To Mend A Broken Heart

The obnoxious banging on the front door grew louder and more rapid, and Yami could hear a few strong male voices calling out from outside.

"We know you're in there Yugi!" one of them called out.

"There's no point in ignoring us!" another one hollered.

Then there was an incredibly deep and menacing voice that spoke. "We'll bust this door down and get our payment one way or another you little runt." Yugi squirmed in Yami's grip, sweat dripping from his forehead as his anxiety rose. Yami could feel the boy trembling, and there was no way he was going to leave Yugi there. Yami loosened his arms from around the boy's waist, and grabbed his hand instead, tugging on it as he headed for the window.

"Yami, what are you doing?" Yugi asked with an anxious voice, as ragged breaths came from his lungs.

"We're both running," he said with finality, still heading for the window with Yugi struggling against him.

"But-" Yugi went to protest, but Yami stopped abruptly and turned to face the boy. As Yugi looked up into Yami's eyes, he saw nothing but dead concern, and his stomach twisted at the thought of going against Yami's wishes. He had to make sure that Yami got out of there and he stayed to face his punishment. It was the only option.

"Yugi, please hear me out," Yami begged, his eyes boring into Yugi's. "I am not leaving you. If you stay here, who knows what's going to happen?" he thought for a moment, and then added, "Hell, I don't even know what's going on to even guess what would happen!"

"But-"

"Yugi listen to me!" Yami said, the anxiety in his own voice now surfacing. He still held Yugi's hand tightly in his, and he couldn't even enjoy the feeling of their hands together, given their current situation. "I..." He realised what he had been about to say, and foolishly scolded himself for almost making such a slip up. He quickly recovered, "I care about you, Yugi. And I am going to do whatever I can to help you, which right now is getting you out of here and away from those creeps!" He stared at Yugi with pleading eyes, and Yugi was snapped out of his trance when more loud bangs came from the front door. He jumped, and instinctively moved closer to Yami, as he gave up his stubborn endeavor to make Yami leave. Besides, Yugi didn't want him to go at all, he was absolutely terrified. Taking this as a good sign, Yami wrapped a set of protective arms around Yugi, as the boy took security in Yami's chest.

Still trembling, Yugi closed his hand into a fist in an attempt to cease the rapid movement. "Let's get out of here," he managed to say. Yami wasted no more time, and released Yugi so he could grab the boy's hand again and pull him towards the window. Yugi carefully climbed out and onto the roof, with Yami following cautiously. They quietly made their way across the roof until they were at the edge that sat above the air conditioning unit. Yami helped Yugi climb down onto it, and as Yami made his way down Yugi jumped down onto the pavement. They could still hear the men around the corner at Yugi's front door, and he nervously jumped from foot to foot as he waited for Yami. The sound of those creeps only just around the corner made his anxiety rise even more.

Yami finally jumped down, and gave Yugi's shoulder a reassuring squeeze, before they both took off down the street. Yami's expensive shoes were still making far too much noise for his liking, and as they both ran, unaware of where they were going, Yami decided to try and get some answers again.

"Now could you please tell me what this is all about?" he asked as the ran side by side down the footpath.

A look of shame passed over Yugi's features-or so Yami thought, he couldn't entirely tell because they were running. The boy then gulped and decided to answer. "I didn't have the money to pay for Grandpa's operation," he blurted, breathing heavily as he ran. "So I made a deal with those men."

Yami had to restrain himself from stopping dead in his tracks, "You mean you loaned money from a bunch of thugs?!" he said, raising his voice He then realised that was the worst thing he could have done, and he mentally scolded himself. Yugi was already in enough stress as it was, he didn't need Yami getting angry at him as well. Yugi winced at Yami's words, and the taller man decided they had run far enough for the moment. He pulled Yugi into a small side street, and stopped, crouching over to try and regain his breath. Yugi did the same, leaning back against one of the brick buildings. He looked to Yami with a nervous expression, waiting to receive a lecture about what a bad decision he had made. Instead, once Yami regained his breath, he placed both his hands on Yugi's shoulders, giving him an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," he said, lowering his voice. "I just...I never would have expected that you would get yourself into such a mess," he admitted.

Yugi shrunk back against the wall, wrapping his arms around himself, "It was the only option I had..." he murmured. "Grandpa needed that money or he would never be able to walk again!" Yugi looked to the ground, wishing that he had never gotten himself into such a mess. What was worse, was that he had earned all of the money that he needed to pay them back, but it had disappeared. He had almost been in the clear, but now he was done for.

"I understand that, Yugi," Yami said. "But I could have leant you that money, had you asked." Yami looked Yugi straight in the eye, but the boy refused to look at him, his eyes averted to the ground.

Yugi shook his head, "I made the deal the night that I met you," he explained, "I'd already made up my mind."

Yami sighed, remembering how grateful he was that Yugi had found him that night. He then squeezed Yugi's shoulders reassuringly. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of this," he said. He then stood up straight again, and asked curiously, "Do you mind telling me exactly how much money you borrowed?" Yugi looked at the ground again and mumbled something, but Yami still understood what he had said. "Three thousand dollars?" Yami said, trying not to raise his voice again. Yugi nodded.

Yami suddenly snapped back to reality when he realised that they were probably currently being pursued. "Come on, we have to keep moving," he said, trying to sound calm. Yugi nodded, and stood up again, before they both took off down the small side street, feeling more secure than they had on the main road. Truth was, Yami was far from calm. He had no idea where they were going or how they were going to evade these guys. They were obviously good at tracking people down, otherwise they wouldn't have so willingly leant Yugi all that money. He also assumed that the consequence for not returning the money was not very pretty. He didn't want to find out what that was. They thought they could hear some voices calling out from around the corner, but it could have been anybody. Never the less, Yugi and Yami both picked up their pace, as both their hearts started beating rapidly in their chests. They couldn't out run these guys forever. They needed a plan.

Yami face palmed, Joey! He thought that maybe they could run to Joey's house and hide out there for a while, but he cursed when he realised they had been running in the complete opposite direction to Joey's residence. They turned another corner into a small alleyway, hoping that it would shelter them from the wide open streets.

"Yami," Yugi said breathlessly as he ran beside the man, "where are we going?" he asked nervously.

Yami shook his head, looking more stressed than ever. "I have no idea, to be honest," he admitted, his ragged breaths only growing in pace. This was why Yugi didn't want him to get involved, after everything he's been through in the past couple of months this was the last thing he needed. Yugi felt a pang of guilt as he thought about all the pressure Yami must be under right now. Sure, Yugi was completely petrified by this point, and he guessed Yami was also, but if he hadn't have lost the money he could have gotten out of this mess and neither of them would have needed to suffer. They could hear those voices behind them again, and Yugi suddenly had a look of horror on his face as he sprinted ahead of Yami, recognising one of the voices.

"That's them!" he called back to Yami, now in a wave of panic. Yami ran and caught up to Yugi, grabbing the boy's arm and yanking him into another smaller alley way, hoping to throw their perusers off course. It was so dark in the small space that they almost couldn't see. It was only about three meters wide, and Yami and Yugi skidded to a halt when they realised there was a brick wall now blocking their path. It had been so dark that they didn't see that this was a dead end.

"Shit!" Yami cursed, spinning around. They could hear the men's voices in the distance growing closer, and they stared towards the entrance to the alley, hoping like hell the group walked straight past.

"What do we do, Yami?" Yugi asked, grabbing onto the man's arm.

"Whatever we have to," he said, his voice now strong and bold. Yugi then heard the footsteps coming closer, and his breath caught in his throat. There, standing at the entrance to the alley, were three figures. Yugi noticed moonlight flood into the alley, as the clouds that had been covering it moved aside. He felt Yami tense beside him, and looked up to the man, to see his expression was one of stone cold seriousness, as he stared at the three figures, who were now materialising into men as they slowly walked into the alley, wicked smirks on their faces.

Yami stepped in front of Yugi protectively. "What do you want from us?" he demanded in a booming voice.

The man in the middle just smirked even more, moving his gaze to Yugi who was standing just behind Yami. "Why little Yugi, try to hire a body guard did we?" he said in a mocking voice. He clicked his tongue, shaking his head as he spoke, "You know you can't run from us." The three of them grew closer, until they were only just over a meter away from the two boys. The man in the middle-obviously the leader of the group-smirked at Yami. "Your friend owes us payment," he said, enunciating each word carefully. Yugi had managed to stop himself from trembling, and he stepped forwards to stand in front of Yami, trying to use the other's courage as his own.

"Yugi, what are you-" Yami had started to say, reaching out to pull the boy back. Yugi interrupted him however.

"He's right, Yami," Yugi said, not turning to look at him. "I failed to keep my end of the bargain, so I have to accept the consequences," he said, sounding defeated.

"But Yugi-"

"Glad to know that we see eye to eye," the man said, grinning wickedly at Yugi. "Boys-"

"Wait!" Yami shouted, darting in front of Yugi. He held a protective arm in front of the boy, glaring daggers at the three men. "Whatever Yugi's consequence, let me take his place."