals this year if his grades stay like this and you should know from experience he is a hard student to get through too."

Yugi smiled a little as he nodded.

"I'll try my best sensei." He said as he bowed slightly and Kyotoh-sensei smiled as he nodded too.

"Your best is all I can ask of you Moto-san."

Yugi got the sign that he could go and he left the room quickly and walked towards his locker again to wait for Joey there.

But as he was about halfway he suddenly ran into Seto Kaiba.

"Hello Kaiba." Yugi said friendly.

"Yugi." Kaiba acknowledged him with a nod. "What are you doing out of class?"

"I had a little chat with Kyotoh-sensei. And now I'm heading to my locker. What about you?"

"I had a meeting in Kaiba corps. I'll walk with you to your locker."

Yugi nodded a bit surprised but didn't object as they walked further down the hallway in silence when the bells rang.

"Looks like its lunchtime. They act like insignificant fools."

Yugi chuckled. "They sound more like a chicken hen to me."

Kaiba showed the tiniest of smiles and Yugi smiled as well before he looked up to Kaiba.

"Why are you walking with me?" He asked curiously, not really expecting Kaiba to explain.

"I have my reasons." Kaiba said and Yugi nodded slowly, not disappointed in his expectations.

He looked up when they heard yelling and laughter and saw a dark-haired boy fall on the ground, his books spread out on the floor as a small group of popular guys stood around him and laughed at him, clearly having bullied the boy.

The boy didn't speak as he slowly started to collect his books, not looking up.

Yugi nor Kaiba could hear what the boys yelled at him but he seemed to ignore them and the boys kicked his books and papers away, ramming into the boy as they walked passed him and towards Yugi and Kaiba.

"Why are people so harsh?" Yugi asked as he closed his locker and moved into the direction of the boy to help him.

"Not everyone is like you Yugi." Kaiba mumbled.

Yugi looked around to Kaiba confused but didn't answer him as he turned back in time to see something shiny catch his eyes.

Shocked he realized the boy was holding up a gun into their direction and looking ready to fire it.

"Kaiba!" Yugi called out as he turned and pushed Kaiba hard in the chest at the same time the gun went off.

Kaiba lost his balance by the sudden push and fell to the ground with Yugi on top of him as his ears filled with the sound of screaming that broke through his confusion as chaos erupted.

Students pushed and fell over each other in panic as they attempted to get away, most having no idea where the gunshot had come from.

Several students were run over in the chaos as everyone tried to get out of the school as another gunshot fell.

Kaiba's mind focused as he saw someone fall close to them and looking around to find Yugi he spotted him moving to the lockers, clearly trying to get out of the chaotic and terrified teenagers that threatened to trample the ones that had fallen down.

He pushed himself against the lockers in a feeble attempt to stay where he was and Kaiba could see the panic in his eyes as the boy fought to stay calm.

Kaiba ignored the students that ran into him as he moved into a standing position, everything suddenly moving in slow motion as he saw several teenagers ram into Yugi, causing the boy to be knocked off his balance and into the running crowd.

He ignored all around him as he could only see vague feet running all around him and moved to Yugi, grabbing a hold of him to try and protect him from being trampled.

He looked around as his arms wrapped around the smaller teen and everything suddenly went full speed again as he saw a few students slip into a close by classroom.

He didn't waste time and almost slipped on something wet and sticky as he yanked Yugi into a standing position by his wrist, ignoring the boy's pained yelp and forcefully pushed him in front of him to the class room he had seen the other students disappear in.

Coming inside he came to a stop as he saw several students standing in the middle of the room and immediately Kaiba realized he had made the wrong decision as he saw their frightful gazes forward to a single boy.

It was the boy from the hallway and he was holding a gun pointed at them.

"Against the wall. Now!" The boy screamed.

Letting out a shocked breath Kaiba slowly moved against the wall, pulling Yugi with him as he didn't dare to let of him.

Yugi was breathing a little quickly and let out a pained sound when Kaiba pulled on his arm but Kaiba ignored him as only one thing ran through his mind.

This was a hostage situation and he had brought the two of them into grave danger.

He looked at the boy, clearly not even eighteen, who was holding the gun up to them and almost looked paler then the rest of them.

The boy ordered one of the other students to lock the door and held his gun up to the whole group then as he seemed to look around.

"You two…move those chairs and tables in front of the door." He ordered as he pointed with the gun to two of them as he seemed to realize where they were.

The two appointed students moved quickly and began to move the chairs and tables in front of the door.

Kaiba looked around the room from the corner of his eye and the place looked vaguely familiar to him but couldn't place it.

"The rest of you sit down at the wall."

Kaiba had no idea how many students were standing at the wall, but he wasn't focusing on them as he felt Yugi immediately slide down, the grip he had on his wrist forcing Kaiba down too.

Kaiba glanced at Yugi as he looked incredibly pale. But the teen wasn't looking at the gun boy at all as he seemed to stare at the ground.

"Yugi?" Kaiba whispered as he noticed something seemed off but Yugi just slightly shook his head for a second, not answering him really.

"Shut up!" The gun boy catch Kaiba's attention again and he saw the gun directed at the two of them.

The boy raised the gun a little as the two other students finished moving the tables.

"Good, now move to the back wall."

None of the students moved for a moment as they stared at him in fear.

"I said move!"

With shocked breaths the students stood up and moved to the back wall but as Kaiba stood up he saw Yugi wasn't moving.

"I'm not saying it again! Move!" The gun was directed completely to Yugi now but the teen didn't react to him and Kaiba grabbed Yugi's arm to force him up.

Yugi let out a cry in pain and shocked Kaiba let go of him again as Yugi sank back to the ground and held the shoulder Kaiba had pulled on tightly.

"Yugi." Kaiba said startled but felt something dripping from his hand and looked at it to see blood slowly dripping from it.

"Yugi." He said more shocked now as he noticed his clothes were having blood on them too. Remembering he had slipped on something sticky and wet in the hallway he immediately kneeled down by Yugi's slightly shaking form, as he feared the worse.

"Get the hell up!" the gun boy screamed to them and moved his gun up again but Kaiba couldn't care less at the moment.

"He's bleeding!" He snapped as he tore Yugi's shirt open and saw blood gushing out of the lower part of his left shoulder, just above his lungs.

"Jesus Christ!" Gun boy exhales as he saw the blood pouring down and shook his head and looked around.

"Move to the back wall… all of you!"

"He needs help." A boy Kaiba didn't know said frightful as he looked over at Yugi.

Yugi's breathing was slightly stocking but he was awake and Kaiba could see in his eyes that he was fighting to stay clam and in control as he blinked rapidly.

"I don't give a fuck. Move!" Gun boy screamed as he moved the gun to the back of the class.

The students pressed against the wall but Kaiba didn't move as he was still kneeled by Yugi.

"I said move." His voice was breaking in anger now but Kaiba only pressed his hand over the wound and Yugi winched.

"He's bleeding to death."

"Move him and then stop the fucking bleeding!" Gun boy spat and fired the gun above their heads.

The students screamed as they hurled together against the wall and Kaiba felt Yugi move as he tried to get up.

Placing a hand under his right shoulder he helped Yugi up and walked with him to the back wall.

The same boy from before pulled two students from their places so Yugi could be placed in the furthest corner from the gun boy and Kaiba took a place beside Yugi, realizing the boy was trying to keep Yugi save from further harm.

He pulled Yugi's jacket off and folded it up as he pressed it against the wound.

"Hold this in place." He ordered Yugi who slowly nodded and placed a shaking hand on the fabric of clothing.

He took his and Yugi's tie's off and bound them together before he bound the combined ties around Yugi's shoulder, keeping the fabric secured into place to try and stop the bleeding as he tightened the makeshift bandage.

"Hold on Yugi." The boy said as he squeezed Yugi's hand as it fell down and Yugi shifted his gaze to the boy.

"Hanasaki." He said slowly as he looked at him and the boy smiled slightly.

"You saved my life once Yugi." The boy, Hanasaki, said softly.

"And he will cost you your life if you don't shut the fuck up!" Gun boy spat out.

"Is that bandage done?" He asked and Kaiba nodded.

"Good, then move the fuck away from him. "He said as he pointed the gun to Kaiba.

"I said move!" He screamed and Kaiba slowly backed away from Yugi.

"Why are you doing this?" A girl Kaiba recognized as Nasaka Miho asked crying.

"Why? …You ask me why?" Gun boy spat as he shifted his attention to her.

"Tell me…who am I?"

"W…What?" Miho stuttered as she looked up frightful.

"What is my name bitch." Gun boy asked and the girl hacked.

"I…I don't know."

"Anyone else?"

The students shook as they kept quiet as the gun slid over them all but one barely hearable voice spoke.

"Takenachi Koiji."

Koiji stared at Yugi for a moment with angry tears in his eyes.

"How do you know my name?" He asked as he shifted the gun to Yugi.

Yugi looked up to him, seemingly ignoring the gun pointed at him as he spoke, his voice slightly more hearable now.

"You're a third grade student. We have Math together."

Koiji swallowed and moved his gun away from Yugi towards the other students.

"Out of twelve students here…only one knows who I am. You…what is his name."

He pointed his gun to a girl and then to Hanasaki.

"Hanasaki Tomoya." She said crying.

"And he?"

"Kouchi."

"You know each others names. But you never once saw me did you?" He asked his voice dangerously low as he held the gun steady at her now.

"No." She said as tears ran down her cheeks.

"You know what…I always wanted to be invisible. I was okay with that. But people like you would never leave me alone."

He said as he pointed his gun at the boy named Kouchi.

"You and your filthy buddies always haunted me, terrorizing me. Breaking my stuff, beating me up and treating me like garbage."

He swallowed and seemed to straighten up a little and he seemed to calm down slowly from his anger.

"But you know what… I'm not going to let you anymore. Its time you feel the terror you did to me. You all have to pay for what they did to me all those fucking years. All of those toilets you pushed me in, all the lockers you locked me into. FOR WHAT!"

He suddenly screamed and the gun fired into the ground and the students cried silently as Kouchi silently stared at Koiji with terror in his eyes.

"I always tried to act normal, to make you not notice me. But you always did. You're so incredibly friendly to other people. I watched you day after day. How much you lie and make me sick to the bone. People always lie."

Hatred ragged through his voice as he spoke and his gun slowly moved over them again.

"Pretending to be your friends but they really aren't. They talk behind your back and lie to you, saying nothing wrong. They stab you in the back when you're not looking. Break your dignity in the cruelest ways."

He let out a strangled laugh.

"I guess you were even one of the most honest ones, beating me in my face, not behind my back. Friends are worthless."

"That's not true." Yugi said softly as he looked at Koiji and Kaiba wanted to kick him for answering back.

Koiji looked at him.

"Oh yeah, I remember. Your all about friend aren't you Yugi Moto. Tell me…who were you two years ago?"

Yugi blinked as he looked at Koiji.

"What do you mean?"

"Two years ago you were nobody; no one looked at you or knew who you were, unless they wanted to bully you. But then you beat the great Kaiba in a game and everyone suddenly wanted to become friends with you didn't they?"

Yugi slowly shook his head as tears appeared in his eyes.

"That not true. I already had friends before that."

Koiji nodded. "Yeah, the little girl with the big boobs, oh and that street punk Joey Wheeler."

He looked around and nodded as his lower lip was pushed forward in a sneering gesture.

"Doesn't look like they are here huh? Tell me…where your so called little friends are now."

He pointed his gun at Yugi again.

"I can only hope they are safely outside." Yugi answered honestly and soft.

Koiji looked at him for a long moment as his gun slowly lowered.

"You always were the only one being honestly nice to everyone. No matter how badly they treated you, your to nice for your own good." He said almost not hearable as he looked at Yugi with an unclear emotion in his eyes.

Kouchi took this opportunity to move forwards suddenly and dive for the gun.

A gunshot rang immediately and most students screamed as Kouchi's lifeless body fell to the ground, blood slowly covering his face as his eyes stared at the ceiling unseeingly with a hole in his face.

"Do not make a mistake like that again! Do not underestimate me!" Koiji screamed as he held them at gunpoint.

A sound was heard from the outside that Kaiba recognized as a helicopter and Koiji yelled in frustration and the students crawled closer together as he did.

He ran to the window and closed the Venetian blinds and lit the room in a soft shimmer of darkness.

A phone rang and everyone stiffened.

"Whose phone is that!" Koiji screamed and as if on cue other phones started to ring as well and Kaiba stiffened as he felt his phone vibrate as well.

"Throw your phones over here, all of you now!"

Slowly the students moved and several phones were thrown onto the ground.

Koiji raises his gun to Kaiba.

"I bet a fancy guy like you has a phone as well. So where is it Kaiba?"

Slowly Kaiba pulled his phone out of his jacket and threw it on the ground in front of Koiji.

"Good boy. Now his phone." He said as he pointed to Yugi.

Kaiba unconsciously shifted closer to Yugi as if to protect him from the gun.

"Yugi doesn't have a phone." He said.

Koiji stared at Yugi.

"Such a high-tech boy and no mobile? I find that hard to believe for such a friendly person."

"You can check him if you want but he doesn't have one." Kaiba said dully as he did his very best not to be sarcastic or provoke him.

There was more at stake then just his life this time.

He glanced over at Yugi as he could see the teen was shivering uncontrollable and was surprised he felt some kind of calmness settle inside him and could see in Yugi's eyes instead of the clear panic he saw all around them.

"What do you want to achieve with keeping us hostage?" One of the boys asked.

Koiji looked at the boy in rage.

"How the hell should I know?" He asked as he tightened his grip on the gun.

"You're the one with the gun." One of the girls said.

"I never meant for this to happen. I wasn't even planning on using it. But that guy kept provoking me." He pointed to Kouchi's death body with his gun before he moved it up again to the shivering group.

"I just wanted to threaten them. It was never my intention to actually hurt them; I just wanted to be left alone. I never meant to hurt him."

He spoke those last words directly to Yugi as if to apologize for what he had done and that same strange emotion shimmered in his eyes again before he looked at the others and his eyes turned hard again and he raised the gun to them.

Kaiba frowned at his reaction before he glanced at Yugi who was slightly feverish by now and Kaiba slowly moved to him as he laid his hand on his forehead and felt the fever running as Yugi's skin felt hot to the touch. When Kaiba's hand touched his skin he shifted his gaze to him however.

"Kaiba?" He asked softly.

"I'm here." Kaiba answered him and Yugi slowly nodded.

"I'm cold." His voice was barely above a whisper and then and Kaiba nodded as he pulled his own jacket off and laid it around Yugi's small frame to offer him some warmth.

"He needs to go to the hospital." He said harshly as he could see the fabric on the wound was completely soaked with blood by now and he pressed down on it again to stop the bleeding.

Koiji seemed slightly distracted as he looked at Yugi before he shook his head.

"He's not going anywhere… not before I figured out what the hell I'm supposed to do now."

"Why don't you surrender?" Miho asked careful.

"Surrender? I killed someone. Surrendering is not an option anymore." He said angrily as he slammed his fist into the wall.

"No…maybe I should just kill all of you. That way you cannot testify and they have no way of knowing it was me who took you hostage and I'll be a free man then. Maybe that's what I should do."

Hanasaki slowly shook his head.

It won't help if you kill us all. They already have footage of you in the hallway and of you pulling the gun. You'd be arrested anyway."

Koiji let out a frustrated growl and threw a plant against the wall.

They all ducked lower against the wall.

Don't make him mad." Miho said crying and Hanasaki looked at her apologizing.

"You rather have him kill us all?" One of the boys asked.

"Shut the fuck up!" Koiji yelled and raised his gun towards Miho.

"Maybe you should be the first to go…" He said as his finger slowly pulled at the trigger.

At that moment the phones started to ring again and with a scream Koiji shot at them before he threw them against the window, causing it to break with the force of the blow.

Suddenly Koiji fell still as an eerie calmness settled over him and he glanced at the death boy on the ground.

Throw him out of the window." He said.

"What?" Hanasaki asked as he stared at him in shock.

"I said…throw him out of the window." Koiji's voice was cold as ice as he raised his gun again.

"You and you, throw him out." He said, his eyes taking a mad glee in them as he pointed to Hanasaki and a freshman that was crying hard.

"You can't be serious!"

"It's either him or you!" Koiji screamed now and quickly Hanasaki grabbed the boy and moved from his spot as they moved to Kouchi's body and lifted him up by his arms and legs.

The young boy was shaking badly as they carried Kouchi to the window.

Hanasaki leaned the body against the window for a moment to relocate his grip and then gave the death boy a push so he fell down.

The boy sank to the ground as they heard a hard bang, indicating Kouchi's death body had hit something and screams from the outside, and started vomiting on the ground, choking on his own tears as he did.

"Good riddens." Koiji said with a mad smile.

"You're sick." Hanasaki cried out as he slowly moved from the window.

"Shut the fuck up and move back. You, stop puking or you will follow Jimmy the Jumper!"

He spat out and the boy started to cry harder as he choked on his own vomit that he now tried to keep in, terrified.

He held his hands in front of his mouth to keep it in but it still slowly slide through his fingers and his eyes widened in despair.

"I thought I told you to stop vomiting!" Koiji's eyes were wide with anger now and Kaiba could see the insanity in his eyes as he swallowed, for the first time feeling real fear as he stared into the white of Koiji's wide-open eyes.

He felt Yugi move and shifted his gaze to him slowly.

Yugi's eyes were open as he stared to Koiji.

"It's going to be okay Yugi." Kaiba whispered but Yugi shook his head.

"He's going to kill him." He said as slight tears formed in his eyes and looked Kaiba directly in his eyes.

Kaiba frowned when he suddenly hear a harsh slap and something cracking and his eyes widened as he snapped his head back to Koiji and the boy just in time to see the boy fall backwards with his head in a very twisted way.

"When I say something happens then it does understood." His tone was still icy and Kaiba realized just how insane and dangerous this boy was.

"Now…throw him out." He said with a smirk and Kaiba unconsciously moved an arm around Yugi and held him protectively close.

"He's insane." Yugi whispered as tears ran down his cheeks and Kaiba couldn't agree more.

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Joey was just coming out of class when he heard a gunshot and the halls filled with screaming.

Looking around confused and scared he saw students run through the hall in panic and he was pulled along with the crowd, having to fight to not be trampled.

The screaming almost deafened him as he tried to look around for his friends.

Outside the mass spread and Joey stopped running as he looked around in despair.

"Yugi! Tea! Tristan!" He screamed as he tried to be heard above the noise but knew it was no use.

He ran through the crowd as he heard another gunshot and everyone's screams increased to a level he hadn't thought anyone capable off.

Joey had no idea what was going on but didn't really care as all he cared for was find his friends.

Teachers were trying to bring order into the chaos as they divided the school gym into an emergency shelter.

All students were lead there and their names written down before they got something to drink to calm down while the teachers would find out what had happened and how bad the situation was.

Joey gave his name before he sat down on a bench, feeling terrified and useless for not knowing how his friends were.

He knew there had been two gunshots but that was all. He didn't know how they had fallen, if someone had been injured or if it was all just a sick joke.

Looking around he noticed it was quiet except for some crying here and there.

Everyone had pale faces and hands were shaking as they held their cups unsteadily.

Joey stood up to go and try find out more when another gunshot was heard.

People screamed again as they ducked low before they seem to realize the gunshot hadn't been fired near them.

Joey stood still in shock, realizing that was the third gunshot so far.

How many people would be death by now he wondered?

Everyone seemed to be in the same state as he was as they could do nothing more then wait and Joey had a very bad feeling that closed around his throat and terrified him.

It took a while before the principal arrived with some police officers and they stopped in the door opening where they stood higher then the students and Joey noticed he looked compact, even though the man must be devastated.

"Listen up students. This is what we know so far."

He paused for a moment to get all of their attention and when it was quiet he continued.

"At the moment we assume a hostage is being held place at our school. There are twelve students missing according to the log system that we use. We do not know if someone forced their way into the school or if one of the twelve is holding the rest hostage. We cannot be sure about that till we know exactly what's going on."

"Did people die?" A girl in front asked with a trembling voice. "I can't find my friends…are they safe?"

The principal looked at the police officer that nodded and the principal sighed before he looked at the students again.

"We narrowed down where the shooting found place in the hallway of classroom 1B and we suspect the students are held hostage there."

Joey blinked as he realized it was in their old classroom.

"It is to my deepest regret that we found several students in the hallways that were either wounded or deceased."

"Were they shot?" Another girl asked horrified but the principal shook his head.

"It seems like they were trampled in the panic that erupted. We have found no gunshot victims as of yet so we assume there was no one hurt yet by it."

Joey shivered as he heard the word "Yet"

"Who are missing?" A boy Joey didn't recognize asked and the principal took out a small paper and Joey felt his bad feeling grow even more.

"There is another group of students that are still outside; we will let you join them in a moment."

"Who are the students that are missing sensei." The boy asked again, his voice more demanding now.

The principal took a deep breath and glanced at his paper and Joey could see his hand was shaking as he read the names on his paper.

"Hinate Minako, Kurosaki Kouchi, Kazaki Choiji, Kaiba Seto, Summer Ray, Shizo Risa, Hanaka Sari, Ryo Bakura, Nasaka Miho, Hanasaki Tomoya, Takenachi Koiji, Moto Yugi."

Several people cried out and Joey felt his heart stop. Yugi…oh god. He faintly registered that four other people he knew were also among the missing but it didn't have the same impact on him as the knowledge that his best friend was in danger.

A part of him was glad to hear the others were safe, but he feared for Yugi's life.

He realized suddenly that he was running as he passed the principal on his way out as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

"Joey!"

When he heard his name he stopped running and turned around as he saw Tea and Tristan come running towards him.

"Thank god you're alright." Tea said relieved as she hugged him.

"We have no idea what's going on, they won't tell us anything." Tristan said.

Joey swallowed.

"There is a hostage taking place in our old classroom and twelve students are still missing. Several people were trampled in the chaos."

"Someone broke into the school?" Tristan asked shocked.

Joey shrugged. "They don't know, they suspect one of them is holding the rest hostage." He said slowly as he saw the shocked expressions of the other two.

"My god, is someone we know missing?" Tea asked, worried for the students trapped in there.

"A few I didn't know, Kaiba, Bakura, Hanasaki, Miho… and Yugi."

Joey was surprised at the calmness of his voice while he spoke, though he felt nothing like calmness at all.

Tea's eyes widened but Tristan shook his head.

"No, Yugi went to pick Yami up from the airport."

"I know, I was supposed to go with him, according to the logs he never left the school."

Tea sank down on the bench behind her in shock and she started at the building with shaking hands.

Suddenly another gunshot was heard and people started screaming again.

Joey looked up to the building and tears reappeared in his eyes.

"Please be alright Yuug." He whispered.

In silence they listened to the crying crowd as they tried to call people when not much later another gunshot fell.

Some students fell to the ground crying as they screamed, not knowing whether people had been shot or not.

Joey looked up when a loud crash was heard and they all saw the window of classroom 1B break and a bunch of small items fall down out of it.

"What the heck are those?" Tristan asked.

"It seems to be several cell phones." Some students called out in shock.

They looked at each other confused when he suddenly saw hands being raised to the broken window.

Joey felt his heart jump up when he saw two boys appear by the window.

They were crying and Joey recognized Hanasaki.

He was about to say something when his eyes widened, realizing what they were doing.

"Oh god." He whispered as indeed the body of a boy was pushed out of the window.

It seemed to fall in slow-motion as everyone was quiet and the body landed on a parked car with a harsh bang.

Screams were suddenly all over the place as students ran away from the schoolyard and Tea turned her gaze away crying.

Joey hugged her tightly. "It's not Yugi." He whispered to her and Tea nodded, but she didn't stop crying.

Teachers and police moved to the body as they checked him, already knowing he hadn't made it.

Some students whispered to each other. "It's Kurosaki Kouchi."

"Guy's!" Tristan suddenly called out and Joey looked up, immediately shielding Tea as another body was pushed out of the window.

He saw the same boy that had just helped push the other boy out of the window fall down and felt guilty as he felt a pang of relieve at the realization it wasn't Yugi.

He softly rubbed Tea's back as she cried like many others did, the despair and terror written on their faces.

"Kazaki-kun, he's only twelve. His neck is broken." They heard crying here and there from students that recognized their classmate.

"It will be okay." Tristan whispered as he looked at Tea but Joey shook his head.

"It won't be okay… it will never be okay again." He said and Tea nodded as she whipped her tears.

"Everything will change."

Joey pulled her close again for a moment when they saw Mokuba running towards them.

"Joey! Tea! Where is my brother?" He asked them even though he was still running.

Joey looked at him, realizing Mokuba wouldn't know anything.

"He's inside with Yugi and Bakura."

Mokuba's eyes widened as he stopped running and looked up the building, in time to see a third body being pushed out of the window.

"Oh god." Mokuba whispered as he watched the body land on the ground with a clearly hearable snap.

Tea felt nauseous as she saw the broken neck and turned around as she ran to the bushes and threw up there.

And she wasn't the only one as several students and even a few teachers also made their way to the bushes.

"It's Ray-kun." A girl cried out and Joey turned to Mokuba whose eyes were wide open as he stared at the body.

"My brother…will be alright right? As will Yugi and Bakura be?" He asked in a quiet and soft voice.

Joey squeezed his shoulder and pulled him close in a comforting hug, Mokuba not moving away or acting tough as he started crying.

"I hope so… I really do." He said as he fought the tears that were coming up and whispered.

"Please be alright."

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The girls were all hovering in a corner as they cried after the body of Ray had been pushed out of the window.

Hanasaki was still in shock as he hugged himself and sat pressed against the wall.

It took all of Kaiba's willpower not to jump the bastard, but he knew he had to use his brains and not his heart for this once.

If he did reckless things it wouldn't be only dramatic for him self he realized as he glanced at Yugi for a second before he looked at the other students.

Ray had been killed after he had screamed at Koiji for snapping Kazari's neck.

He saw Koiji stand with his back towards them and bit his lip as anger rushed through him and the desire to just attack the guy.

"Don't." A soft voice said whispering as his arm was touched and he looked into amethyst eyes that looked at him pleadingly behind a curtain of pain and fear.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. "He whispered back and Yugi shook his head slightly, using his elbows to try and move up a little as he had slid into a mostly lying position by now.

"Wait for the right opportunity."

He coughed and Kaiba saw it was blood he coughed up and knew his lung was probably damaged by that bullet.

"Easy Yugi." A soft voice said and Kaiba looked up to see Bakura slip behind Yugi and lift him up against his chest, making him lean against his shoulder and the coughing stopped.

"Bakura….." He said shocked, not having realized the other boy had been in here as well.

Bakura didn't answer him as Yugi coughed again before he shivered.

He pulled his jacket out and removed Kaiba's as he covered Yugi with his own.

"Why…?"

"Your jacket is soaked with blood and sweat. He'll go into shock if we don't keep him calm and warm." He said softly as he caressed Yugi's cheek softly as the boy's eyes closed for a moment before he looked up to Bakura with a tiny smile.

"Shut the fuck up bitches! I can't even hear myself thinking with all that crying of yours!"

Koiji suddenly yelled out and turned around and hit one of the girls with his gun.

They heard something snap and the girls started screaming.

They realized her jaw was most likely broken.

Bakura held Yugi close against him as he wrapped his arms fully around him and Kaiba moved so he saw mostly in front of them, doing his best to protect them as much as he could.

"Stop making so much damned noise bitch!" Koiji screamed to her as he raised his hand up to hit her again, but another girl moved to her and grabbed her shoulder.

"Risa stop…please be quiet." She whispered as she hugged the girl close and she slowly calmed down.

Koiji let his hand drop as he stared at her with cold eyes and walked back to the other end of the classroom.

"How did he change so much suddenly?" Bakura asked softly as he looked at Kaiba.

Yugi opened his eyes slowly and stared at something in the space.

"He's been bullied so much it drove him insane."

"All off this happens just because he was bullied?" Kaiba asked unbelieving.

Yugi smiled slightly but didn't look at Kaiba and Bakura suddenly nodded understandingly.

"You'd be surprised what bullying can do to someone. You heard him; he's been terrorized so much till he couldn't take it anymore and lost it."

Kaiba looked at the two of them before his gaze rested upon Koiji and he couldn't help the thought that crossed his mind, if Yugi and Bakura had kept being bullied like that, would they have snapped like that too?

He looked back at Yugi and Bakura and slightly shook his head, not able to believe that thought at all.

Yugi mumbled something suddenly and Kaiba blinked as they both leaned closer to hear what he was whispering.

"Twelve, one in the chamber makes thirteen, used six."

"Twelve of what?" Bakura asked and Kaiba shook his head to show he hadn't understood either.

They looked up when they heard noise outside and realized someone was talking with a megaphone.

Koiji heard it as well and moved to them and pointed to the girl that had quiet down, Risa.

"Listen to what he has to say." He ordered and she stood up immediately as she practically ran to the window and leaned out of it between the blinds.

Kaiba could hear noises downstairs as she did but she didn't react to them as she listened with tears flooding down her cheeks and repeated what was being said.

"He wishes to deliver a phone so you can communicate with them and tell them your demands. He wants you to stop killing hostages and asks how the others are doing." She said loudly enough to be heard, even though her jaw was broken.

Koiji nodded as he was quiet for a moment and stared towards Kaiba, Bakura and Yugi.

"Hm…get paper." He ordered Miho and she moved to the bags in the class and grabbed a piece of paper.

"Write down. Leave phone seventeen meters away from the classroom door. Any cops in sight and I will shoot another one of you."

Miho wrote in trembling words and held the paper up when she was done, having written as big as she could.

"They won't be able to read it from here." Risa said softly, her voice terrified.

"Then they use a binocular." He said harshly before he smirked and raised the gun to her.

"Unless you are volunteering to deliver the message personally."

Risa quickly shook her head and took the paper from Miho and moved back to the window and held it up.

There were noises heard outside again and the megaphone sounded again soon.

"The phone is placed. He will call when you received it."

Koiji looked at her and nodded slowly as he motioned her to return to the wall before he glanced towards Kaiba again as if he was keeping an eye on him.

Kaiba shifted a little as he was sitting beside Bakura and Yugi.

"When the phone is there, you go pick it up Kaiba. If you're not back in thirty seconds I will shoot two more people."

Kaiba nodded as he slowly stood up and moved to the classroom door. Together with Hanasaki he freed the door from the tables and opened it.

"Wait… you open the door only so that you're visible. I don't want the rest of the classroom to be visible." Koiji said as if he just came up with the idea.

Kaiba nodded and moved outside and looked around to see several students lie on the ground still, eyes open and unmoving.

With a nauseous feeling he walked passed them to where the phone was and grabbed it.

Looking up he could see a cop just around the corner that looked at him.

Kaiba stared at him for a moment with the thought of running away before he turned around and walked back to the classroom, closing the door behind him again.

He gave the phone to Koiji before he sat down by Yugi and Bakura again.

"How is he?"

Kaiba looked up shocked to Koiji when he heard those words and Bakura blinked before he looked down to Yugi.

"He's lost a lot of blood and is in pain. He needs help and medicine."

Koiji nodded and looked at the phone as it rang.

"You, come here." He said to Hanasaki who stood up quickly.

"Answer it and put it on speaker. If anyone of you talk without my approval you'll regret it."

Hanasaki pushed the button and held the phone as Kaiba could hear an unfamiliar male voice.

"Hello, I am Makoto of the police department. Can you tell me your name?"

Koiji let out a grumble and seemed to think for a moment.

"You can call me Gun." He said with a smirk to the others and Kaiba had to admit it was clever he didn't say his real name.

The police man was quite for a second.

"Very well, Gun, what do you demand?"

Koiji looked at Yugi for a moment.

"For the moment I want some food. The rest I have to think about."

"Can you tell me the names of the hostages and if anyone is injured."

Koiji smirked.

"I'm not a fool Makoto. There are two injured here and oh….. If you count the deaths it would be 3 of those so far. More could be joining them at any time."

Kaiba shifted a little as he watched the gun travel passed the small group and could see Koiji was thinking about something.

"Can you at least release the injured when we bring the food?"

"I have to think about that." Koiji said but somehow Kaiba doubted he would.

"The food will be there in fifteen minutes."

"Place it the same way as the phone was placed." Koiji ordered before he looked thoughtful.

"I want it in a plastic box, nothing wrapped up and nothing with bones in it."

Bakura looked up to Koiji who sneered at the phone before he hung up and Kaiba was once again surprised as he realized that although Koiji didn't want to release Yugi, he did seem to have weak spot for him.

The though was comforting as much as depressing as he realized that if Yugi didn't bleed to death he'd probably be the only one to walk out of here alive if it was up to Koiji.

Fifteen minutes passed in silence and Risa was ordered to get the food this time.

She quickly returned and was ordered to place the box in the middle of the room.

Koiji moved his gun to Risa.

"Share the food with the rest." He ordered and Risa quickly did as she was told.

Kaiba frowned as he was given a piece of breath and something to drink.

He couldn't figure Koiji out. At one side he didn't give a damn about what happened to them, but on the other side he just gave them food.

They silently ate as Koiji drank something and stared at them, his gun leaning against his lap.

Bakura took some bread from Risa and shifted Yugi up a little.

"Eat Yugi." He said softly to the younger teen that only slightly opened his eyes and then shook his head lightly.

Kaiba looked at Yugi, taking the exhausted and pale features in. He wasn't sweating anymore and the trembling had almost completely disappeared. His skin was paler then ever before as all colour had left his face but he seemed completely aware of everything still.

"How bad is it?" He asked softly.

"He's going into shock." Bakura said softly as he looked up to Kaiba for a moment before he forced some water into Yugi's mouth.

"Come on Yugi, drink." Bakura said as he bit his lip to stay calm and forced Yugi to drink some more.

Yugi coughed and swallowed the water and blinked a few times with his eyes as he tried to push himself slightly more up, with a little help of Bakura.

The phone rang again and Koiji opened it.

"Will you let the injured hostages out now?" Makoto's voice asked.

Koiji looked at Risa and then at Yugi.

"One isn't injured enough to be released and the other can't move on his own." He answered after a few moments of silence.

"If you want us to answer your demands you will have to give something in return."

Kaiba looked up sharply as he heard the tone of Makoto's voice. There was no doubt in his mind that one of them would pay for the order placed upon Koiji.

He wasn't let down as Koiji's calm features turned angry again and he motioned one of the girls to the window.

The girl stood up crying and moved to the window terrified.

"What are you doing Gun?" Makoto's voice asked.

"The answer I have on your demand." Koiji said as he closed the phone and lifted his gun up and shot twice at the girl.

Risa turned herself in a small ball on the ground as she cried out as the girl fell backwards out of the window but tried to muffle her cries as soon as they started in fear.

"Sari…" Hanasaki took a hold of Miho as she cried silently into his shirt, trembling in shock.

Kaiba could hear the loud crash the girls body made over the screams that came from outside and looked down to Yugi who looked up to him with tears in his eyes.

"Eight used." He whispered and Kaiba looked at him confused.

"Are you actually counting the bullets he uses?" He asked confused as he whispered to Yugi harshly.

Bakura blinked before his face lit up a tiny bit and he nodded.

"Brilliant."

"Brilliant?" Kaiba asked confused and saw Bakura glance at Koiji before he nodded.

"Twelve bullets in the gun, one in the chamber. Eight used now. When his gun is empty he has to refill it or maybe he hasn't realized that he has to and then it's even better. Yugi did however; this might work in our advance if the police can't get us free."

Kaiba looked at Yugi shocked. Had he really thought about something like that while he was injured?

Koiji turned into their direction again and they looked to the ground while Bakura caressed Yugi's cheek again.

"How do you know he doesn't have more bullets in there?" Kaiba asked as he leaned to Yugi.

Yugi slowly opened his eyes again as he blinked a few times to clear his vision and slowly shifted his gaze from Bakura to Kaiba.

"Yami... likes guns. Told me bout them. Twelve cylinder gun. Don't know if there is thirteenth bullet."

Yugi's voice hackled again and tears fell down his eyes as he grimaced in pain as Bakura pulled him up a little. He held him close as Yugi slowly calmed down again and closed his eyes again.

After a few moments Bakura looked at Kaiba.

"If we don't get him to the hospital soon he won't make it." He said his voice unsteady and tears in his eyes.

"We might not have the time to wait till the thirteenth bullet is used."

Koiji let out a groan as the phone rang again and threw it against the wall.

"Damn it."

He turned around to Kaiba and pointed the gun to him.

"Go listen to the window what they got to say." He ordered.

Kaiba stood up and moved to the window, aware he would probably die next but felt eerie calm as he walked and stopped in front of the window.

Pulling the blinds aside he saw thousands of people looking up at the window and saw them point upwards but his gaze immediately fell upon the small group standing aside from the others and was surprised but also relieved to see Mokuba with them.

He listened to what the man with the Megaphone said and repeated it so they could hear it inside as well, but his gaze never left the small group as he saw their white faces very clearly and realized they were only on the second floor.

"He's pleading with you not to kill off more hostages." Like he would listen, Kaiba thought as he stared at Mokuba's crying face and saw Joey Wheeler stand next to him as he stared up at him pleadingly.

Kaiba shifted his gaze slightly back to the window before he looked back and laid his hands on the windowsill.

"He's asking to restore the contact to go over your demands. He says to take it if you want to come out of here alive."

He saw several armed cops disappear behind the building and realized what they were planning and then shifted his gaze back to his little brother and Wheeler and nodded slightly.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Joey stared in shock at the blood soaked form of Seto Kaiba who was standing at the window, looking paler then he had ever seen him.

Kaiba carried a haunted look in his eyes as he was directly staring at them while he seemed to be repeating the words the police officer was saying.

He let out a choked sob as he saw Kaiba nod slightly.

"He's alive…Yugi is alive." He said with trembling voice and let the tears flood down in relief.

He was aware that Kaiba disappeared from the window again and felt Mokuba let out a few sobs as Kaiba wasn't shot like that girl had been.

"My brother will get them out." Mokuba said a lot more confident then he had been before he had seen his brother.

Joey nodded with a small smile.

"If anyone can get out of trouble it is Yugi and Kaiba."

They all smiled at that before their heads shot up as they heard two more gunshots.

In silence they all waited, expecting another body to come down, but nothing happened.

It felt like years passed in silence, though it was probably only an hour or two, when they suddenly heard a lot of noise and several gunshots were fired and screaming erupted from both the classroom and outside.

Several people were shouting, windows broke, and spreading the glass everywhere and gunshots kept falling till everything suddenly quieted down completely.

They looked at the window in terror, in the hope to see something… anything at all. But nothing seemed to happen for a long time till he suddenly heard Tristan gasp.

"Joey, look!"

With wide eyes everyone watched in silence as they saw two people fall out of the window screaming before they landed on a car harshly and laid there motionless as the car alarm went off abruptly.

The sound of it seemed to fade into nothingness as everyone was dead quiet before the police came to life and chaos erupted again and officers ran into the building with pulled guns and paramedics followed not much longer.

Nothing was heard for a while and Joey looked down with a sigh before he heard Tea's breathing stock.

Looking up his eyes widened….

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kaiba was pulled away from the window by Koiji roughly and pushed towards his place again.

Koiji turned around to avoid being seen in the window when he suddenly spotted Risa holding a mobile she had probably hid away when the phones had been collected.

"What the fuck do you think your doing?" He screamed and fired the gun at her twice.

Her body falling down like a big sack of potatoes as she fell onto her back with her eyes still open though they saw nothing anymore.

Kaiba's shared a glance with Bakura as they counted in their mind. Ten. Ten bullets used now.

Bakura pulled Yugi closer to him as he hid his face in Yugi's neck and shook slightly, clearly crying.

Koiji moved to Risa's lifeless body and kicked the phone out of her hands against the wall, where it broke into several pieces.

He then turned to the remaining students for a moment before he walked to the end of the room and sat down on a table there, hiding his head in his arms. He was whispering something they couldn't understand.

Hanasaki and Miho were sitting close together on Kaiba's right side while the last unnamed girl was sitting by herself, staring at Risa's corpse without blinking.

Kaiba studied them for a while before he shifted his gaze back to Bakura and Yugi.

"Move Yugi so you can get up quickly Bakura." Kaiba ordered softly.

"What are you planning Kaiba?" Hanasaki asked whispering as he leaned slightly closer.

"I think troops are going to storm the room." Kaiba whispered back, glancing at Koiji to see he was still in the same position.

"Are you serious? They are going to attack while we are in here?" Miho asked scared.

Bakura frowned. "If so, then we have to be ready. They don't know who hold the gun and if it's only one person or not."

Kaiba nodded. "If they come it will probably be chaotic, I want you two to try and keep Yugi safe understood."

Miho and Hanasaki both look up and Hanasaki nodded determent.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Koiji's voice screamed at them.

They looked up to see Koiji moving to them, gun ready to be fired.

"You two, move away." He raised his gun to Hanasaki and Miho who quickly moved away from Kaiba.

Koiji looked at Kaiba and raised his gun, his eyes getting the same mad glee again.

"You're plotting something. Move away from them…I want you near the window."

Kaiba glanced at Yugi before he slowly moved away and stood in front of the blinds.

Koiji looked back at Bakura and Yugi and moved the gun to them.

"Stand up…both of you." He ordered.

Bakura exchanged a glance with Kaiba before he looked down at Yugi.

"Movement will increase the bleeding." He protested.

"Shut the fuck up and stand up!" Koiji spat and aimed the gun directly at Yugi.

Quickly Bakura moved into a standing position, ignoring his cramping muscles and used his grip around Yugi's waist to pull him up too.

He held him against him as Yugi let out a soft whimper of pain and fell against him.

"Steady him and then move away from him. I don't want you near each other."

Kaiba had no idea what had gotten into Koiji suddenly but suspected he knew the police would force their way in and wanted to divide them as much as possible.

Bakura looked at Koiji before he slowly let go of Yugi, as the boy slowly moved to stand on his own.

Unsteadily Yugi leaned against the wall, breathing stocking and heavy.

Bakura moved to the remaining wall, his eyes never leaving Yugi as worry shimmered in his eyes and he made a move to return when Yugi stumbled but Yugi's firm gaze stopped him and he could only watch in despair how Koiji walked to Yugi.

He stopped in front of him and raises a hand.

Yugi closed his eyes but opened them again when Koiji's rough and bloodied hand caressed his cheek.

"Can you walk?"

Kaiba and Bakura blinked as did Yugi who very slowly shook his head.

"You are going to have to try." Koiji said his voice surprisingly gentle as he took Yugi's hand and slowly pulled him with him.

Yugi stumbled forward as he did, unable to stand on his feet.

Kaiba wanted to move to him, but stopped as he saw that Koiji half pulled him into a hug to keep him steady.

"This will all end soon." Koiji's voice was so soft and gentle as he spoke to Yugi that it sounded to Kaiba like it was a different person. And if someone would have told him what happened now without him seeing it himself, he would never believe it.

"The suffering, the pain and humiliation… it will all be over soon. There will be no more fighting, no more bastards that hurt us. No more having to watch our backs to avoid being hurt. No more helplessness when they have their ways and step on us and then toss us aside like we're nothing more then garbage. No more feeling guilty to breath."

Tears slowly started to fall down from Yugi's amethyst eyes as Koiji wrapped one arm around him in a half hug, while the other held the gun aimed at his lower back.

Neither Kaiba nor Bakura dared to move, fearing Koiji would accidentally shoot Yugi.

"Thank you, for being the only one that showed me kindness all those years. I am sorry for the hurt I caused you."

Soft lips pressed a kiss to Yugi's forehead and the softness that had appeared in Koiji's eyes disappeared to be replaced with a hardness Kaiba had not seen in him yet and his heart missed a beat at Koiji's next action.

The gun was raised and the arm that was wrapped around Yugi tightened as he turned him around in one swift movement and moved the gun against the side of Yugi's head.

Yugi's eyes widened slightly as he felt the pressure of it and his breathing stocked.

"I will set us free." Koiji whispered in his ear as he slowly pulled the trigger.

"NO!" Bakura screamed as he moved forward to stop Koiji.

At that moment all hell broke lose as the lights suddenly went out, covering the room in completely darkness and the door was kicked in and several agents stormed through the door.

A gunshot was heard and everyone suddenly moved at once.

Kaiba lost sight of everything and everyone when the lights went down as only that last gunshot rang through his ears as fear overtook him and suddenly there were gunshots coming from everywhere and glass shattered all around as windows broke.

"Stay down!" He screamed to no one in particular, just hoping everyone would be wise enough to stay out of the gun rain. Pain suddenly erupted from the side of his face but he forced the pain away to the back of his mind.

As suddenly as the shooting had started it stopped again, leaving the dark room in a cloud of smoke, hiding the little sight they could have gained.

He slowly moved forward and stumbled on a figure that was lying on the ground.

Kaiba kneeled down by him and could vaguely make out the white haired male.

"Bakura." He called out and the said person groaned something in return.

Suddenly the lights turned back on and Kaiba had to shield his eyes from the bright light for a moment before he looked down again.

He could see blood dripping out of a slight head wound from Bakura's forehead but he seemed fine otherwise.

"Where is Yugi." Bakura called out screaming.

"I don't know." Kaiba answered him as he looked around.

He could see Hanasaki slowly helping Miho up. Somehow they had managed to get out of it mostly unharmed.

Looking to his other side he saw two agents lying on the ground. They didn't move and Kaiba suspected they would never do so anymore either judging by the bullet holes in their heads.

"Is the suspect down?" Unfamiliar voices spoke but Kaiba couldn't really hear it well as his gaze fell upon two forms on the ground near the window on the other side of the room.

Koiji's body was lying half over the small frame of Yugi, as if having tried to shield it from the chaos and falling glass.

Yugi's eyes were closed and one hand was stretched out as if the boy had been trying to reach something.

Kaiba's breathing stocked as he saw Koiji slowly move up unsteadily, bleeding but the gun still in his shaking hand while Yugi remained unmoving.

Overwhelming anger ran through his veins and he ran towards him, willing and wanting desperately to kill him, when the last unnamed girl suddenly screamed out as she ran passed him and knocked against the unsteady Koiji, making them both lose their balance and tumble out of the window together.

Kaiba's body seemed to move in slow-motion as he saw the girls shocked face, as she realized what she had done and Koiji's wide open eyes before they disappeared from view.

The screams coming out of them Kaiba barely heard as he finally reached Yugi and slowly kneeled down by him, his hands shaking as he slowly turned Yugi's unresponsive body around, his heart beating in his throat.

He was vaguely aware of a shimmer of white that moved passed him and hands that touched his before they moved them away and screaming as Bakura yelled something to people who Kaiba couldn't see.

All Kaiba could see where Yugi's closed eyes and the piece of glass piercing out of his chest.

Men in white suits passed him and Bakura took his wrist as he slowly pulled him aside.

Kaiba was aware Bakura was talking to him but couldn't hear what he was saying, all he could see where the paramedics that hit Yugi's body over and over again but his mind couldn't figure out why anymore.

Ages seemed to past before Yugi suddenly coughed.

"Kaiba!" Bakura screamed his name and he turned his gaze to him.

"What?" He asked a bit confused at Bakura's worried face.

Bakura said something but Kaiba couldn't hear it and Bakura sighed before he pointed to his ears and shook his fingers in front of them.

Kaiba nodded slowly as he realized his eyes were ringing and that the left side of his face was on fire but didn't pay to much notice to it as uniformed men entered the room with ready guns and Kaiba could vaguely hear Miho scream as tears fell down her cheeks.

An officer laid his hand on her back and comforted her as he laid a blanket around her.

Kaiba felt a blanket be laid around his shoulders as well and looked around to the officer that seemed to be talking to him.

Bakura was still beside him and said something to the officer to which he nodded.

Kaiba looked down and saw Yugi had been moved onto a stretcher and that paramedics were moving him out of the room.

A hand on his back made him follow along with the others as they slowly walked down the hallway.

It all seemed a blur to Kaiba as the only thought in his mind screamed that it was finally over.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The moment they walked outside chaos erupted on the schoolyard and a small dark haired form threw himself against Kaiba.

Kaiba hugged his little brother tightly, not willing to let go anymore.

Bakura managed a small smile, as he looked at Kaiba and Mokuba, even though Kaiba looked like hell with his blood covered face and clothes.

The paramedic had told him either glass or a fragment of a gun had hit the side of his face, leaving him unable to hear at one side completely for a while.

Bakura shifted his gaze to where the stretcher moved with his little friend on it, aware of the three people running towards them.

Bakura raised his hand and pointed to the stretcher as they came close enough and immediately Joey turned around, not even pausing.

Tea and Tristan took a moment longer but ran after him and Bakura let out a slow breath.

It was finally over.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Joey felt his heart stop as he reached the stretcher and looked at the pale and bloodied face of his best friend.

"Yugi!" He called out.

He wasn't even aware that he stumbled into people who were crying as they tried to reach out to see if their friends were alright, as Joey only had eyes for the still form of his best friend.

The paramedics were working quickly on the teen as they moved a breathing mask over his face and moved him to the ambulance which was waiting.

"Oh god…Yugi…can I come along?" He asked and one of the paramedics looked at him for a moment before he nodded.

"Only one of you." He said with a glance at Tea and Tristan.

"Go Joey." Tea immediately said and Joey turned to her while they loaded Yugi into the ambulance.

"Tea…"

"Just go, we'll see you in the hospital." Tristan said and Joey nodded as he stepped into the ambulance before the doors closed.

With loud noise the sirens went on and the ambulance moved onto the road in full speed.

"You can hitch a ride with me." One of the cops said and guided them to a van where Hanasaki and Miho were in as well and answered the questions the cops asked them with deathly white faces visible under the band aids on their faces.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

In the ambulance Joey held Yugi's motionless hand in his own and caressed it as paramedics moved around them and arranged things around the tubes hooked upon Yugi's still frame.

The reached the hospital quickly and the stretcher was unloaded and Joey followed it, hearing nothing of what the paramedics said till a hand stopped him.

"You cannot follow him there sir. We will keep you posted; just wait in the waiting room please."

A nurse said and Joey slowly nodded as she guided him into a chair and gave him a cup of coffee as he stared at the door through which Yugi had disappeared.

"Joey! Any news yet?" Tea and Tristan came running to him not much later and he shook his head.

Nodding they slowed down and moved to sit down beside him as they stared at the yellow door as well.

A lot of doctors in blue suits ran through the hallway but Joey couldn't see exactly what was happening.

"Joey!"

Looking up startled Joey swallowed hard as he saw Yami coming towards them.

"Yami…I…" Joey stuttered.

"Any news on Yugi?" Yami asked as he stopped in front of him and Joey stared at the familiar face of his friend but could only see Yugi's motionless face.

"Nothing at all yet. How did you find out?"

Yami let out a strange laugh.

"Hard not to know when it is all over the news." He answered before he walked over to the door they had been staring at and looked through it.

"It's on the news?" Tea asked a little numb and Yami nodded.

"There hasn't been anything else then that anywhere. Stewardesses put it up during the flight."

"Does Grandpa know?" Tristan suddenly asked as he shot up and Tea's eyes widened while Joey stared at him in shock.

Yami however nodded.

"Yeah, I called him immediately when I heard and he's taking the first flight home from America, but he won't arrive before morning."

Tristan slowly let himself sink down again while Joey stared at Yami, who stayed as calm and unreadable as ever and for a brief moment he wondered if Yami felt anything at all when he noticed Yami's fixed gaze upon the door and the slight lifting of the head every time a doctor ran through the hallway and knew Yami was just as scared as they were but was much better in hiding it.

It took him a while to notice the concentrated look in his eyes that Yugi had most of the time when Yami had still been locked into the puzzle and they had been communicating.

"Is he going to be alright?" He asked as he stared at Yami.

"He's fighting." Yami didn't even shift his gaze as he answered.

But it was enough for Joey who nodded slowly.

Joey had no idea how long they sat there before a doctor in a blue emergency suit, covered in blood, came through the door.

"Moto Yugi?" He asked and immediately the four friends stood up and moved to him.

The doctor took in their white and scared faces and sighed.

"Right now he isn't in a life threatening situation anymore. We will have to see how he comes through the night, but I have good hope that he'll pull through."

He sighed.

"He lost an enormous amount of blood before he got here. There were two bullets removed from his left shoulder that did quite a bit of damage to his lungs and we had to give him a breathing mask to make it easier to breath for him."

He paused for a moment.

"We will have to wait and find out just how many damage the bullets have caused exactly. He has several cut wounds from glass; those are expected to heal very nicely. There is a big flesh wound on the side of his face, he was very lucky when the bullet only scratched his skin but it has been bleeding quite a lot."

He paused again to let the information sink into the four teens.

"Your friend was very lucky today…I need a relative to fill in some forms." He said and Yami looked up to him.

"His grandfather is on his way with the first flight but that will take several hours. I live with him so maybe I can help?" He asked.

The doctor nodded.

"Good enough for me. I will bring the forms later."

"Can we see him?" Joey asked and the doctor nodded as he motioned them to follow him.

They were lead to a small single room further down the hall and the doctor turned to them.

"He is still asleep. If you are quiet you can all go in together, but don't wake him up if he doesn't wake out of his own. He needs all the rest he can get right now."

They nodded and the doctor smiled.

"Just call the alert button when he wakes up and a nurse will come."

They nodded again and thanked the doctor before Yami and Joey walked into the room and looked at the sleeping form in the single bed.

Yugi looked even more fragile and innocently then he normally did in the big hospital bed and Yami moved to his side, not even giving the chairs a glance as he sat on the bed edge and took Yugi's cold hand in his own.

The amethyst eyed teen looked almost as white as the sheets and the hospital gown was a little too big for him, showing the bandages around his shoulder.

Several band aids and small bandages covered the cuts on his body but Yami's gaze was fixed upon Yugi's face, which looked peacefully even if there was a breathing mask resting on his face to help him breathe calmly and bandages covered his forehead and most of the left side of his face.

A soft smile crept over Yami's lips as he looked at him.

Joey sat on Yugi's other side on the chair and took Yugi's other hand while Tea and Tristan took a chair and sat down as well.

"I never want to see him like this again." Joey said softly after a while.

"Amen." Yami said before he turned around to the door to see Kaiba, Mokuba and Bakura come through it.

Bakura's forehead was covered in bandages and he had some band aids on his arms but he looked fairly well otherwise.

Kaiba also had bandages on his forehead but his covered the left side of his face completely, leaving only his eye open.

He was also covered in band aids and still looked pale.

"How is he?" Kaiba asked as he stated in the door opening and Joey could see guilt in his eyes.

"They say he will be alright…I believe I owe you a thank you for saving him."

Yami said but Kaiba shook his head.

"I didn't save him. He saved my life." He said as he stared at the still and fragile form in the bed.

"What do you mean?" Tea asked as she looked at Kaiba with wide-open eyes.

"He pushed me out of the way when Koiji fired that first few gunshots." Kaiba said slowly.

"Koiji?... Takenachi Koiji?" Yami asked as he looked at Bakura who had moved closer.

"You know him?" Bakura asked as he nodded.

"He's insane. Was he the one holding you guy's hostage?" He asked and Bakura nodded.

"Where do you know him from?"

"Yugi's math class from when I was still in spirit form. The class was kind of boring so I just walked around in the class to look at what the others were doing. That guy was always drawing disturbing images of people shot and frightful. Never thought the guy would actually go around and shoot people."

Tristan colored brightly as Yami spoke.

"Eh…you…didn't happen to see…"

Yami looked at him before he smirked.

"You made nice drawings…really mature." He said and Tristan's blush increased as Yami's smirk increased before he smiled.

"Don't worry. Everyone draws things in math class…although I must admit it's a little predictable that Yugi draws Duel Monsters though."

He spoke lightly and they all chuckled, even Kaiba smiled a little.

"I never saw the gun." Kaiba suddenly spoke up after a long silence.

Everyone looked up to him.

"What do you mean?" Tea asked.

"We were walking in the hallway and saw Koiji getting bullied when Yugi suddenly called my name and pushed me away."

Mokuba looked up to Kaiba with giant eyes before he looked at Yugi's still form.

"People were run over and Yugi had pulled himself to the lockers in an attempt not to be trampled. If I hadn't grabbed his wrist and pulled him into that classroom he would have been safe."

"You don't know that." Yami said.

"Maybe he would have bled to death in the hallway then. At least you tried to protect him."

Bakura slowly shook his head.

"There was no need to protect him. It seemed like Koiji truly cared for Yugi in some weird way. He didn't hurt him once."

"Till the end when he tried to put a bullet through his head." Kaiba said harshly.

Bakura looked down and they all looked at each other silently for a long time.

Yami suddenly turned back to Yugi and smiled.

"Hey."

They all looked towards his bed to indeed see that Yugi was slowly opening his eyes.

"Yugi."

They all said at once and he winched a little as he closed his eyes again as his hand touched the breathing mask before he removed it.

"Why are you guy's shouting so loud?" He asked with a whine that sounded so much like him that Joey couldn't help it as tears ran down his cheeks and he smiled widely.

"Welcome back buddy." He said while Mokuba pushed the alarm button to call a nurse.

Yugi blinked a few time before his eyes stayed open and he looked at Joey, a smile sliding over his features before his gaze fell upon Yami.

"Wasn't I supposed to come pick you up?" He asked with a small frown as he looked at Yami.

"Yeah you were, but I decided I wanted to come pick you up instead."

Oh…" He looked around to the others before his tired gaze fell upon Kaiba and Bakura.

"Are you two okay?"

Kaiba nodded, as did Bakura who smiled.

"Yeah."

"Hanasaki and Miyo?"

"Shaken but fine too." Kaiba said.

"Minako and Koiji?"

Pausing for a moment Bakura realized the nameless girl must have been called Minako.

"They died. Minako lost it and pushed Koiji out of the window." Kaiba answered softly.

Yugi's gaze saddened before he nodded.

"I see."

"How are you feeling?" Yami asked softly as he was still holding Yugi's hand.

Yugi looked at him for a moment before he answered.

"Tired." He answered truthfully and Yami smiled.

"You're not in pain?"

Yugi shook his head a little before he closed his eyes.

"Not really…just nauseous if I move."

Yami nodded and brushed the hair out of his face when a nurse came in.

"Hello Moto-san. How are you feeling?" She asked as she looked at the group of people around the bed.

"I'm going to have to ask if you could all leave the room for now so I can check up on him and do some slight tests."

Nodding everyone left the room and the nurse closed the door behind them.

On the hallway Kaiba straightened.

"It's time to go home for me and Mokuba. Wish Yugi well. Tell him I owe him one Moto."

Yami nodded.

"I will…and Kaiba?"

Kaiba turned around and looked into Yami's ruby eyes.

"What?"

"Thank you for protecting him." Yami said with a slight bow of the head.

Kaiba turned around before he spoke, his voice trembling slightly.

"Tell Yugi to get well soon so I can win my title back."

The threat didn't come out half as harsh as he had it meant to come out but he walked away anyway.

"As if he will ever win. He's still the same stuck up bastard as he was before." Tea said with a frown but Joey shook his head.

"No…he called Yugi by his name without sounding mean."

"Something changed alright, although I'm still called Moto." Yami said as he looked at Joey.

Bakura smiled. "Yeah but your much more intimidating then Yugi is."

Yami laughed at that. "That is true, though Yugi can be very intimidating when he wants a hamburger and I don't want to give it to him."

Joey gave him a soft punch on his shoulder as he laughed.

"Idiot."

"Hey, I'm being serious here." Yami said with a chuckle as Bakura smiled.

"Well…I have to go guys. The police want to talk to me at six so I should be going as well. Yami tell Yugi I'll be sure to come and visit him."

Yami nodded. "I will…you know where we are if you want to talk huh?"

Bakura smiled. "A shooting is nothing compared to the trouble we faced so far…it was terrifying…but I'll be fine. Take care of Yugi though."

Yami nodded. "Will do. Don't you dare not to drop by." He said with a smile and Bakura chuckled.

"I won't. Bye." He waved as he walked away at the same time the nurse reopened the door.

She smiled to them and left the door open as she walked away and they quickly slipped in again and sat down on their previous places.

Yugi's face lit up as they came in.

"Kaiba and Bakura wish you well." Tea said with a smile.

Yugi frowned a little. "Did Kaiba really say that?" He asked.

Joey chuckled. "No, he said you have to get better soon so he can win his title back."

Yugi smiled. "That sounds more like Kaiba."

They all laughed and Yugi winched.

"Ow, really guys don't make me laugh yet." He said with a smile before he yawned and his eyes slowly started to drop as he looked at Yami and Joey.

"Are you guys okay?"

"We're fine silly. You should worry more about yourself." Joey answered him as he squeezed his hand.

Yugi smiled a little and nodded as tears shined in his eyes but they didn't fall and they could all see the slight fear in his eyes.

"Will you stay?" He asked softly and Yami smiled.

"I don't believe any of us will be going anywhere anytime soon."

They all nodded to his words and Yugi smiled though the shimmer of fear didn't leave his eyes as he slowly fell back asleep.

Neither Yami nor Joey let go of his hands as he slept and they stayed silent for a long time.

Joey let out a sigh after some time.

"It will be hard for him to get through this and get his life back to normal again."

Tea nodded. "We can't even begin to imagine what they saw in that room. Even Kaiba…God knows what happened inside there."

"It's going to be a long and difficult road for all of you." Yami said. "But neither of you are alone in it.

Joey nodded with a small smile. "We're friends for life and friends stick together no matter what."

They all nodded and they laid their hands on Yami's and Yugi's.

"We'll pull through this together." Tea said with a smile and for a moment the smiley she had once drew onto their hands seemed to lighten up before it disappeared.

Joey smiled as he looked at Yugi and knew for the first time that day that everything would be all right.

And right now, as he looked at the faces of his friends, that was all that really mattered.

The end

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…I really meant to write angst…. so how come I get the feeling I ended up with sappiness instead?

Oh well…let me know what you thought of it :D

I rewrote the story when I stumbled upon it on my computer and it just didn't leave a good feeling (and the grammar was horrible!)

I find it running better now and hope you will all like this new version better too.