Okay, I know I should be working on things I already promised, but this has been in my head for so long, I just had to get it down! Bare with me, I'm making progress on things. This is just to hold you all over until then.

--

Six o'clock A.M. The alarm clock went off. A small, pale hand reached up to turn it off, but missed. A pained groan filled the room. Finally, after missing so many times, the pale hand gave up as the alarm continued to make an obnoxious noise. Yugi Moto was a sixteen-year-old junior at Domino High School. He knew he had to get up and get ready for school, but for some reason, he felt all the energy fall out of him. With what little strength he had, Yugi pulled himself into a sitting position with his blankets still covering him. "I hate mornings …" He told himself as he got up. He had taken a shower the night before, so he went over to his dresser to get a clean uniform for school. Suddenly, a pain filled his chest and he coughed pretty hard. Not thinking much of it, he continued to get ready for school. "Man, why do I feel so crappy? I must be coming down with a cold." Yugi was used to getting colds; he contracted at least two a year. He had already had one earlier in the year and since it was late November, cold and flu season was upon him.

Suddenly, a knock came from the door. Yugi did not answer; he knew he would not have to if the person was whom he thought it was. And he was right. Atem, his roommate and guardian, opened the door without waiting for an answer. "Oh, good; you're up. I guess I can put the bucket of ice water away." Yugi rolled his eyes. Atem had the strangest ways of getting Yugi out of bed in the mornings. He would spill water all over him, he would flip the mattress, and he would yell in Yugi's ear sometimes. Yugi loved Atem for everything the former spirit had done for him, but sometimes he really knew how to get on Yugi's nerves. Yugi coughed again. This time, it sounded like a pretty loose cough.

"Ouch; I better bring some throat lozenges with me. Joey, Tristan and I have that big science project to present today, and I'm going to need my voice." It was a good thing Yugi kept hard candies in his top desk drawer. He loved to suck on Jolly Ranchers ®, Starburst ®, and mints. He grabbed the baggie full of candy and stuffed it in his backpack.

He walked down the stairs with a slow pace. He could smell his grandfather cooking breakfast in the kitchen. Normally, the scent of bacon and eggs would send his mouth watering, but this time it made him a little queasy. "Morning, guys." He greeted the other two occupants of the house as he sat down at the breakfast table. Atem read the morning paper as Solomon continued to cook. The oldest member of the household turned and smiled at his grandson.

"Good morning, Yugi. Here are your eggs; scrambled, just the way you like them." He placed the plate of eggs in front of Yugi and returned to the stove. The youngest looked at the food sitting in front of him and for some reason, he just felt dizzy when looking at it. Across the table, Atem noticed that Yugi was turning his nose up at his breakfast. This confused him because Yugi was always pretty good about eating when he needed to eat.

"Yugi, is something the matter?" Yugi looked up and shook his head. When he did, he felt a bit of pain, which he knew was the start of a headache.

"… No, nothing at all." Reluctantly, Yugi took his fork and took a bite of the eggs. Atem shrugged and returned to his reading. When his guardian's attention was no longer on him, Yugi made a disgusted face as he swallowed the bite of eggs. It burned his throat as it went down and when it reached his stomach he could feel that queasy feeling again. Not being able to take another bite, he stood up and made an excuse to leave early. "Well, I better get to school. You know the guys and I have that big project to present today, and I better go set it up in the science lab." Solomon turned around.

"Do you want me to drive you to school, Yugi?" Yugi shook his head, causing another wave of pain.

"No, that's okay, Grandpa; I'll be fine." Coughing, he popped a sucker in his mouth and made his way for the door.

The walk to school was no picnic for Yugi. His headache did not seem to get any better and the bright light of the sun seemed to be burning his eyes. "I know Tea always keeps pain-killers on her, so I'll ask if I can have some when I see her." As Yugi continued to walk down the sidewalk, his vision started to sway. The more things in his line of sight swayed, the dizzier he became. Along with this, he could feel his stomach doing somersaults inside him. Just one bite of eggs was enough to give him a stomachache. Another coughing fit hit him as he finally reached the school.

Thankful to be back inside and out of the intense sunlight, Yugi made his way to the science lab. When he reached the third floor lab, he found that all the scents of the chemicals were very strong. This was strange; the chemicals did not seem to bother him yesterday. He covered his mouth with his hand for a few seconds until he reached his workstation. He placed another sucker in his mouth and began to set up the project. He liked being at school this early because it was quiet and peaceful. In a room full of chemistry students, and a room that was quite soundproof, things became a little wacky sometimes.

As Yugi finished setting up the chemicals he would need for the project, his headache seemed to be getting worse. Yugi thought that the smell of the chemicals was making his headache even worse. He left the lab as soon as he could and made his way down to the first floor for his first hour, which was Algebra II: Trigonometry. It was a good thing he did not have Chemistry until fifth hour. This way, he could use the first four hours to try and get rid of his headache.

Soon, it was time for school to start. He sat down in his desk and waited for Tea to come to class. Joey and Tristan decided that after Geometry was finished, they did not want to take any more math classes than they needed.

In Domino High, it was required for students to have two credits of math, but three credits for science. All three of the boys decided to take Chemistry to take care of that. Tea 

wanted to take easy Geology instead. Yugi knew the reason Joey and Tristan wanted to take Chemistry; they wanted to be able to make their own stink bombs to use as a prank on the principal at the end of the year. Yugi, however, he was just interested in Chemistry.

It was not long before students began to file into the room. Tea took her seat right next to Yugi.

"Morning, Yugi." Yugi fought a coughing fit and smiled a weak smile.

"Hi, Tea." He said in a low, scratchy voice. Tea's face filled with worry when she saw the state Yugi looked. His skin was more pale than usual and he had dark circles under his eyes. Not to mention that he sounded like he had a frog in his throat.

"Are you okay, Yugi? You sound a little sick." Yugi shook his head.

"No, I just have a sore throat, that's all. Hey, can I get some pain-killers from you? I have this big headache."

"Sure." As Tea dug in her bag for the medicine, Yugi let out his loose cough again. "Are you sure you're okay, Yugi? That cough sounded pretty bad." She handed two round pills to Yugi who took them.

"I'm fine." Tea still looked worried, but let it go when the bell rang and the teacher began class. However, throughout the rest of the hour, Yugi kept coughing pretty hard.

Yugi's day seemed to go by slowly. The pills he took from Tea never helped his headache. His throat continued to get worse and his cough never left him. Worse, he was having a hard time breathing. Yugi was an asthmatic. Luckily, he learned never to go anywhere without his inhaler, but even with that, he found it hard to breathe. It felt like the school was on fire. He kept sweating for the first four hours. Finally, it was time for Chemistry. Yugi figured he was just nervous to have to get up in front of the whole class and make a presentation, that's why he was feeling so crummy. "As soon as Chemistry is over, it'll be better." He told himself. When he did, he found that his voice was almost gone. He popped in another piece of candy, still hoping that it would sooth his throat.

Yugi, Joey and Tristan stood up in front of the class. They wore white lab coats, latex gloves over their hands and thick goggles over their eyes. Yugi had just finished giving his three minute oral presentation and now it was time for the demonstration. Joey used an eyedropper to spill a small drop of clear liquid into a beaker filled with green liquid. The three let out a sigh of relief.

"So, in conclusion: chemicals do not explode." Joey said. Tristan and Yugi both looked at him and then at each other with worried glances they ducked under the table when a loud explosion took place. When the smoke cleared, Joey's whole face was covered in green powder.

"Well, that was some experiment, boys." The teacher said. Yugi and Tristan hoped that Joey had not just screwed up their grade. "Yugi, Tristan … B+." Said two relaxed. "As for you, Joseph, D-; apparently, chemicals DO explode." She said in a very condescending tone. Joey cheered.

"Alright, that's pretty good!" He said as the three of them walked back to the workstation. Yugi stopped in his tracks as the world once again started to sway.

"Mr. Moto, is there something wrong?" Yugi did not answer. He tried to take another step, but he just did not have the energy. "Mr. Moto?"

"Mrs. Chase … I … I don't … feel so …" Yugi never finished his sentence. He fainted right there on the spot. Mrs. Chase gasped.

"Oh my!"

"Hey, it wasn't that big of an explosion!" Joey said.

The next time Yugi came around, he found himself in the school nurse's office, laying down on one of the cots. He felt an ice pack on his head and could hear voices behind the door.

"He fainted in the middle of his class." He recognized that voice as the school nurse's.

"It wasn't from the chemicals, was it?" He recognized that voice as Atem's. 'What's he doing here?' Yugi thought to himself.

"We'll take him home right away." That voice belonged to Grandpa. Why were they here at school? Atem walked in and saw that Yugi was awake.

"Yugi, are you alright?" Yugi removed the ice pack from his head. As he did this, Grandpa walked in carrying his backpack.

"Yugi, we need to go home." Yugi did not argue. All he really wanted to do was go to bed at this point.

Surprisingly, Yugi slept through the afternoon and the night into the next morning. Six o'clock A.M. The alarm clock went off again. This time, Yugi did nothing to stop it. Atem walked in and turned it off after about fifteen minutes or so.

"Come on, Yugi; time to get up." Yugi groaned painfully under the covers. Atem stood over his light with his arms folded. "Now, come on. You've had more than enough rest, so I think you're good to go back to school." Yugi mumbled something under the covers. "What was that? I can't hear you." The small teen lifted the blankets that formed a cocoon over him and slowly sat up.

"I said … I think I'm sick …" Yugi's voice was pained and almost nonexistent. Atem raised a brow and felt Yugi's forehead and face.

"Hmm … you do feel a little warm. Hold on, I'll go get the thermometer." As Atem left, Grandpa peeked into the room.

"Yugi, you better start getting ready or you're going to be late." Yugi raised his half-lidded eyes to his grandfather.

"Grandpa … I think I'm sick …" Solomon walked into the room.

"What hurts?"

"Everything: my throat, my head, my stomach, and every muscle in my body …" Just as Yugi said this, Atem came back in with the thermometer in his hand.

"Alright, I've got the thermometer; flip over." This got Yugi's attention.

"What? No, give me that!" He snatched the thermometer from Atem's hand and held it under his arm. "This is the way my temperature was always taken. Even when I was an infant, my mother would hold my arm down over it." Atem shrugged in apology. After a few seconds, a small beeping went off and Atem took it. His eyes widened.

"104.3?!" He exclaimed.

"I'll call the doctor and see if he can get you in." Solomon said as he left the room to make the phone call. Yugi fell back down on his bed and made a pained sound. Atem sat next to him with his hand on the smaller one's forehead.

"Yami, I feel so bad …" Atem moved Yugi's bangs out of his face.

"Don't worry, Little One; we'll see what we can do." Yugi nodded slowly. Solomon came back in.

"Alright, Dr. Armstrong will see him in an hour. However, I have to open the shop."

"I'll take him, Solomon."

"Are you sure, Atem?" Atem nodded.

"It's no problem." Atem continued to play with Yugi's hair, whom did not seem to mind, seeing as how he did not have the energy to even sit up.

"Alright, get him to the doctor as quickly as you can."

End of Chapter