Two Sides of the Looking Glass

I finally update after all this time! BAD MUSE! NO DONUTS! *Kicks a bound and gagged redhead in the corner.* To all my reviewers, THANK YOU, and I won't bother you with long intros. THE SMUT RETURNS NEXT CHAPTER! PROMISE!


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Artemis looked at the white Lear jet sitting on the runway. Yugi and Sugoroku had seen he and Butler to the airport, and now they were on their way back to the Kame, as Artemis had come to call it. It was an interesting little shop, full of odd games and puzzles. Now, as he climbed the steps and entered the private airplane, he couldn’t help but wonder what Seto was doing right now. “Butler?” Artemis sounded casual.
“Yes, Artemis?” Butler was his normal self. Excellent.
“What does ‘aishiteru’ mean?” Butler’s eyes, though Artemis coult set see them, widened.
“It’s Japanese for ‘I love you.’ Where did you hear that?” Artemis felt his head spinning.
“Just on a television show.” Seto loved him. He was loved by someone other than himself. Artemis felt the crazy impulse to turn and run back to Seto’s arms, but Butler’s presence held him where he was. Butler, who had encouraged him to learn more about Japan, was the same one who held him in bondage back to Ireland. Butler was his keeper, and if Artemis tried to runtlertler would quickly catch him.

Artemis looked out the window of the plane onto Ireland below. The Emerald Isle was living up to its name today, sparkling greenly in a blue sea. Butler came over the intercom. “We should be there in about half an hour, Artemis.” Juliet came out of the cockpit.
“Hey. Artemis.” They had picked her up while re-fueling in Russia.
“Juliet.” She placed some spring water in front of him.
“Have a good time? You seem sad to be going home.”
“I just . . . met someone while I was out there, and I miss talking with him.” Juliet smiled, and nodded.
“I can understand that.”

Artemis sat in his computer class looking up Anime sites. He was supposed to be designing a web quest. He had dohat hat in five minutes. His professor had been astounded, and had given him the rest of the three hours of class free. It was the same in his Economics, Geography, French, and College Life classeone one in ten minutes, jerking around the rest. The bell rang, releasing him from the painful reminders of Seto. The now-familiar twinge above his stomach made him feel melancholy and elated all at once, but he quickly tried in vain to snuff the flame he felt out. As he passed the bulletin board by the languages department on the wa his his dormitory, he saw something he recognized. Fuji-sama? There it was, the flat-topped mountain of Nippon, with the bullet train running towards Nara in front of it. The heading read:

STUDY ABROAD: LEARN ABOUT THE WORLD OUTSIDE YOUR HOME!
See Professor Hitashi for details, Mary 301.

The poster went on to extol the virtues of studying abroad, and Artemis quickly took one of the forms and filled it out. His father would be most impressed that he wished to broaden his horizons. A smile spread on Artemis’ face as he took a left under a sign that read: M290-M305.

“Father, it will be an excellent opportunity.” Artemis was talking his father into something. Angeline had learned to recognize that tone.
“I am still uncomfortable with it.”
“Father, I understand Butler is to be there by my side, no matter what, but you let me go to Uni without him.”
“You were also in the same county!” It was true, the University was not far from Fowl Manor. “I am still not sure . . .”
“It wouldn’t be till winter. I’ll take Japanese and some cultural studies classes over the summer, and I’ll be ready to go by January.”
“You may go.” Artemis whooped uncharacteristically. “BUT ONLY-”
“But only?” Artemis stopped dancing.
“You may go, if and only if, Butler thinks you can defend yourself by the time you are supposed to leave.” Artemis’ face fell. Butler would never think him ready.
“Yes, Father. Thank you.”
“You may go.”

Butler was astounded at how quickly Artemis learned to defend, and his professors wrote home frequently, praising his quick ear and good accent. “It’s as though he had a friend there, someone he wanted to see.” Angeline commented.
“He doesn’t know anyone in Japan.” Fowl senior commented, pouring himself a drink. “The boy is just at that age where he wants to get away from hearth and Home, Angeline. He wants to get away from everythhe’she’s ever known, and the farthest point he could find was Japan.”
“Also, he is of an age where he may want a girl, but he’s afraid to mention it to us.”
“Well, it be. be. But if he wants a girl, he can go to the Red Room!” Angeline rolled hers.
s.
“He is also of an age where he will do anything except what you do. Besides, he is a bit young to start going to the houses.” Angeline sighed. “Or perhaps not.”
“They have geisha in Japan.”
“Geisha are not prostitutes, Art. They are highly talented and trained performers who charge extraordinarily high prices for an evening in their company.”
“How is it you knhis,his, Angeline?”
“Father kept a Geisha. It was she who trained me in grace and poise. She also taught me a few of the old songs, and parts of the O-Ban dance.” Angeline smiled. “You never asked, so I never told you.”
“How exorbitant could the price be?” Angeline’s smile widened.
“It started as a sum of money equal to the amount of rice a family could eat in a year.” There was a tap on the door. “Come in.” It was Butler, with the drinks they had asked for.

Artemis allowed his mother and father to hug him before he left with the group for Japan. As he boarded the plane, he couldn’t help but wonder what his mother and father would think if they knew his real reason for going to Japan. That was irrelevant. He would call Seto just as soon as he got there. He didn’t understand why this person had so high a hold on him, but he just had to see Seto again. He had to. He couldn’t explain a thing about it. Maybe that’s why he liked it. He lifted his carry-on into the overhead bin and chuckled at his schoolmates as all of them wondered why the Japanese did such-and-so, and what it would be like to take a bath with their host family an other such nonsense. Artemis rolled his eyes. “Hey, Fowl. You’ve been there before.” A rather annoying girl called Alicia pointed out.
“Your point is?” Artemis asked as he sat.
“Well, what’s it like?"
“Utsúkushì.” Alicia glared at him.
“Beautiful, huh? Did you meet a girl there, and that’s why you’re going back?”
“Much as you would love to picture me the steadfast koíbito, I will disappoint. There is no girl. I am meeting with a friend.”

Thirteen hours later, Artemis stared out the window at the land mass below him. He wondered if Yugi would wantsee see him again, and pressed the attendant call button. A young redhead answered his summons. “Yes, what can I do for you?”
“I was just wondering, how long before we reach Tokyo Nerita?”
“About two hours, sir. Is there anything else?”
“No, that will be all, thank you.” Artemis looked at the sea below him. Soon it would be time to call his once-lover. Soon he may have to be rejected. The thought had entered his mind somewhere over eastern Europe. It had not been a pleasant thought, but it had come to him as a possibility nonetheless.

Artemis was dead tired by the time they got off the plane, and was making his way through customs before he realized that Yugi was still a factor in this international equation. Perhaps even a rebound if Seto rejected Artemis’ advances. That thought alone threatened to emasculate and shatter Artemis like an irreplaceable porcelain vase in the National Gallery. The customs agent stamped his passport and welcomed him to Japan. “Domo Arigato.” Artemis answered, and went on his way.

There was a fair queue at the end of the r Som Some celebrity was surrounded by his fan club, no doubt. Irritating mewling things. What Artemis saw next threatened to kill him where he stood. First from shock, then from unbound and blinded unadulterated lust. There stood his blue-eyed ryú, in a tight cobalt muscle tee and a pair of leather pants. And silver and leather coll- collars!?? Oh damn, leather boots, too? It turned out, as Artemis walked closer, that the shirt was suede, and a red-lined white leather trenchcoat swept behind Seto, his hair now streaked with black. And . . . shit. Jailbait at one o’ clock. He’d brought Mokuba with him. Oh, well, so he’d have to wait. He could do that. Maybe.

“You, Fowl-san, must learn to put better security on your computer.” Kaiba waved a floppy diskette as Artemis stood in front of him, his mouth opening and closing like a fish gasping for a lesser oxygen level. “I am disappointed in your ability to surprise me.” Kaiba’s mouth tilted slightly upwards. “But none-the-less, I am glad to see you.”
“I’m glad to see you, too.”
“OHAYO, Fowl-San!” Artemis felt a vice-like grip around his waist.
“Ohayo . . . Mokuba . . .” Artemis gasped. The Raven-haired child let go of him, and looked up.
“You’ve gotten taller, Fowl-San. Is Butler-kyojín rubbing off on you?” Mokuba laughed, and went over to his brother’s side. Artemis looked at his group, and his shoulders drooped.
“Go. I will send a car for you. We can give each other our hellos then.” Kaiba smiled only slightly libidinously and watched as Artemis turned, and came back.
“You know where I’m staying? The number and everything?”
“I told you. You need better security on that computer of yours. If Mokuba can hack into it . . .” Artemis blushed, and looked at the raven-haired midget nervously.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t show Ni-sama any of the pictures.” Moku winked, and giggled.
“Pictures?” Kaiba cocked an eyebrow, then shook his head. Off with you.”

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