Only In My Dreams
folder
Yu-Gi-Oh › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
7
Views:
2,800
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
Yu-Gi-Oh › Yaoi - Male/Male
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
7
Views:
2,800
Reviews:
2
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own YuGiOh!, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
Something You Feel
Chapter 7: Something You Feel
Two boys were on the phone, each waiting for the other to speak. It was a long silence, fueled by the incompetent medium of the telephone. The aspect of being face-to-face was lost by the telephone and so the facial expressions that were happening during this silence were missed.
Katsuya didn’t like it. He didn’t like being silent. “I think one of us should speak. I don’t know about you but I can’t afford a high phone bill.” He joked.
Seto chuckled. That broke the proverbial ice. “I guess…” The brunet teen pinched his brow. “About today….”
Katsuya was nervous. He wondered how Kaiba was going to react to the kiss. It made the blond nervous beyond belief.
“The kiss was no accident.” Katsuya told the guy on the other end of the phone. “I started it.”
“I am pretty sure that I was the one who instigated the kiss.” Seto smirked even though the blond on the other end of the phone couldn’t see it.
“No, it was me.”
“It wasn’t, puppy.”
Katsuya growled. He wasn’t going to allow Kaiba to upstage him and say that he was the one who started the kiss. However, the blond couldn’t deny that the arguing instilled a sense of normality in the relationship. Before, he was nervous about how everything was going to change. It seems that not much has. For that, he was grateful.
“Fine.” Katsuya said. “Let’s agree to disagree.”
“I think you are saying that because you know that I’m right.” Seto told him playfully.
The playful tone dissipated and seriousness replaced it.
“What happens now, Kaiba?” Katsuya asked.
“What do you want to happen?” Seto asked. He had no idea what Jounouchi wanted from this. Hell, he didn’t know what he wanted from this either. He knew that he liked the blond and wanted something from him. However, he didn’t know what that was.
“I don’t know.” Katsuya answered. “I mean, at first it was like I hated you then something happens and now I like you. It’s all too fast.”
“Is that why you ran?”
Katsuya scoffed in embarrassment. “Sometimes you are too smart for your own good.”
Kaiba chuckled. He was taking a shot in the dark but it seems that he was correct. “I didn’t take offense, if that’s what you are thinking.”
“That’s not what I was thinking, Moneybags.” Katsuya smiled. “Guess you don’t know everything.”
“Never claimed to know everything. But I do know more than you, puppy.” Seto responded, which elicited a chuckle from the blond on the other end of the line.
It was amazing. The two boys were actually having a civil conversation. A week ago, the two couldn’t even exchange two words without their being some sort of fight. But now, they were talking as if they were old friends.
Katsuya sighed. “I want to meet you in person, Kaiba. This is kind of difficult to talk about over the phone.”
“I understand.” Kaiba answered. “Does 4 o’clock tomorrow work for you? I have a news conference an hour earlier. When that’s over, I can see you.”
“Works for me.”
“I’ll see you then.” With that, Katsuya heard a click on the line and hung up the phone.
Katsuya sighed. When he did that, it was like all of the tension that was building up inside of him dissipated. For that, he was glad. He wondered, for a second, how Kaiba got his number in the first place. Then, he figured that Mokuba gave him the number since he was going out with Shizuka. But, if he were honest with himself, Katsuya could care less how Kaiba got his number.
The blond was happy that he got the chance to talk to Kaiba after what happened today. He would have thought that he sent the wrong message when he ran away from the kiss. It ate him up inside. Here was the guy that Katsuya was dreaming about all this week and when the kiss came, he was caught off-guard. But now, having discussed his feelings with his social worker and his preferences with his sister, Katsuya felt oddly better about things. He wasn’t as worried as he was a couple of hours ago.
So lost was he in his thoughts that he didn’t notice that Shizuka was standing next to him. Katsuya jumped a bit.
“Shizu-chan, don’t sneak up on me like that.” He grinned.
“Sorry, nii-chan.” She replied. “Was that Kaiba-san?”
Katsuya wasn’t going to keep anything from the girl anymore. “Yes.”
Shizuka didn’t want to pry but she was curious as to what was discussed on the phone. “May I ask how the conversation went?”
“We discussed the kiss and what to do now.” He told her.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to meet with him tomorrow.”
“What do you want, Katsu-chan?” She asked.
Katsuya looked at her strangely. “What do you mean?”
“What is it that you are looking from Kaiba-san?”
Katsuya was completely honest with her. “I don’t know, Shizu-chan. I don’t know whether I want a full-on relationship with Kaiba or I just want to forget the whole thing.” The blond had to laugh. “You know, things were simpler when we hated each other.”
“Did you really hate Kaiba-san?” Shizuka asked. “From what I know from you and what I’ve heard from your friends, you two spent way too much time together for just being enemies.”
“Yeah, I know.” He told her. “If you want me to be totally honest with myself, I never REALLY hated him, just his attitude. He would always act as if he were better than everyone else. We tried to be his friend, me in particular, but he would call us names and stuff. He didn’t even want to be around us, I guess. That pissed me off so much. Here we were trying to be nice to the guy and he acts like that.”
“If you really hated him, why did you try so hard for him to be your friend?”
Shizuka was starting to understand her brother better. Since she had been away for a while, the girl didn’t understand the dynamics of Kaiba-san and her brother’s relationship or how her brother had changed over the years. She was coming into a world that she hadn’t seen since the divorce. When she opened her eyes for the first time in a long time during the Battle City tourney, she saw her brother just like the way that she remembered him, cheerful and brave. That was all that she needed to dive into the water to save him from the trap that the Ghouls had set up for him and Yuugi.
When she saw how Katsu-chan and Kaiba-san acted around each other, it wasn’t as contentious as she later learned from her brother it usually was. To her, it looked like playful ribbing. So when she heard that it got nastier than that, she was prepared to dislike Kaiba-san. However, after the tournament, Shizuka had to return home. Her mother wanted her back. She had all forgotten about the treatment of Kaiba-san to her brother until she returned and saw the welcome mat of Kaiba-san.
So now, when Katsu-chan was telling her about Kaiba-san and how he never really hated him and telling her that now he likes him, it was like needing a scoreboard.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t explain that to myself. He just looked so lonely.”
“So, maybe you really did like him that long ago.” Shizuka told him.
“Maybe.” Katsuya grinned. “But that doesn’t matter now.”
Katsuya looked at the clock. It read 10:30. “Wow. It’s late. I think I’m going to turn in now.”
Shizuka smiled. She wanted to understand her brother a bit more but the girl knew that, in time, he would tell her. She would be patient. “Okay, I’m going to watch some TV and then go to bed. Night, nii-chan.”
Katsuya smiled and headed to his room and plopped on the bed. He felt so happy talking to his sister without judgment. It lightened his mood considerably. Katsuya fell asleep soundly, not noticing the ethereal flame wisps above his head.
Seto looked at the phone for a long time. He had just talked to Jounouchi Katsuya, the guy that he kissed not 5 hours ago. And what’s more, it wasn’t like their previous interactions where they were yelling at each other, well where the blond was yelling at him and he was goading the blond. It was a civil conversation. Amazing!
His brother had long gone to bed, leaving Kaiba alone in his thoughts. Why was he so fixated and attracted on the blond? Sure Jounouchi was cute but then so were a lot of people. Why had his heart decided this teen was the one for him? Was it because Seto was dreaming about him now on a regular basis? That could be it. But then again, dreams don’t mean anything when compared to reality. They are just dreams. Sometimes a cigar was just a cigar and sometimes a seemingly sexual relationship in a dream was just that, a dream. So what was it that made him want Jounouchi? Perhaps it was his constant devotion to his friends or maybe his determination in the face of overwhelming odds. That was a possibility.
But, try as he might, he couldn’t think of a reason. Then Seto remembered what his secretary, Sakura Nicola, told him. Love isn’t something you can analyze. Love is something you feel. And he knew that he felt that he was in love with Jounouchi. Nothing was going to change that. Trying to figure out why wasn’t going to satisfy him. In fact, to Seto, it really didn’t matter why anymore.
But now, the real question is what he wanted from this relationship. And he knew the answer to that. He wanted Jounouchi, all of him. That was the only way that he would feel happy was to have the blond. After that kiss, there was a fire that was stoked, wanting to consume him. The puppy enticed him to be burned by the passion without realizing it. He wanted it, needed it, like a man who comes out of the desert needs water. Seto knew that having Jounouchi was like having oxygen; it was essential to his well-being.
Seto found no shame in being this blatant with himself. Normally, he would have chastised himself for losing control of his wants. But now …
First, he had to know what Jounouchi wanted. Hopefully he wanted to at least try to see where things go. Although, Seto would respect whatever decision the blond made, secretly, he hoped that the blond would give him a chance. He didn’t deserve it though, after treating him like crap.
The expectation kept him awake but his body was telling him that he needed some sleep. Seto obeyed the call of his body and so, he shuffled his way to his room. The queen-sized mattress suddenly seemed too big for just him. The brunet chuckled. Even now, he was thinking about the blond. Seto settled himself in a comfortable position on the bed and felt himself drifting away into sleeps arms, not noticing the ethereal flame wisps above him.
Katsuya found himself in a red world. Well, everything was the same. All the buildings in Domino were the same but they were just colored red. For some reason, he was running. He didn’t know why he was running. He felt himself leaving his body and surveying the situation. He saw Kaiba running with him. Why were they running?
That was answered by the sound of a deafening roar. It was almost inhuman. Katsuya turned around and saw a mob of people chasing after them. Kaiba turned to him.
“Katsu-koi, don’t turn around.” Kaiba told him. “Just keep running.”
“But we can’t keep running forever, Seto.” Katsuya felt himself say.
“I know but if we stop, they are going to catch up with us.”
Katsuya nodded and kept running. However, Kaiba tripped and fell to the floor. The blond stopped and tried to turn around to help him.
“No, Katsu-koi.” Kaiba pleaded. “Go on without me.”
“But…”
It was too late. The mob caught them. Several people took hold of Kaiba and put him on his knees. Katsuya tried to help but he was restrained by six people.
The faceless mob took turns hitting Kaiba. It was awful. There was so much blood. Katsuya could hear ever blow land with a sickening crack. He knew that his love’s bones were broken and shattered. However, they wouldn’t be sated yet. One of them took out a long knife and slowly inserted it into Kaiba. The brunet screamed in pain. The blond could only watch as Kaiba Seto was being stabbed.
It took an excruciatingly long time for Kaiba to die. All the time, Katsuya could only look on in horror and struggle uselessly as the mob took away the love of his life.
“One faggot down…” Someone from the faceless mob sneered. The person with the knife approached him. Katsuya could only see the glint of the metal instrument dripping with the blood of Kaiba.
Katsuya woke up with a start. The blond started hyperventilating. It was just a dream. Only a dream, he reminded himself. He felt his face and noticed that there were tears spilling down his face. He felt his heart in pain after remembering the dream. Katsuya was frightened. Was this dream a premonition of things to come or just a dream manifestation of his own worries and fears?
Katsuya looked at the clock in his room. It read 3:41. Too early to get up but too late to go back to sleep, the blond thought. Katsuya sat up and hugged his pillow. Kaiba…
Seto found himself in what could only be described as a shantytown. There were many tents around him. He looked at himself and noticed that he was wearing smelly rags. He couldn’t understand why.
He walked in the tented community, trying to find out why he was here. He saw many people who looked like they haven’t eaten in several days. Their distended bellies, cakey-like skin and sunken eyes attested to their homelessness and poverty. It was saddening.
Seto caught sight of blond hair losing its luster. He followed the blond, not knowing what to do. The blond stopped at one of the tents and sat down next to a woman. Seto just looked on as the blond gently took one of her hands.
“You look like the man in the newspapers.” The woman said.
The blond man snorted, as if he were disgusted with himself. “Yep, I was the one who brought down Kaiba Seto.”
Seto wheeled back. Someone brought him down? How the hell did that happen?
“How did you do that?” The woman queried, asking the question that Seto wanted to ask.
“He fell in love with me.” There was guilt in the blond’s voice. “He was suppose to be an immovable rock in a violent sea but he fell in love with me. At first, it was great. Even the word ‘great’ falls short of what we had. But he started to lose control. He paid more attention to me than to his company. Someone pulled the rug under him and those in the company loyal to him. He had to sell everything. No one would hire him after losing an entire company. I mean, who would want to take that risk? He couldn’t even get a crappy job. We had to live here. And it’s all because of me.”
The blond man sniffled as if he were holding back tears. “I distracted him. I caused him to lose everything that he worked so hard to obtain. It’s all my fault. I suppose there’s only one thing to do… free him from my connection.”
The blond ran from the shantytown. Seto followed after him. He knew who it was. It was Jounouchi and from the sounds of it, he was going to do something drastic.
The shantytown led to the highway. Jounouchi ran to the meridian and saw a large truck. He stepped in front of it.
Jounouchi… Seto shouted
Seto woke up from the dream, whispering the blond’s name. Waking up from the dream made him shiver. It felt so real and completely different from the other dreams about Jounounchi. He figured that the dream was his subconscious fears about jumping into a relationship with the blond.
It was strange though that it was the blond and not him getting hit by the truck. Was it his fear that he might cause harm to Jounouchi? The company, he knew, was in safe hands. No one in their right minds would even think of trying to cross him. But…
Seto shook his head. Dreams are just that, dreams. He would shape his own reality and no dream was going to tell him otherwise.
The brunet teen looked at his clock. Red lines told him that it was 4:51. He was suppose to wake up in nine minutes anyways. No point going back to sleep. Seto got up from his bed and fixed the covers to make them presentable. Even though he had a person who could do that, Seto just wanted something to take his mind off of the harrowing dream.
It was a Saturday. On these days, he usually let Mokuba sleep in until 10. He didn’t want him wasting the whole day asleep. Having dressed himself for work, he made his way to the kitchen. Preparing a cup of coffee, Seto thought of what today was going to entail. He had to work on the parameters of a new game that he was developing with his R&D team and then at 3, he had a press conference to discuss the merger that happened the other day. But the most important thing he was doing today, or more precisely the thing he looked forward to, he was going to meet with Jounouchi.
That meeting put a smile on his face. It was amazing how a guy who a week ago was considered third-rate would be able to make him expectant of a simple meeting. It’s not like they haven’t seen each other before but this was different. This time, the nature of their relationship had changed.
Even though he could remember the dream, he didn’t care. He loved Jounouchi and Seto was going to do everything in his power to make sure that the dream didn’t come to pass. Fear and worry were not apart of his vocabulary.
With his coffee ready, Seto poured himself a cup and headed out the door.
Katsuya couldn’t sleep after the dream. He felt strange. He knew that it was just a dream but it felt so real. It filled him with real terror. However, it still didn’t change how he felt about Seto. If his social worker were here, he would tell Katsuya that it was just his own fear that was spilling over into his dream, at least that’s what he thought.
It was strange though. This is the first time that he dreamt of the other teen like this. All of the other dreams were romantic or sexual in nature. This is the first time that he dreamt of Kaiba and felt fear. Perhaps this relationship was a bad idea. Katsuya didn’t want to cause harm to Kaiba. But, then again, he couldn’t deny that he wanted the brunet. How was he going to reconcile this with himself?
Katsuya thought about calling Bri-kun but refrained. He wanted to figure this out on his own. He couldn’t rely on his social worker for everything. He wanted to stand on his own two feet, to make his own mistakes and learn from them.
The blond looked at the clock. It read 6:13. The first glimmers of sunlight were peeking through his window. That was weird. He didn’t know how quickly time had passed while he was mentally debating the dream and what to do. Perhaps he fell asleep somewhere in between and he didn’t realize it. Whatever… Katsuya really didn’t feel like getting up right now as he was in a good place with his bed. It was all comfy and …
The blond went back to sleep.
Kaiba Seto was a very punctual man. At 6 o’clock on the dot, he pulled up to the parking lot of the building that bore his name. He parked within a minute and headed from the garage to the elevator. It was time to go to work.
At 6:03 exactly, the elevator from the garage opened up to the top floor where his office resided. There was a new receptionist at the desk to greet him. At some point, the big bad CEO thought, he was going to have to learn the man’s name. He just was hired to that position through Sakura, his VP. Then again, receptionists usually had a life of a month with him. Most of them voluntarily quit but for those who didn’t, they usually did something to piss him enough to fire them on the spot. The whole process was irrelevant.
Seto entered his office and sat down at his desk. He was ready for a full day’s of work. Looking at his agenda showed that besides the press conference that he had today, the only other thing that needed to be done today was to review the recommendations from his Research and Development team on the new virtual reality game that KaibaCorp had on the front burner. It was the on the cutting edge of the new market and the CEO wanted to be the first.
There was a knock on his office door. Seto made a noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a noise of approval. In came Sakura Nicola, his vice president and personal assistant. She had a bunch of papers in her hands. She closed the door behind her.
“These are the recommendations from R&D that you requested today.” She told him
“On my desk, Sakura.” He told her. She complied and sat down in the seat opposite from him.
“Is there anything else that you need, Seto-kun?” She asked.
Seto looked at her with intense cerulean eyes. “I’m going to be meeting with Jounouchi after the press conference.”
Sakura was surprised. The blonde-haired woman knew that whenever Seto put his mind to something, he would do it and do it quickly. But such a bold move in an area that he had never explored before, that was something different altogether.
“Okay. Have you decided what you want from him?” She asked
“I want all of him.” Seto told her, leaving no room for interpretation.
“And what does he want?” She asked.
“I don’t know. That’s why we are going to meet today.”
“Okay.” She acquiesced. “Here’s a question though. If he doesn’t want a relationship, what would you do?”
Seto never considered that as a possibility. He knew that Jounouchi liked him. Come on, he kissed him back so there had to be something right? But what if he were wrong? What if…
The dream that he had last night was coming back to him. Seto remembered the dream Jounouchi getting hit by a truck because he felt guilty destroying KaibaCorp. Could that really happen? Would the blond feel that guilt-ridden that he wouldn’t be able to function? Would Jounouchi taking his own life be the result of a relationship between them?
“What are you thinking?” Sakura asked.
Seto snorted quietly. “You are going to find this absurd.”
“Try me.”
Seto nodded. “I had a dream last night about Jounouchi. This dream was different than the others that I’ve had about him recently.”
“How so?”
“Well, in this dream, we were homeless. Somehow, because of my relationship with him, someone stole the company from me and we were living in tents next to the highway. Jounouchi felt guilty because he thought that he was the cause of this and ran into traffic and was hit by a truck.” Seto related the dream without hesitation or emotion, so detached was he by this dream.
“Well, as Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Sakura tried to comfort him.
“That’s exactly what I thought when I had the dream.”
“Is that going to stop you from pursuing this relationship?” She asked, but she already knew the answer.
“Not in the slightest. I won’t let that dream come to pass.”
Sakura nodded and left the office, allowing Seto to go back to work.
Katsuya woke up around 11. He didn’t dream this time. Katsuya wasn’t going to fester on the dream. He knew that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. There was no reason to get excited over it.
Katsuya felt grungy in his clothes and so, he decided to take a shower. The water felt good on his skin and helped to remove the grime, dirt and yuckies from sleeping. As he was in the shower, he thought on what was going to happen today. He knew that today he was going to meet his former rival turned infatuation.
Katsuya no longer mused on the fact that it was just last week that they didn’t like each other. That was the past; this was now. And now, he had a crush on Kaiba. The heart wants what it wants. And Katsuya always followed his heart, wherever it led him.
It took the blond a total of 30 minutes to finish his shower. Feeling refreshed, he headed into his kitchen. He didn’t notice any signs that his sister was in the apartment. As he was opening the refrigerator, he saw a piece of paper on the door, held up by a magnet. The handwriting was his sister’s.
Nii-chan,
Hanging out with Anzu-san today, Yuugi-san said he was coming over at 12. I think you should tell him about Kaiba-san.
Shizuka
Katsuya took the note off the fridge and put it on the kitchen counter. He then made himself a bowl of cereal, nothing special.
When the blond was halfway finished with his breakfast, there was a knock on the door. He ambled towards the entrance and opened the door. It was his friend, Yuugi. He was kind of hard to confuse with someone else. The hair color was unique, for lack of a better word.
“Come in, Yuugi-kun.” Katsuya opened his home to his friend. Yuugi obliged and stepped through the threshold and into the apartment.
Katsuya was curious. What brought Yuugi to his home? Not that he minded but it was weird. Normally, the tri-colored haired teen would call ahead to check if he was available. To come unannounced was unlike his friend.
“What brings you to this neck of the woods?” He asked playfully.
“Well, I wanted to apologize for yesterday and trying to set you up with Mai-san, Jou-kun.” Yuugi told him.
“Don’t worry about it. Yesterday is yesterday. Today is today. We wipe the slate clean.”
“I’m glad.” Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief. “If you want, I’m sure that Anzu knows some girls who would…”
Katsuya cut him off there. “There’s no need, Yuugi. I’ve already found someone else.”
Yuugi was confused but happy for him. “Really? When did this happen?”
Katsuya exhaled sharply. He didn’t want to lie to his friend but he didn’t know how Yuugi was going to take this. “Yesterday.”
“Wow. I would have never guessed.” Yuugi was now ecstatic. He was happy for his friend that he found someone like he had found Anzu. “So, do I know the person?” He asked.
Katsuya couldn’t help but smirk. “More than you think.”
The way that his friend said that made Yuugi look at the blond curiously. What did he mean by that? Well, no harm in asking. “And does this person have a name?” He asked playfully, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
“Kaiba.” The blond said with all finality.
At first, Yuugi was stunned. He couldn’t help but feel like the blond was joking with him. Of all the names that he could have said, Kaiba’s was the least likely to come out of his friend’s mouth without a string of curses. “No, seriously, who is it?”
“It’s Kaiba.” Katsuya told Yuugi.
It was then that Yuugi saw the seriousness in his friend’s eyes. He wasn’t joking. “When did this happen?”
“Yesterday, after the duel. He found me after I finished talking to Bri-kun and we were talking about Mokuba-kun and Shizu-chan and then something happened. I touched his hand and something that I can’t explain happened. It was like electric and fire all at the same time. And at that time, I was looking into his eyes. Yuugi-kun, you wouldn’t believe how blue they were. And then, well even at this moment, I can’t explain it. We kissed and it was like nothing I could ever explain.”
Yuugi was entranced by the story. He would have never guessed that Jounouchi had these kinds of feelings for Kaiba. So, all the anger bursts and the insults masked a deep love. He would have never known about that.
Katsuya, unaware of Yuugi’s inner thinking, continued. “I ran after the kiss. I couldn’t believe that I kissed him. I mean, this was Kaiba. I thought that I hated him. And here I was, locking lips with him. I met up with you guys afterwards and told everyone that we just had a truce. I was frightened. What would people think of me now? Would they hate me?”
“Oh Jou-kun. We could never hate you.” Yuugi consoled him.
“I know that but this was something different. At that point, I didn’t know what to think. After getting a ride from my social worker and talking about my feelings, I told Shizu-chan and she was shocked but she said that she still loved me. You don’t know how good that felt to hear that.”
Yuugi put his hand on one of Jou’s. “You are still Jounouchi Katsuya to us. You are still our friend, no matter what happens.”
Katsuya took his own hand and clasped the smaller teen’s hand. “Thank you.”
With the confession out of the way, Yuugi felt a bit lighter knowing something so intimate about the blond. “So now, what are you going to do?”
“Well, I’m going to meet Kaiba later on today.”
“You want me to go for moral support?” He asked.
“Nah, I can handle it.”
Katsuya admittedly didn’t tell Yuugi about the dream that he had last night. It already was too much to tell him about his feelings about Kaiba. He didn’t want to unduly worry the teen.
“So we heard about me. What’s going on with you and Anzu-san?” Katsuya smirked in a way that couldn’t be considered wholesome. “Have you two done something special?”
Yuugi blushed profusely. “Jou…” He chastised.
It was nearing 3 o’clock. Kaiba Seto knew that he had to do the press conference. He didn’t like doing these things because he had to answer stupid questions, even if he had already answered them in his press release. He tried to anticipate every question that any conceivable person could ask to try and make everything as short as possible. However, that only leads to questions about his personal life. Those questions really grated him. What he did beyond this building had nothing to do with them. It was his own business and the CEO tried to keep it that way. Many of the bodyguards that he hired were there to do just that, keep the voracious press at bay from him and Mokuba when they were trying to live a normal life.
He wondered how his life was going to change should he pursue a relationship with Jounouchi. Would reporters and paparazzi leave them alone? Fat chance of that happening if he couldn’t get that now. He wondered how he was going to be portrayed in the news that he was going out with a man. Not that he cared about things like that, but still, it piqued his curiosity.
At this point, none of that mattered. Right now, he needed to focus his attentions on the conference that he is about to give. There was a knock on his door. It was his receptionist, telling him that it was time. Seto sighed. Once more into the breach, he thought.
Katsuya said his goodbyes to Yuugi. The blond felt better telling his friend how he felt about the changes that he was undergoing. It was like there was a weight off of his shoulders.
He looked at the clock. It was 2:45. Katsuya really despised the clock. He wanted to see Kaiba now. The wait was killing him. He was told that Kaiba had a press thingie today and that after it was done, they would meet. But waiting was overrated.
The blond heard the scratches of a key being used on a lock. He smiled. It was his sister. Katsuya knew he was correct when Shizuka walked through the door with a bag in one of her hands.
“Did you enjoy your time with Anzu?” Katsuya asked
“I did. It’s kind of nice that there’s another girl in the girl who I can talk to.” Shizuka responded.
“Did you talk about clothes and boys?” The blond teased her.
“Nii-chan, that’s mean.” Shizuka stuck out her tongue.
It really felt good to have Shizuka back in his life. When their parents divorced, it left a huge hole in his heart. His father turned to drinking… or more accurately, he redoubled his drinking habits until he died. But he really didn’t care about that man. He may have made the shots that made his mother pregnant with him and his sister, but he was nothing more than a bee that spreads pollen on a flower. That man was useless. Although Katsuya didn’t blame his mother for divorcing the man, he wished that he would have been taken away with her as well. But, when he thought about it, if he did, he wouldn’t have met Yuugi-kun, Honda-kun, Anzu, Bri-kun, and … Kaiba. So maybe, it was for the best.
“What are you thinking about, Katsu-chan?” Shizuka asked.
Katsuya smiled and looked at the clock. It read 3 o’clock. He wasn’t waiting another second. “Shizu-chan, do you want to take a trip with me?”
“Where?”
“To KaibaCorp.”
Shizuka smiled. “Lead the way, Nii-chan.”
At the front walkway into KaibaCorp, Seto was rattling off his press release from the teleprompter. He wasn’t really paying attention much. He could go on auto-pilot if the need required it. His mind was focused on what was going to happen after this. He wanted to see the blond. He wanted to be around him. He looked into the eyes of those in the Press Corp. All of them had their pads and pens and mics and all those things that reporters had. It was quite boring.
There were some days that Seto wished that he could hire someone to do these things. But the last time that he did that, the guy screwed up so bad, it took weeks to undo the damage. So he did it himself.
As he was giving the release, he saw that the doors were opening. That was strange. It didn’t distract him from the prompter but it did give him pause, mentally. Who could it be? Even though he couldn’t see clearly from here, Seto noticed a tuft of golden blond hair. It couldn’t be… could it? It couldn’t be 4 already.
Seto paused for a minute and gave a look to Sakura who was standing next to him. She nodded and made her way to the entrance.
Katsuya and Shizuka made it to KaibaCorp in 20 minutes. Before they went inside the building, they saw that the front walkway was packed with people. It was amazing to see all those people with their cameras and their mics and stuff crammed into one space.
Katsuya knew that Kaiba was going to be busy. He didn’t plan on this though. Now what were they going to do?
As they tried to get a better view of things, an arm reached out to him. It was a suit, probably one of Kaiba’s bodyguards. One grabbed him and another grabbed his sister. Before they could shout, a woman came to them. Katsuya had to admit, she was really pretty. She had extremely long blonde hair and he could see green eyes. The woman nodded and the suits let them go.
“Please follow me, you two.” She told them. The two did as she asked.
The woman led the siblings around the press and into a side conference room. She opened the door and allowed Katsuya and Shizuka to enter. The woman then came in and shut the door behind her. The room was sparsely decorated. There were several chairs and a long table.
“Excuse me, miss.” Katsuya started to say but the woman held her hand up to silence him.
“We’ve met before, Kawai Shizuka-san.” The woman said.
“We did.” She answered. “I apologize. I don’t remember your name.”
“My name is Sakura Nicola. I am vice-president under Kaiba Seto and his personal assistant.” The blonde told her. “I apologize for the rough treatment from the bodyguards.” She turned to Katsuya. “And you must be Jounouchi Katsuya-san. I’ve heard much about you.”
This was strange. He had never known that this woman existed until today but now she was saying that she knows about him. “How, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“We have two people in common.”
Now Katsuya was wary. Did Kaiba talk about him to this woman? But then, if he did, who was the other person? “Is one of the people Kaiba?”
“It sure is.” She smiled. There was a natural warmth around her. Katsuya couldn’t help but allow his wariness to be diffused.
“Then who is the other person?”
“The other person is Tranae Brittinia.” She smiled more.
Katsuya felt a pang. Bri-kun, above being his social worker, was his friend. How could that man talk about him with this woman? “How do you know Tranae-san?”
“What? No Bri-kun?” She laughed. “He didn’t tell you? He’s my husband.”
Katsuya was shocked. So this was Bri-kun’s wife. She was really pretty. And it was strange. She looked at him like a mother would. In fact, there was this whole motherly glow about her.
“Oh, that makes me feel better.” Katsuya sighed.
“Did you think that I was some kind of stalker? I’m hurt.” She sighed mockingly.
When she did that, he was reminded of his social worker. Katsuya was relieved. She knew how to remove the tension, just like he did.
“You’re here to see him.” Sakura Nicola said, already knowing the answer.
“We were going to meet up after his press thingie, Sakura-san.”
“Well, I’ll bring him here when he’s done.” She turned to Shizuka. “I’m sure you would like to be with Mokuba-kun, correct?”
“He’s here?” She asked, the light shined in her eyes.
“Mokuba-kun is in testing. I can have someone escort you.” The woman told Shizuka.
Before Shizuka could even ask, Katsuya put a hand on her shoulder. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
She kissed her big brother on the cheek and followed Sakura Nicola out of the room and closed the door, leaving Katsuya alone with his thoughts.
Seto was closing up his press conference. He was truly thankful that it was. As he was taking follow-up questions, his VP and secretary, Sakura, whispered in his ear.
“Kawai Shizuka-san is heading to testing to hang out with Mokuba-kun. Jounouchi Katsuya-san is waiting for you in conference room 105 when you are done.”
Seto nodded and took more questions. He quickly glanced at his watch. It read 3:52. He was ending this in eight minutes.
Katsuya found some pencils on the floor of the conference room. He started banging on the table, as if it were a drum. There was nothing else to do while he was waiting so he had to entertain himself.
As he was going into the big finish, the door opened. There at the entrance was HIM… Kaiba Seto. This was the guy who was literally in his dreams. This was the same guy who he hated not a week ago but with whom he was falling in love.
“What took you so long, Kaiba?” Katsuya smirked.
“I have to work, unlike some people.”
“I work too.”
Katsuya loved the banter. Although his feelings may have changed, this hasn’t and he had to thank whatever power was responsible for this feeling of normality.
The air changed from playfulness to seriousness.
“That kiss…” Seto started.
“I know.” Jounouchi breathed in a manner that can only be described as husky.
“It was no accident.”
“I know. I like you, Kaiba.”
“So, where do we go from here?” Seto asked. Jounouchi looked at him but didn’t say anything.
Two boys were on the phone, each waiting for the other to speak. It was a long silence, fueled by the incompetent medium of the telephone. The aspect of being face-to-face was lost by the telephone and so the facial expressions that were happening during this silence were missed.
Katsuya didn’t like it. He didn’t like being silent. “I think one of us should speak. I don’t know about you but I can’t afford a high phone bill.” He joked.
Seto chuckled. That broke the proverbial ice. “I guess…” The brunet teen pinched his brow. “About today….”
Katsuya was nervous. He wondered how Kaiba was going to react to the kiss. It made the blond nervous beyond belief.
“The kiss was no accident.” Katsuya told the guy on the other end of the phone. “I started it.”
“I am pretty sure that I was the one who instigated the kiss.” Seto smirked even though the blond on the other end of the phone couldn’t see it.
“No, it was me.”
“It wasn’t, puppy.”
Katsuya growled. He wasn’t going to allow Kaiba to upstage him and say that he was the one who started the kiss. However, the blond couldn’t deny that the arguing instilled a sense of normality in the relationship. Before, he was nervous about how everything was going to change. It seems that not much has. For that, he was grateful.
“Fine.” Katsuya said. “Let’s agree to disagree.”
“I think you are saying that because you know that I’m right.” Seto told him playfully.
The playful tone dissipated and seriousness replaced it.
“What happens now, Kaiba?” Katsuya asked.
“What do you want to happen?” Seto asked. He had no idea what Jounouchi wanted from this. Hell, he didn’t know what he wanted from this either. He knew that he liked the blond and wanted something from him. However, he didn’t know what that was.
“I don’t know.” Katsuya answered. “I mean, at first it was like I hated you then something happens and now I like you. It’s all too fast.”
“Is that why you ran?”
Katsuya scoffed in embarrassment. “Sometimes you are too smart for your own good.”
Kaiba chuckled. He was taking a shot in the dark but it seems that he was correct. “I didn’t take offense, if that’s what you are thinking.”
“That’s not what I was thinking, Moneybags.” Katsuya smiled. “Guess you don’t know everything.”
“Never claimed to know everything. But I do know more than you, puppy.” Seto responded, which elicited a chuckle from the blond on the other end of the line.
It was amazing. The two boys were actually having a civil conversation. A week ago, the two couldn’t even exchange two words without their being some sort of fight. But now, they were talking as if they were old friends.
Katsuya sighed. “I want to meet you in person, Kaiba. This is kind of difficult to talk about over the phone.”
“I understand.” Kaiba answered. “Does 4 o’clock tomorrow work for you? I have a news conference an hour earlier. When that’s over, I can see you.”
“Works for me.”
“I’ll see you then.” With that, Katsuya heard a click on the line and hung up the phone.
Katsuya sighed. When he did that, it was like all of the tension that was building up inside of him dissipated. For that, he was glad. He wondered, for a second, how Kaiba got his number in the first place. Then, he figured that Mokuba gave him the number since he was going out with Shizuka. But, if he were honest with himself, Katsuya could care less how Kaiba got his number.
The blond was happy that he got the chance to talk to Kaiba after what happened today. He would have thought that he sent the wrong message when he ran away from the kiss. It ate him up inside. Here was the guy that Katsuya was dreaming about all this week and when the kiss came, he was caught off-guard. But now, having discussed his feelings with his social worker and his preferences with his sister, Katsuya felt oddly better about things. He wasn’t as worried as he was a couple of hours ago.
So lost was he in his thoughts that he didn’t notice that Shizuka was standing next to him. Katsuya jumped a bit.
“Shizu-chan, don’t sneak up on me like that.” He grinned.
“Sorry, nii-chan.” She replied. “Was that Kaiba-san?”
Katsuya wasn’t going to keep anything from the girl anymore. “Yes.”
Shizuka didn’t want to pry but she was curious as to what was discussed on the phone. “May I ask how the conversation went?”
“We discussed the kiss and what to do now.” He told her.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to meet with him tomorrow.”
“What do you want, Katsu-chan?” She asked.
Katsuya looked at her strangely. “What do you mean?”
“What is it that you are looking from Kaiba-san?”
Katsuya was completely honest with her. “I don’t know, Shizu-chan. I don’t know whether I want a full-on relationship with Kaiba or I just want to forget the whole thing.” The blond had to laugh. “You know, things were simpler when we hated each other.”
“Did you really hate Kaiba-san?” Shizuka asked. “From what I know from you and what I’ve heard from your friends, you two spent way too much time together for just being enemies.”
“Yeah, I know.” He told her. “If you want me to be totally honest with myself, I never REALLY hated him, just his attitude. He would always act as if he were better than everyone else. We tried to be his friend, me in particular, but he would call us names and stuff. He didn’t even want to be around us, I guess. That pissed me off so much. Here we were trying to be nice to the guy and he acts like that.”
“If you really hated him, why did you try so hard for him to be your friend?”
Shizuka was starting to understand her brother better. Since she had been away for a while, the girl didn’t understand the dynamics of Kaiba-san and her brother’s relationship or how her brother had changed over the years. She was coming into a world that she hadn’t seen since the divorce. When she opened her eyes for the first time in a long time during the Battle City tourney, she saw her brother just like the way that she remembered him, cheerful and brave. That was all that she needed to dive into the water to save him from the trap that the Ghouls had set up for him and Yuugi.
When she saw how Katsu-chan and Kaiba-san acted around each other, it wasn’t as contentious as she later learned from her brother it usually was. To her, it looked like playful ribbing. So when she heard that it got nastier than that, she was prepared to dislike Kaiba-san. However, after the tournament, Shizuka had to return home. Her mother wanted her back. She had all forgotten about the treatment of Kaiba-san to her brother until she returned and saw the welcome mat of Kaiba-san.
So now, when Katsu-chan was telling her about Kaiba-san and how he never really hated him and telling her that now he likes him, it was like needing a scoreboard.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t explain that to myself. He just looked so lonely.”
“So, maybe you really did like him that long ago.” Shizuka told him.
“Maybe.” Katsuya grinned. “But that doesn’t matter now.”
Katsuya looked at the clock. It read 10:30. “Wow. It’s late. I think I’m going to turn in now.”
Shizuka smiled. She wanted to understand her brother a bit more but the girl knew that, in time, he would tell her. She would be patient. “Okay, I’m going to watch some TV and then go to bed. Night, nii-chan.”
Katsuya smiled and headed to his room and plopped on the bed. He felt so happy talking to his sister without judgment. It lightened his mood considerably. Katsuya fell asleep soundly, not noticing the ethereal flame wisps above his head.
Seto looked at the phone for a long time. He had just talked to Jounouchi Katsuya, the guy that he kissed not 5 hours ago. And what’s more, it wasn’t like their previous interactions where they were yelling at each other, well where the blond was yelling at him and he was goading the blond. It was a civil conversation. Amazing!
His brother had long gone to bed, leaving Kaiba alone in his thoughts. Why was he so fixated and attracted on the blond? Sure Jounouchi was cute but then so were a lot of people. Why had his heart decided this teen was the one for him? Was it because Seto was dreaming about him now on a regular basis? That could be it. But then again, dreams don’t mean anything when compared to reality. They are just dreams. Sometimes a cigar was just a cigar and sometimes a seemingly sexual relationship in a dream was just that, a dream. So what was it that made him want Jounouchi? Perhaps it was his constant devotion to his friends or maybe his determination in the face of overwhelming odds. That was a possibility.
But, try as he might, he couldn’t think of a reason. Then Seto remembered what his secretary, Sakura Nicola, told him. Love isn’t something you can analyze. Love is something you feel. And he knew that he felt that he was in love with Jounouchi. Nothing was going to change that. Trying to figure out why wasn’t going to satisfy him. In fact, to Seto, it really didn’t matter why anymore.
But now, the real question is what he wanted from this relationship. And he knew the answer to that. He wanted Jounouchi, all of him. That was the only way that he would feel happy was to have the blond. After that kiss, there was a fire that was stoked, wanting to consume him. The puppy enticed him to be burned by the passion without realizing it. He wanted it, needed it, like a man who comes out of the desert needs water. Seto knew that having Jounouchi was like having oxygen; it was essential to his well-being.
Seto found no shame in being this blatant with himself. Normally, he would have chastised himself for losing control of his wants. But now …
First, he had to know what Jounouchi wanted. Hopefully he wanted to at least try to see where things go. Although, Seto would respect whatever decision the blond made, secretly, he hoped that the blond would give him a chance. He didn’t deserve it though, after treating him like crap.
The expectation kept him awake but his body was telling him that he needed some sleep. Seto obeyed the call of his body and so, he shuffled his way to his room. The queen-sized mattress suddenly seemed too big for just him. The brunet chuckled. Even now, he was thinking about the blond. Seto settled himself in a comfortable position on the bed and felt himself drifting away into sleeps arms, not noticing the ethereal flame wisps above him.
Katsuya found himself in a red world. Well, everything was the same. All the buildings in Domino were the same but they were just colored red. For some reason, he was running. He didn’t know why he was running. He felt himself leaving his body and surveying the situation. He saw Kaiba running with him. Why were they running?
That was answered by the sound of a deafening roar. It was almost inhuman. Katsuya turned around and saw a mob of people chasing after them. Kaiba turned to him.
“Katsu-koi, don’t turn around.” Kaiba told him. “Just keep running.”
“But we can’t keep running forever, Seto.” Katsuya felt himself say.
“I know but if we stop, they are going to catch up with us.”
Katsuya nodded and kept running. However, Kaiba tripped and fell to the floor. The blond stopped and tried to turn around to help him.
“No, Katsu-koi.” Kaiba pleaded. “Go on without me.”
“But…”
It was too late. The mob caught them. Several people took hold of Kaiba and put him on his knees. Katsuya tried to help but he was restrained by six people.
The faceless mob took turns hitting Kaiba. It was awful. There was so much blood. Katsuya could hear ever blow land with a sickening crack. He knew that his love’s bones were broken and shattered. However, they wouldn’t be sated yet. One of them took out a long knife and slowly inserted it into Kaiba. The brunet screamed in pain. The blond could only watch as Kaiba Seto was being stabbed.
It took an excruciatingly long time for Kaiba to die. All the time, Katsuya could only look on in horror and struggle uselessly as the mob took away the love of his life.
“One faggot down…” Someone from the faceless mob sneered. The person with the knife approached him. Katsuya could only see the glint of the metal instrument dripping with the blood of Kaiba.
Katsuya woke up with a start. The blond started hyperventilating. It was just a dream. Only a dream, he reminded himself. He felt his face and noticed that there were tears spilling down his face. He felt his heart in pain after remembering the dream. Katsuya was frightened. Was this dream a premonition of things to come or just a dream manifestation of his own worries and fears?
Katsuya looked at the clock in his room. It read 3:41. Too early to get up but too late to go back to sleep, the blond thought. Katsuya sat up and hugged his pillow. Kaiba…
Seto found himself in what could only be described as a shantytown. There were many tents around him. He looked at himself and noticed that he was wearing smelly rags. He couldn’t understand why.
He walked in the tented community, trying to find out why he was here. He saw many people who looked like they haven’t eaten in several days. Their distended bellies, cakey-like skin and sunken eyes attested to their homelessness and poverty. It was saddening.
Seto caught sight of blond hair losing its luster. He followed the blond, not knowing what to do. The blond stopped at one of the tents and sat down next to a woman. Seto just looked on as the blond gently took one of her hands.
“You look like the man in the newspapers.” The woman said.
The blond man snorted, as if he were disgusted with himself. “Yep, I was the one who brought down Kaiba Seto.”
Seto wheeled back. Someone brought him down? How the hell did that happen?
“How did you do that?” The woman queried, asking the question that Seto wanted to ask.
“He fell in love with me.” There was guilt in the blond’s voice. “He was suppose to be an immovable rock in a violent sea but he fell in love with me. At first, it was great. Even the word ‘great’ falls short of what we had. But he started to lose control. He paid more attention to me than to his company. Someone pulled the rug under him and those in the company loyal to him. He had to sell everything. No one would hire him after losing an entire company. I mean, who would want to take that risk? He couldn’t even get a crappy job. We had to live here. And it’s all because of me.”
The blond man sniffled as if he were holding back tears. “I distracted him. I caused him to lose everything that he worked so hard to obtain. It’s all my fault. I suppose there’s only one thing to do… free him from my connection.”
The blond ran from the shantytown. Seto followed after him. He knew who it was. It was Jounouchi and from the sounds of it, he was going to do something drastic.
The shantytown led to the highway. Jounouchi ran to the meridian and saw a large truck. He stepped in front of it.
Jounouchi… Seto shouted
Seto woke up from the dream, whispering the blond’s name. Waking up from the dream made him shiver. It felt so real and completely different from the other dreams about Jounounchi. He figured that the dream was his subconscious fears about jumping into a relationship with the blond.
It was strange though that it was the blond and not him getting hit by the truck. Was it his fear that he might cause harm to Jounouchi? The company, he knew, was in safe hands. No one in their right minds would even think of trying to cross him. But…
Seto shook his head. Dreams are just that, dreams. He would shape his own reality and no dream was going to tell him otherwise.
The brunet teen looked at his clock. Red lines told him that it was 4:51. He was suppose to wake up in nine minutes anyways. No point going back to sleep. Seto got up from his bed and fixed the covers to make them presentable. Even though he had a person who could do that, Seto just wanted something to take his mind off of the harrowing dream.
It was a Saturday. On these days, he usually let Mokuba sleep in until 10. He didn’t want him wasting the whole day asleep. Having dressed himself for work, he made his way to the kitchen. Preparing a cup of coffee, Seto thought of what today was going to entail. He had to work on the parameters of a new game that he was developing with his R&D team and then at 3, he had a press conference to discuss the merger that happened the other day. But the most important thing he was doing today, or more precisely the thing he looked forward to, he was going to meet with Jounouchi.
That meeting put a smile on his face. It was amazing how a guy who a week ago was considered third-rate would be able to make him expectant of a simple meeting. It’s not like they haven’t seen each other before but this was different. This time, the nature of their relationship had changed.
Even though he could remember the dream, he didn’t care. He loved Jounouchi and Seto was going to do everything in his power to make sure that the dream didn’t come to pass. Fear and worry were not apart of his vocabulary.
With his coffee ready, Seto poured himself a cup and headed out the door.
Katsuya couldn’t sleep after the dream. He felt strange. He knew that it was just a dream but it felt so real. It filled him with real terror. However, it still didn’t change how he felt about Seto. If his social worker were here, he would tell Katsuya that it was just his own fear that was spilling over into his dream, at least that’s what he thought.
It was strange though. This is the first time that he dreamt of the other teen like this. All of the other dreams were romantic or sexual in nature. This is the first time that he dreamt of Kaiba and felt fear. Perhaps this relationship was a bad idea. Katsuya didn’t want to cause harm to Kaiba. But, then again, he couldn’t deny that he wanted the brunet. How was he going to reconcile this with himself?
Katsuya thought about calling Bri-kun but refrained. He wanted to figure this out on his own. He couldn’t rely on his social worker for everything. He wanted to stand on his own two feet, to make his own mistakes and learn from them.
The blond looked at the clock. It read 6:13. The first glimmers of sunlight were peeking through his window. That was weird. He didn’t know how quickly time had passed while he was mentally debating the dream and what to do. Perhaps he fell asleep somewhere in between and he didn’t realize it. Whatever… Katsuya really didn’t feel like getting up right now as he was in a good place with his bed. It was all comfy and …
The blond went back to sleep.
Kaiba Seto was a very punctual man. At 6 o’clock on the dot, he pulled up to the parking lot of the building that bore his name. He parked within a minute and headed from the garage to the elevator. It was time to go to work.
At 6:03 exactly, the elevator from the garage opened up to the top floor where his office resided. There was a new receptionist at the desk to greet him. At some point, the big bad CEO thought, he was going to have to learn the man’s name. He just was hired to that position through Sakura, his VP. Then again, receptionists usually had a life of a month with him. Most of them voluntarily quit but for those who didn’t, they usually did something to piss him enough to fire them on the spot. The whole process was irrelevant.
Seto entered his office and sat down at his desk. He was ready for a full day’s of work. Looking at his agenda showed that besides the press conference that he had today, the only other thing that needed to be done today was to review the recommendations from his Research and Development team on the new virtual reality game that KaibaCorp had on the front burner. It was the on the cutting edge of the new market and the CEO wanted to be the first.
There was a knock on his office door. Seto made a noise that was somewhere between a grunt and a noise of approval. In came Sakura Nicola, his vice president and personal assistant. She had a bunch of papers in her hands. She closed the door behind her.
“These are the recommendations from R&D that you requested today.” She told him
“On my desk, Sakura.” He told her. She complied and sat down in the seat opposite from him.
“Is there anything else that you need, Seto-kun?” She asked.
Seto looked at her with intense cerulean eyes. “I’m going to be meeting with Jounouchi after the press conference.”
Sakura was surprised. The blonde-haired woman knew that whenever Seto put his mind to something, he would do it and do it quickly. But such a bold move in an area that he had never explored before, that was something different altogether.
“Okay. Have you decided what you want from him?” She asked
“I want all of him.” Seto told her, leaving no room for interpretation.
“And what does he want?” She asked.
“I don’t know. That’s why we are going to meet today.”
“Okay.” She acquiesced. “Here’s a question though. If he doesn’t want a relationship, what would you do?”
Seto never considered that as a possibility. He knew that Jounouchi liked him. Come on, he kissed him back so there had to be something right? But what if he were wrong? What if…
The dream that he had last night was coming back to him. Seto remembered the dream Jounouchi getting hit by a truck because he felt guilty destroying KaibaCorp. Could that really happen? Would the blond feel that guilt-ridden that he wouldn’t be able to function? Would Jounouchi taking his own life be the result of a relationship between them?
“What are you thinking?” Sakura asked.
Seto snorted quietly. “You are going to find this absurd.”
“Try me.”
Seto nodded. “I had a dream last night about Jounouchi. This dream was different than the others that I’ve had about him recently.”
“How so?”
“Well, in this dream, we were homeless. Somehow, because of my relationship with him, someone stole the company from me and we were living in tents next to the highway. Jounouchi felt guilty because he thought that he was the cause of this and ran into traffic and was hit by a truck.” Seto related the dream without hesitation or emotion, so detached was he by this dream.
“Well, as Freud said, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.” Sakura tried to comfort him.
“That’s exactly what I thought when I had the dream.”
“Is that going to stop you from pursuing this relationship?” She asked, but she already knew the answer.
“Not in the slightest. I won’t let that dream come to pass.”
Sakura nodded and left the office, allowing Seto to go back to work.
Katsuya woke up around 11. He didn’t dream this time. Katsuya wasn’t going to fester on the dream. He knew that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. There was no reason to get excited over it.
Katsuya felt grungy in his clothes and so, he decided to take a shower. The water felt good on his skin and helped to remove the grime, dirt and yuckies from sleeping. As he was in the shower, he thought on what was going to happen today. He knew that today he was going to meet his former rival turned infatuation.
Katsuya no longer mused on the fact that it was just last week that they didn’t like each other. That was the past; this was now. And now, he had a crush on Kaiba. The heart wants what it wants. And Katsuya always followed his heart, wherever it led him.
It took the blond a total of 30 minutes to finish his shower. Feeling refreshed, he headed into his kitchen. He didn’t notice any signs that his sister was in the apartment. As he was opening the refrigerator, he saw a piece of paper on the door, held up by a magnet. The handwriting was his sister’s.
Nii-chan,
Hanging out with Anzu-san today, Yuugi-san said he was coming over at 12. I think you should tell him about Kaiba-san.
Shizuka
Katsuya took the note off the fridge and put it on the kitchen counter. He then made himself a bowl of cereal, nothing special.
When the blond was halfway finished with his breakfast, there was a knock on the door. He ambled towards the entrance and opened the door. It was his friend, Yuugi. He was kind of hard to confuse with someone else. The hair color was unique, for lack of a better word.
“Come in, Yuugi-kun.” Katsuya opened his home to his friend. Yuugi obliged and stepped through the threshold and into the apartment.
Katsuya was curious. What brought Yuugi to his home? Not that he minded but it was weird. Normally, the tri-colored haired teen would call ahead to check if he was available. To come unannounced was unlike his friend.
“What brings you to this neck of the woods?” He asked playfully.
“Well, I wanted to apologize for yesterday and trying to set you up with Mai-san, Jou-kun.” Yuugi told him.
“Don’t worry about it. Yesterday is yesterday. Today is today. We wipe the slate clean.”
“I’m glad.” Yuugi breathed a sigh of relief. “If you want, I’m sure that Anzu knows some girls who would…”
Katsuya cut him off there. “There’s no need, Yuugi. I’ve already found someone else.”
Yuugi was confused but happy for him. “Really? When did this happen?”
Katsuya exhaled sharply. He didn’t want to lie to his friend but he didn’t know how Yuugi was going to take this. “Yesterday.”
“Wow. I would have never guessed.” Yuugi was now ecstatic. He was happy for his friend that he found someone like he had found Anzu. “So, do I know the person?” He asked.
Katsuya couldn’t help but smirk. “More than you think.”
The way that his friend said that made Yuugi look at the blond curiously. What did he mean by that? Well, no harm in asking. “And does this person have a name?” He asked playfully, trying to lighten the atmosphere.
“Kaiba.” The blond said with all finality.
At first, Yuugi was stunned. He couldn’t help but feel like the blond was joking with him. Of all the names that he could have said, Kaiba’s was the least likely to come out of his friend’s mouth without a string of curses. “No, seriously, who is it?”
“It’s Kaiba.” Katsuya told Yuugi.
It was then that Yuugi saw the seriousness in his friend’s eyes. He wasn’t joking. “When did this happen?”
“Yesterday, after the duel. He found me after I finished talking to Bri-kun and we were talking about Mokuba-kun and Shizu-chan and then something happened. I touched his hand and something that I can’t explain happened. It was like electric and fire all at the same time. And at that time, I was looking into his eyes. Yuugi-kun, you wouldn’t believe how blue they were. And then, well even at this moment, I can’t explain it. We kissed and it was like nothing I could ever explain.”
Yuugi was entranced by the story. He would have never guessed that Jounouchi had these kinds of feelings for Kaiba. So, all the anger bursts and the insults masked a deep love. He would have never known about that.
Katsuya, unaware of Yuugi’s inner thinking, continued. “I ran after the kiss. I couldn’t believe that I kissed him. I mean, this was Kaiba. I thought that I hated him. And here I was, locking lips with him. I met up with you guys afterwards and told everyone that we just had a truce. I was frightened. What would people think of me now? Would they hate me?”
“Oh Jou-kun. We could never hate you.” Yuugi consoled him.
“I know that but this was something different. At that point, I didn’t know what to think. After getting a ride from my social worker and talking about my feelings, I told Shizu-chan and she was shocked but she said that she still loved me. You don’t know how good that felt to hear that.”
Yuugi put his hand on one of Jou’s. “You are still Jounouchi Katsuya to us. You are still our friend, no matter what happens.”
Katsuya took his own hand and clasped the smaller teen’s hand. “Thank you.”
With the confession out of the way, Yuugi felt a bit lighter knowing something so intimate about the blond. “So now, what are you going to do?”
“Well, I’m going to meet Kaiba later on today.”
“You want me to go for moral support?” He asked.
“Nah, I can handle it.”
Katsuya admittedly didn’t tell Yuugi about the dream that he had last night. It already was too much to tell him about his feelings about Kaiba. He didn’t want to unduly worry the teen.
“So we heard about me. What’s going on with you and Anzu-san?” Katsuya smirked in a way that couldn’t be considered wholesome. “Have you two done something special?”
Yuugi blushed profusely. “Jou…” He chastised.
It was nearing 3 o’clock. Kaiba Seto knew that he had to do the press conference. He didn’t like doing these things because he had to answer stupid questions, even if he had already answered them in his press release. He tried to anticipate every question that any conceivable person could ask to try and make everything as short as possible. However, that only leads to questions about his personal life. Those questions really grated him. What he did beyond this building had nothing to do with them. It was his own business and the CEO tried to keep it that way. Many of the bodyguards that he hired were there to do just that, keep the voracious press at bay from him and Mokuba when they were trying to live a normal life.
He wondered how his life was going to change should he pursue a relationship with Jounouchi. Would reporters and paparazzi leave them alone? Fat chance of that happening if he couldn’t get that now. He wondered how he was going to be portrayed in the news that he was going out with a man. Not that he cared about things like that, but still, it piqued his curiosity.
At this point, none of that mattered. Right now, he needed to focus his attentions on the conference that he is about to give. There was a knock on his door. It was his receptionist, telling him that it was time. Seto sighed. Once more into the breach, he thought.
Katsuya said his goodbyes to Yuugi. The blond felt better telling his friend how he felt about the changes that he was undergoing. It was like there was a weight off of his shoulders.
He looked at the clock. It was 2:45. Katsuya really despised the clock. He wanted to see Kaiba now. The wait was killing him. He was told that Kaiba had a press thingie today and that after it was done, they would meet. But waiting was overrated.
The blond heard the scratches of a key being used on a lock. He smiled. It was his sister. Katsuya knew he was correct when Shizuka walked through the door with a bag in one of her hands.
“Did you enjoy your time with Anzu?” Katsuya asked
“I did. It’s kind of nice that there’s another girl in the girl who I can talk to.” Shizuka responded.
“Did you talk about clothes and boys?” The blond teased her.
“Nii-chan, that’s mean.” Shizuka stuck out her tongue.
It really felt good to have Shizuka back in his life. When their parents divorced, it left a huge hole in his heart. His father turned to drinking… or more accurately, he redoubled his drinking habits until he died. But he really didn’t care about that man. He may have made the shots that made his mother pregnant with him and his sister, but he was nothing more than a bee that spreads pollen on a flower. That man was useless. Although Katsuya didn’t blame his mother for divorcing the man, he wished that he would have been taken away with her as well. But, when he thought about it, if he did, he wouldn’t have met Yuugi-kun, Honda-kun, Anzu, Bri-kun, and … Kaiba. So maybe, it was for the best.
“What are you thinking about, Katsu-chan?” Shizuka asked.
Katsuya smiled and looked at the clock. It read 3 o’clock. He wasn’t waiting another second. “Shizu-chan, do you want to take a trip with me?”
“Where?”
“To KaibaCorp.”
Shizuka smiled. “Lead the way, Nii-chan.”
At the front walkway into KaibaCorp, Seto was rattling off his press release from the teleprompter. He wasn’t really paying attention much. He could go on auto-pilot if the need required it. His mind was focused on what was going to happen after this. He wanted to see the blond. He wanted to be around him. He looked into the eyes of those in the Press Corp. All of them had their pads and pens and mics and all those things that reporters had. It was quite boring.
There were some days that Seto wished that he could hire someone to do these things. But the last time that he did that, the guy screwed up so bad, it took weeks to undo the damage. So he did it himself.
As he was giving the release, he saw that the doors were opening. That was strange. It didn’t distract him from the prompter but it did give him pause, mentally. Who could it be? Even though he couldn’t see clearly from here, Seto noticed a tuft of golden blond hair. It couldn’t be… could it? It couldn’t be 4 already.
Seto paused for a minute and gave a look to Sakura who was standing next to him. She nodded and made her way to the entrance.
Katsuya and Shizuka made it to KaibaCorp in 20 minutes. Before they went inside the building, they saw that the front walkway was packed with people. It was amazing to see all those people with their cameras and their mics and stuff crammed into one space.
Katsuya knew that Kaiba was going to be busy. He didn’t plan on this though. Now what were they going to do?
As they tried to get a better view of things, an arm reached out to him. It was a suit, probably one of Kaiba’s bodyguards. One grabbed him and another grabbed his sister. Before they could shout, a woman came to them. Katsuya had to admit, she was really pretty. She had extremely long blonde hair and he could see green eyes. The woman nodded and the suits let them go.
“Please follow me, you two.” She told them. The two did as she asked.
The woman led the siblings around the press and into a side conference room. She opened the door and allowed Katsuya and Shizuka to enter. The woman then came in and shut the door behind her. The room was sparsely decorated. There were several chairs and a long table.
“Excuse me, miss.” Katsuya started to say but the woman held her hand up to silence him.
“We’ve met before, Kawai Shizuka-san.” The woman said.
“We did.” She answered. “I apologize. I don’t remember your name.”
“My name is Sakura Nicola. I am vice-president under Kaiba Seto and his personal assistant.” The blonde told her. “I apologize for the rough treatment from the bodyguards.” She turned to Katsuya. “And you must be Jounouchi Katsuya-san. I’ve heard much about you.”
This was strange. He had never known that this woman existed until today but now she was saying that she knows about him. “How, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“We have two people in common.”
Now Katsuya was wary. Did Kaiba talk about him to this woman? But then, if he did, who was the other person? “Is one of the people Kaiba?”
“It sure is.” She smiled. There was a natural warmth around her. Katsuya couldn’t help but allow his wariness to be diffused.
“Then who is the other person?”
“The other person is Tranae Brittinia.” She smiled more.
Katsuya felt a pang. Bri-kun, above being his social worker, was his friend. How could that man talk about him with this woman? “How do you know Tranae-san?”
“What? No Bri-kun?” She laughed. “He didn’t tell you? He’s my husband.”
Katsuya was shocked. So this was Bri-kun’s wife. She was really pretty. And it was strange. She looked at him like a mother would. In fact, there was this whole motherly glow about her.
“Oh, that makes me feel better.” Katsuya sighed.
“Did you think that I was some kind of stalker? I’m hurt.” She sighed mockingly.
When she did that, he was reminded of his social worker. Katsuya was relieved. She knew how to remove the tension, just like he did.
“You’re here to see him.” Sakura Nicola said, already knowing the answer.
“We were going to meet up after his press thingie, Sakura-san.”
“Well, I’ll bring him here when he’s done.” She turned to Shizuka. “I’m sure you would like to be with Mokuba-kun, correct?”
“He’s here?” She asked, the light shined in her eyes.
“Mokuba-kun is in testing. I can have someone escort you.” The woman told Shizuka.
Before Shizuka could even ask, Katsuya put a hand on her shoulder. “Go. I’ll be fine.”
She kissed her big brother on the cheek and followed Sakura Nicola out of the room and closed the door, leaving Katsuya alone with his thoughts.
Seto was closing up his press conference. He was truly thankful that it was. As he was taking follow-up questions, his VP and secretary, Sakura, whispered in his ear.
“Kawai Shizuka-san is heading to testing to hang out with Mokuba-kun. Jounouchi Katsuya-san is waiting for you in conference room 105 when you are done.”
Seto nodded and took more questions. He quickly glanced at his watch. It read 3:52. He was ending this in eight minutes.
Katsuya found some pencils on the floor of the conference room. He started banging on the table, as if it were a drum. There was nothing else to do while he was waiting so he had to entertain himself.
As he was going into the big finish, the door opened. There at the entrance was HIM… Kaiba Seto. This was the guy who was literally in his dreams. This was the same guy who he hated not a week ago but with whom he was falling in love.
“What took you so long, Kaiba?” Katsuya smirked.
“I have to work, unlike some people.”
“I work too.”
Katsuya loved the banter. Although his feelings may have changed, this hasn’t and he had to thank whatever power was responsible for this feeling of normality.
The air changed from playfulness to seriousness.
“That kiss…” Seto started.
“I know.” Jounouchi breathed in a manner that can only be described as husky.
“It was no accident.”
“I know. I like you, Kaiba.”
“So, where do we go from here?” Seto asked. Jounouchi looked at him but didn’t say anything.