The Pharaoh and the Dragon

THE PHARAOH AND THE DRAGON
CHAPTER TWO - CONFESSIONS

Warm, golden sun peeked it's way into the tired eyes, forcing them to fight their aching and open. Everything was so unfocused, so blurry. The smell of pine cleaner was so strong, it made his weak stomach turn.
//Where am I?//
He knew the smell wasn't the place he thought he'd die in. Becoming more aware, he tried to sit up, gasping loudly as pain shot mercilessly through him.

"Kaiba...You're awake..." Yami opened his eyes. He had sat next to the bed all night, only drifting off slightly.

It took a while for the deep voice to register. When it did, his stomach showed him what turning was all about.

"You..." The hate leeched through.

"I know you do not like me, but where you were at wasn't any better."

Seto lay back on the bed, room spinning uncontrollably; he clenched his eyes shut and made a low groan of discomfort.

"Are you all right?" Yami could see the small beads of sweat slicking the others forehead.

"Let me die..." He sighed, speaking as best he could.

Yami's heart jumped. "What? Of course I can't let you die."

"Then...g-go away..." The end of his sentence cracked a little.

"I'm afraid I cannot do that either." Yami smiled.
//Even like this he hates me...//

"Food..."

"Food? Are you hungry?"

Seto only nodded.

"I'll be right back then...Don't try anything stupid, all right?" The multi hair colored form rose, making it's way to the door.

Seto wanted to say something sarcastic, but the wave of blackness took over.

- - - - -

"This was all they had..." Yami returned with a few plastic containers.

When he got no response, he sat the food to the side. Carefully he nudged the boys thin shoulder, still getting no reaction.

"Kaiba?" Yami became worried. He had not taken the time to fully asses the boys condition.

He could now see the deep cuts from his dry lips, the way his bones shown dramatically. Panic started to fill him when he realized the other had probably been starved the whole time. Slowly he rose Seto's head with his arms, gently pouring some water on the lips. Immediately he felt the form in his arms jump, sputtering water out, coughing.

"I'm sorry..."
//He can't even swallow...//

Seto's eyelashes fluttered, and he looked up to see Yami's face. There was so much concern, and worry in the large, focused eyes.
//Why? Why is he acting like he cares?//
Feeling much too weak to be mean, he continued to stare at the mysterious face.

"You need to drink something at least..."

Seto nodded slowly as the Pharaoh's hand aimed the cup to his mouth again. The CEO tried, he really tried to drink, but his throat was so dry and scratched all he could do was cough, and spit it up. Tears beginning to wet the corners of his eyes, from the pain.

Yami thoughtfully used a napkin from the food to wipe the water from his face, and Seto's. Feeling like crying himself.

"I'm so sorry Kaiba...If I had arrived sooner..."

Seto's eyes showed shock.
//He feels guilty for this? The whole reason I did it was to beat him...//

"You...You saved me?"

Yami nodded at the question. "I found out from your brother where you last went...For a few days I had sensed trouble, I never imagined like this...I'm so sorry." A single large tear fell from his eye and landed on Seto's cheek.

"Why?"

Now it was the Pharaoh who showed shock. "Why? Because...I care about you Kaiba, I truly do. For a long time I've felt this way, only I was afraid of your reaction. I only tell you now so you will know this has nothing to do with pride, or rivalry. I only defeated you so many times, because...Because I knew you'd keep trying to beat me. It was the only way I could see you..." Yami could not help his crying.

"Yugi..." Seto closed his eyes.

"No, Yami...Yugi really has little to do with this. Honestly, I think he's in love with the Bakura boy." He forced a smile through his pain.

"Yami..." Seto opened them looking up at him. "I wanted to beat you...So...I made a deal."

"A deal?"

He nodded. "With Pegasus...He said he'd give me...the card that would...defeat you...If...if I..." He began to shake.

Yami felt his blood turn to ice realizing how the usually strong willed boy ended up like this.

"Say no more. You shouldn't have to explain...What that psycho did was wrong, very wrong, and I will not let him get away with it. Right now you must focus on surviving...Please?"
//This happened to him because of me...//

"Yami...Thank you. For getting me away from...there..." Seto was crying now. "I'm so sorry for everything...You a-always tried to h-help me." The sobs became greater. "All I e-ever wanted to do w-was humiliate y-you...I'm s-sorry..."
//He saved your life...He cares about you.//

"Shh. Perhaps if you can sit, you will be able to drink now." Yami gently wiped the tears away with his thumb.

Seto nodded, and was able to sit with Yami's help. The Pharaoh placing his arm around the shaking shoulders. Taking the cup again, slower, pouring a small amount into Kaiba's mouth. Taking a long pause the CEO managed to swallow a little. Wincing as it seemed to activate his pulsing stomach.

"Try to keep it down..." Yami spoke softly, brushing the dirty hair from the gorgeous eyes.

Seto nodded again, calming his body, allowing him to take another sip.

"Thank you." He motioned for him to remove the cup.

"You should get to where you can drink before you try to eat. I'll see what I can do to find some broth or something..." Yami was about to get up when Seto's hand weakly grabbed his wrist.

"Please...stay with me? I don't want to be alone..." Fear dripped through the desperate gaze.

Yami nodded, hiding his own hearts joy at the statement.
"Of course."

The two sat like that for what felt like hours before Seto opened his mouth again.

"Where are we?"

"A hotel, I assumed you didn't want anyone to see you in this state. I can take you home if you'd be more comfortable there...Mokuba is worried about you."

"I'm...comfortable anywhere now...If you're there..." Seto whispered before going limp in the spirit's arms.

"As am I..." Yami held the form before laying him down gently. Sitting in the chair, not leaving, just as he'd promised.

- - - - -

The next two days were very tough. Passing anything was a task of great pain, and eating became just as bad. A large bowl had to be present always to catch the vomit it usually caused. Through it all Yami stayed vigil, always helping as best he could to soothe the boys suffering. Now Seto was to a point where he could sit up on his own, hold a little food down. His energy was still very low, but he had a new reason to keep trying. A star haired reason.

"Your color looks better today." Yami spoke softly, as the third day began.

Seto nodded, pillows stacked so he was sitting up more. "I should let my brother know I'm alive, he's probably called the police by now." A smirk formed at the image of the stressed out teen hysterically trying to find him.

"I can ask someone to tell him, so he won't worry as much. Unless you wanted to go home."

"No. You can ask someone...It would be worse for him to see me right now...He tends to worry too much."

"That's a good trait when its' someone you love."

Seto looked at the Pharaoh's smiling face. How it always seemed to hold just the right words. Lately he had been wondering how he came to hate the man in the first place. Sure miserable defeat would do that, but it seemed like a petty reason now. Friends, love, and happiness all seemed to be foreign concepts to the stoic, rich-boy. He had never been able to trust anyone but his little brother, as most just wanted their money. But Yugi, Jou, all of them...They constantly seemed to remind him of what he didn't have. Sleeping in thousand dollar pajama's was hollow when it was in an empty bed. Cars, planes, houses, they were just traps without someone to share them with. Seto thought he finally understood what Yugi was always rambling about. Friends being most important...
//Hmph...Friends, huh?//

The CEO decided he didn't want friends, he wanted love. A lover, a soul mate...The kind of thing those shojo magazines went on and on about.
//Could Yami be that for me? Would he even want to?//

"Kaiba?"

The deep resonating voice shattered his daydreaming with it's calm tone.

"Huh?"

"You okay? I was talking to you and you were staring into space..."

"Yami, do you have a lover?"

The Pharaoh blushed a little at the sudden question. "I, I've had lovers in the past...But not for a very long time."
//Where did that come from?!//

"I see. Have you thought about it, since you joined with Yugi?"

He bit his lip a little. "Not seriously..."

"Oh..." Seto adverted his gaze down to his hands.

"But that doesn't rule it out entirely." Yami smiled seeing the others reaction to his words.

"Would you ever consider it, with someone you knew?"

Yami smiled a little different this time. "Are you asking me if I'd be interested in having you as a lover?"

Seto blushed for a nanosecond before controlling himself. "Perhaps..."

Yami approached closer, to where he could feel the boys breath on his face. "Then I'd have to say yes...But that is completely up to said person. I'm not forcing anything on anyone."

Seto stared at the deep, endless iris' of the Pharaoh's eyes, blush now covering his face of it's own will. "Yami...kiss me..."

That was all the other needed to hear, before he pressed his lips to Seto's. Instantly the boy felt a jolt of sensation run down his spine. The lips seemed to be electric, shocking him to his core with a deep sense of warmth. He shivered as the silky tongue caressed his full bottom lip. Taking a strangled breath, he moaned a little as it slid into his unsuspecting mouth, brushing slowly over the roof of his mouth and teeth. Seto let his arms go limp, as Yami wrapped his around the shivering form. Using all the care in the world as he explored the hot cavern; winding his tongue around Seto's, to gently suckle upon it.

This caused another wave of pleasure to wash over the stressed out boy, and another moan broke free before the Pharaoh pulled back slightly.

They stared eyes heavy with unknown feelings, breath quickened.

"That...that was my first kiss..." Seto admitted shyly, not counting the numerous times Pegasus forced his mouth on him. "Pegasus' kisses made me sick...but that..."

Yami felt his heart pull again, imagining the boy struggling against the depraved elder. "Those were not kisses, they are nothing more than a bad dream now. Only pleasure shall be involved from now on."

Seto leaned down and pressed his face to the warm chest. He always thought acting like this was a weakness, but now feeling the strong body next to him made him feel safe. Loved, cared for, not envied and hated. He almost laughed thinking how many years he was consumed with nothing but hatred and disgust for the man, who was now his savior.
//Baka...//

Yami stroked the soft hair rhythmically, other hand doing the same on his back. Taking care to avoid the large angry whip marks, he had seen yesterday for the first time. He could feel years and years of pent up sorrow, and loneliness coming from the boy. It made him want to cry, imagining what life must be like for Seto Kaiba. He couldn't be normal, no one would allow it. His icy exterior was the result of years of being tricked and manipulated. The Pharaoh hadn't been alive this long, without being able to sense why people did the things they do. He was a very good judge of character, and reason. Maybe that's what drew him to Kaiba in the first place. It was as if the boys soul was screaming for help constantly, lost in it's own self made walls.
//I can hear you, fear not my love.//

"I love you Seto." Yami whispered into the ear in view.

Seto froze. Not only had the spirit called him by his real name, but he said the magic words. The words Seto assumed no one could ever say to him, other than his brother. The words no one could ever possibly mean...Yet he felt their meaning clearly, as a few tears slipped from his eyes.

Pulling back to look at the Pharaoh's warm, smiling face, he felt his entire body melt. How could he ever deserve this? This amount of kindness was not for people like him. Cold, snooty, richy-bitches...
//He loves me...//

"You do not have to respond. I understand..." Yami smiled still, but his heart faltered at the other's lack of words.

"No...I...I love you too." Seto almost choked on the foreign words. Never had anything felt so strange coming from his mouth, in his own voice. But never had he meant something so much.

"Seto..." Yami sighed, hugging the shell-shocked form.
//I know how hard it was for you to say that...//

"I love you Yami..." Seto repeated with more meaning this time, clinging awkwardly to the body embracing him.

Holding on tight, to his long awaited salvation from the cold steel walls that surrounded his heart.

END CHAPTER TWO

((Man, I should have made napkin's available with this piece; to wipe up all that mush, heh ^_^U Eh, it's hot here right now, and for some reason that's all my heat-exhausted brain can come up with. Let me know if it's worth continuing; or if I should hand it over to Anubis, to put it out of it's misery...Domo!))