Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Arubaito ❯ Alcohol ( Chapter 12 )

Ch 12 (Alcohol)

 

Very Apologetic Author's Note: -massive sweat drop- I'm well aware that when author's take huge breaks like what I've done that many of their readers give up on them and don't want to come back to read anything new. This is fair enough, and quite understandable. And although it's probably not worth posting anymore, here is another chapter anyway. But to everyone else who is reading this and who still is even slightly inclined to keep reading the rest of this chapter: thankyou, I really, really, appreciate it.

FURTHERMORE: And slightly as penance, I've written and posted a side story to this one which you are free to view or not view at your own leisure. It's set in between the last chapter and this one, but I won't go into too much detail here since you could simply read it yourself. Thanks again xoxo

Review Replies: (I think they're the right ones)

 

Dragonlady222: thankyou, keep reading… sorry for lack of update, you're a very dedicated reviewer, I really appreciate your comments ^_^

 

JoeysGal: Oh man, I am the most unreliable friend! I'd say sorry, but I know that seems unfair because it's been so long since I've spoken to you. I hope you're doing okay! I really do! I want to read your story more than anything, and I'll review it soon!! I'll read it twice just to make sure I've thoroughly enjoyed it! I miss you! I hope your life is taking you down some new and exciting paths, all the best for 2008~

 

Aknkkskd: If by soon you mean months later, then sure! Eh… sorry ^^;; -bows-

 

Lasae: Thank you very much, sorry to make you wait so long! You flattered me ^___^

 

Cinque: Soon…ish… But continued I have, despite lack of ideas. Thank you so much!

 

Passing Reader: And a late Merry Christmas to you too!! I hope you are less busy now, you sounded hectic ><” I'm glad you came to check up on things, sorry I didn't have anything new for you then! Please enjoy the next chapter~~

 

GrayPheonix: Thank you so much for the bump. I hadn't written anything in ages, and then your review turned up in my inbox one day and I suddenly felt the need to get out a pen and write! Or… at least go to my keyboard and type something. Pen is purely for artistic purposes. So thank you!! I'm sorry it's taken me this long to get around to it, but I hope you keep reading anyway. Ja~

 

 

Disclaimer: Characters, worlds, people, games, and everything else is owned by and copyrighted Kazuki Takahashi. This is a non-for-profit fan work with no particular personal gain in mind. I own the writing and nothing else.

 

***

 

Christmas came and went with all the subtlety of a foghorn in a library. Katsuya would swear that there must have been some sort of increased intake in sales personnel at all major shopping centres, because he found that leading up to the event he couldn't walk more than ten steps without someone urging him to buy hand cream, or a lawnmower, or get a satellite dish installed on his roof. None of which he was interested in of course; he didn't use hand cream, he didn't have a lawn, and he didn't own a roof. What Anzu couldn't quite explain to him (due to his unwillingness to listen) was that nowadays he looked different.

Not in the downhill spiraling different sort of way, such as shaving ones head on a whim or choosing only to wear black clothes and gel ones fringe over ones forehead so that you can only see out of one eye and listening to nothing but music about death and the ultimately meaninglessness of existence over and over and over again. But in the good sort of way, the way that made you look smarter, richer, more in control of your own life. The kind of difference that makes an old high school friend you randomly meet at the convenience store stop and take a second look and say; “You are looking well,” but actually mean it.

In short, sales people approached Katsuya because he no longer looked like he had five yen to his name; he now looked like the kind of man who could afford a lawnmower, irrespective of the fact that most Japanese men and women did not live in houses big enough to accommodate actual lawns.

Katsuya meandered along more or less oblivious to all of this however, not one to think hard about his appearance in the morning, only long enough to confirm that the pants weren't on inside out and the shirt didn't have any distinguishable stains on the front. Somehow, though, he managed to pull off the nicer look. Otogi would say it had something to do with the fact that he now had his hair cut properly, and had thrown out all of his old daggy clothes and replaced them with ones that actually fit properly and looked modern and smart. Anzu, however, would say that while this was certainly a contributing factor, the larger proportion responsible for the overall difference was Jou's change in lifestyle. He seemed altogether happier, although he wouldn't have noticed it himself, and perhaps this was because life was finally dealing him a good hand. Things almost appeared to be falling into places that actually suited him.

But while all of this was more or less true, Katsuya was still awake at 2am staring up at his bedroom ceiling and re-living the past few weeks in a way similar to a scientist observing the progress of a bacteria culture. He reasoned that it was better to reminisce from the third person than to skip right to the end and start questioning himself. Again.

Christmas… Christmas had come and gone like a particularly loud foghorn in a library…

Oh, library…

No, wait, that wasn't far back enough. Sometime before the library, or at least… a room with lots of books in it. That more or less counted as a library. So sometime before that, he should think back, to whatever happened first…

 

***

 

Approximately two weeks prior…

 

***

 

“What is that?”

“What?”

“That!”

“WHAT!?”

“That… thing… on my desk.”

“Oh that.”

Seto rolled his eyes.

“That's an electronic motion-sensored dancing Santa, which plays Christmas tunes when someone walks by.” Katsuya remembered the description from the back of the box.

“Okay let me rephrase; why is that in my office?”

Katsuya took a few moments to search for the card that had come with the gift. Eventually he managed to retrieve it from underneath a coffee cup acting as a paperweight. He handed it to Kaiba without explanation.

Seto read the contents in seconds before throwing it into the bin beside his assistant's desk. “Cancel Niita's Christmas bonus.”

“I am shocked and appalled that you do not like the novelty.” Katsuya mocked with an obvious lack of sincerity.

“Well, appalled is close to the mark…” Seto muttered, glaring at the jolly figure in black boots with as much dislike as a fat man at a treadmill.

Katsuya sniggered and Seto's expression seemed dangerously close to a smile. “Don't set up any more gifts without my approval.” He said with finality, and stepped swiftly into his office with the intent of finding a heavy object to dismantle Niita's present with.

Katsuya returned to work. Getting back into the old (and yet new) routine had not actually been that difficult. Sure, a backlog of untyped letters, unfilled paperwork, and unclean coffee cups had awaited him, but he had decided it didn't matter, because now he was earning money again and the amount of work associated with it was inconsequential. Plus, he'd damn well take his time with all of that, some sort of payback was definitely not unheard of. Kaiba still needed to understand that although he was infinitely grateful for the second chance, there was still a small part of him annoyed with the way in which the CEO had handled the first offer.

Which brought him to Kaiba himself. Katsuya wanted to imagine that the Lord Almighty was actually being just a bit nicer to him now, but the reality of the situation was probably not that. He figured. A tiny little voice in the back of his mind, which had been a lot louder hitherto, still pulled at his ear reminding him of the possibility of ulterior motives.

This was somewhat drowned out however by the presence of a different tiny voice on his other ear rejoicing at this fact and clapping loudly whenever his eyes accidentally strayed too far downwards while paying attention to what the business man had to say. And this was worrying in itself.

Sometimes he caught himself thinking back to that one snowy night and wondering what he would do if it happened again. Normally he managed to stop himself from finding an answer. Which he knew was just like placing a band aid on a gun shot wound and hoping for the best.

In the long run not very effective.

But it allowed for the opportunity to pretend to ignore the problem for just that little bit longer, and that was exactly what he intended to do.

 

There was a calendar on his desk which informed him of how many days there were left until Christmas.

He hated that calendar. Another gift no doubt from someone he couldn't immediately identify and which his assistant had placed there with only the best of bad intentions.

Christmas was actually his company's most profitable time of year for obvious reasons; children wanted presents. They liked toys. Parents wanted children to like them. They bought toys.

It was a fairly straight forward cycle. But he felt that to be quite honest, this was the only thing Christmas had going for it. He had only ever had one person with which to share the holiday, and while he was in no way complaining about the presence of his beloved younger brother, the joy on Mokuba's face after receiving his gift lasted about a minute. Dinner lasted half an hour. Using the next entertainment system lasted about thirty minutes. So really, at best, Christmas was an hour long if that. And people spend months preparing for it…

What, exactly, was the point?

“Well, it's about spending time with your family and…”

“I know that.”

“Well what don't you get then?” Katsuya frowned.

“Why there's so much bother… so much fuss…”

“What are you complaining about? Don't you rake in millions around this time?”

Ah, so as he suspected Jonouchi thought that money was all there was to him.

I suppose that's not too far from the truth.

“I'm being philosophical here.”

Katsuya stared. It was sort of like Kaiba announcing he was about to donate two billion yen to charity. The occurrence just seemed so out of character.

Seto frowned. “Yes Jonouchi, I think.”

Katsuya decided to shrug it off. “People enjoy Christmas…”

“But the enjoyment only lasts about half an hour… if that…”

“Are we talking about Christmas or sex?”

“The first one. Being that it is independent from the second.”

Katsuya smirked. “If you think Christmas only lasts half an hour, you're clearly spending it with the wrong person.”

Seto glared. He did not want to go down that path.

“Why is there never any point in having a serious discussion with you?”

“Because you have no sense of humour.”

“I have a perfectly decent sense of humour. It is simply too subtle for your comprehension.”

“Subtle boarding on non-existent I'd have to say.”

The downside to Katsuya's argument, however, was that he was smiling. Which indicated to Seto that he was amused, which furthermore certified, in his mind, his side of the argument. He decided to point this out.

However the minute Jou became aware of the fact that he was once again enjoying talking to Kaiba he turned bright red, and shortly thereafter excused himself.

Curiouser and curiouser.

Seto drummed his pen on the table for a moment and glanced again at the calendar. Eleven days until Christmas. Oh will the nightmare not cease? But perhaps there was something to what Jonouchi had said, even if he had meant it in a much cruder way. Perhaps he was just spending Christmas with the wrong person? Not Mokuba of course, but himself. Maybe because he spent every Christmas in relative solitude that he did not fully comprehend why everyone else made such a big deal about it? If there were others around would it be more enjoyable?

He began plotting how to find out.

 

***

 

“Why is nothing happening?”

Honda elbowed him, “Shut up Jou, he just hasn't turned them on yet.”

Ryou went a pale shade of scarlet, “Actually, they are on, I don't know why none of them are lighting up…”

“Did you test them before you put them up?” Anzu enquired politely. Ryou nodded.

Yugi gazed up at the colourless roof, “Is it set up like a series circuit?”

“Speak Japanese.” Bakura barked, standing behind Ryou with his arms crossed in frustration.

Yugi blushed slightly, “Uh… I meant like, how some lights are set up in sequence, so if one bulb breaks none of them will work. Or if one blows half way along, all the ones from that one to the end wont light up, because the signal is interrupted.”

Before Bakura could say something rude in return because he still didn't understand, Ryou said; “Oh I see. Well, I'm not sure if it's like that, but they were all working before I put them up there…”

“Wait… I think I see your problem.” Honda squinted in the quickly failing light, “The extension chord looks like it's come out.”

Ryou took a moment to find where he was pointing to, “Oh! That's the bit that connects the lights to the lead and the converter. Yeah, I must have pulled it out when I was coming down the ladder. I'll have to go back up and fix it. Sorry guys.”

He sprinted over to the house and turned off the main power switch, then grabbed the ladder and planted it firmly into the ground, swinging the top end forwards until it hit the guttering. Ryou placed one foot experimentally on the bottom rung.

Like most other people, Bakura could practically feel it when someone was glaring at him. “What!?”

Anzu frowned, “Shouldn't you be helping him? This is your house too!”

Bakura crossed his arms in a disinterested fashion, “Na, I'm good here.”

Steam practically flaring from her nostrils, Anzu marched over to the ladder making as much noise as possible and took a firm hold of it to keep it in place. Ryou smiled appreciatively and started his ascent.

Nearing the top his shoe slipped dangerously for a moment before he regained his footing. It might have been a trick of the light, but Katsuya could have sworn he caught Bakura flinching out of the corner of his eye.

“Just to let you know; if you die, I can't reincarnate you. At all.” Everyone was used to Yami appearing at random to add his insight.

“Thank you Pharaoh, please go away.” Bakura said dryly. Yami ignored him.

”I'm okay!” Ryou called back in an obvious attempt to reassure the crowd. Yugi's other frowned disbelievingly.

They now watched in very anxious silence.

Ryou was perched on the second to top rung and reached his arm to its fullest extent to grab hold of the chords. Tugging twice they obliged him by sliding closer along the roof tiles. It was a simple matter of reconnecting the extension chord and then he called back over his shoulder; “Does someone want to turn the power back on please?”

Honda strode over to the switch and flicked it. Hundreds of lights blinked into existence. As Ryou stepped back down the ladder, everyone took a moment to admire them.

They were all colours; red, green, blue, purple, yellow, silver, gold, orange, pink… Some flashed and some raced each other down the lines, some didn't move but spelled out words like “Merry Christmas” and “Santa Parks Here”. They were all over the roof and along the gutters, spiraling around the pillars and across the porch. There were even some on the plants in the garden, and circling up around the mailbox.

“You've done a really nice job Ryou.” Katsuya nodded his approval.

Everyone else seemed to think so too, even Bakura grunted his agreement. Ryou glowed.

“Well, this is all very pretty, but I'm freezing.” Bakura trudged back inside, and although the others would have perhaps phrased it slightly more pleasantly, they couldn't disagree. Lights weren't the only white thing decorating the house.

They slowly filed back inside following the spirit, right up until Katsuya realized that she'd managed to catch him again.

Grabbing his arm Anzu halted him. “Doesn't it look just beautiful?” She said, slightly louder than was perhaps necessary.

Jou looked at her like she'd just been talking about a walrus as opposed to the Christmas decorations; “Yes. I think we just established that.”

Ignoring the last few sentences completely she watched the last person go into the house then turned back to Katsuya, “So, how's it going, being back at work?”

He mentally hit himself over the head with a giant hammer. “It's good. Let's go inside.”

She didn't let go of his arm. “It's good? That's it?”

He sighed, “What else is there to tell you Anzu? The office is big, the view is nice, and the toilet cleaner smells like lemons.”

“I don't know, I just thought you might have something more to report about, you know, Kaiba…”

“His ego is big, his lounge chairs are ugly, and he smells like expensive aftershave and coffee.”

“You know what he smells like?”

Katsuya instantly turned scarlet. “I… uh…”

Anzu seemed to think she'd made some sort of ground here, because she let go of his arm. Smirking, she continued; “I see. You know, it is kind of cold, perhaps we should head inside.”

He didn't trust himself to speak again just yet, so he merely nodded and followed her in, shutting the door behind them on the whole conversation.

 

Meanwhile, across town, in the deep dark depths of the Kaiba mansion, amongst the deep rows of dark books housing information too dark and verses too deep to even consider, Kaiba was darkly thinking deep thoughts.

Which were in fact surprisingly bright.

Christmas was coming, faster than expected, and it had been such a thoughtful year that he couldn't possibly not put thought to the next holiday in line. In a typically exploratory fashion he felt the intense need to understand the fuss of Christmas. One should make note, however, of the distinct dissimilarities between Seto and the famous Mr. Scrooge. While Seto had never been interested in Christmas before, this was only because he was ignorant of the true spirit of Christmas. Whereas Scrooge knew quite well of the true spirit of Christmas, he just chose to be moody about it.

“What's on your mind Nii-sama?” Mokuba's bushy black head popped into view.

Seto flipped the paper closed and placed it on the coffee table, and his younger sibling took it as a well known sign to take a seat and commence a discussion.

“I've been thinking…”

He knew it. “Yes?”

“When was the last time we had a Christmas party?”

“Two years ago when you invited a new round of investors over for a dinner. It was boring.”

“Ah yes… I remember.”

“Why do you ask?”

Seto wasn't sure what kind of lie would be appropriate, so he opted for the truth; “I am feeling a bit festive this year, I'm thinking of throwing another party.”

Mokuba groaned, “Oh please, not investors again, all they do is discuss the stock market and the price of shares.”

“No, not one of those kinds of Christmas parties. One with friends.”

Seto's younger brother paused, “Say again?”

“What do people normally do? Have dinner? Drink wine?”

Mokuba beamed, “You're serious Nii-sama!? You want to have a real party?”

Seto waved a hand, “Stop acting like it's completely unheard of.”

“Well that's only because it's completely…”

“I get it. Ah, perhaps it is a stupid idea after all…”

“No!” Seto smirked inwardly, reverse psychology was uncannily effective against the youngest Kaiba. “It's a great idea! Let's hold one!”

“Alright then.”

“I'll even help you plan it!”

“Thank you.”

“So who are we inviting?”

A list was prepared. Only friends, Mokuba had made sure, were to be given invitations. Seto actually surprised himself when he input a few names of his own. He apparently had more friends than he had known he did. Mokuba, of course, had more contacts to add than himself, but he wasn't fazed by this. In fact he was proud of the way Mokuba had adapted back into regular school life. Not racing off to card game tournaments every two weeks, or being attacked by the spirit of the Ancient Egyptian Fruit Bowl, or whatever other stone age deity felt like threatening their life over something as insubstantial as a piece of paper with pretty pictures on it, had had somewhat of a positive effect on his social life.

But to be honest in previous years he might not have said quite the same thing. There was a point at which he had been quite willing to risk his life for such items as playing cards as well.

Which brought him back to the list. They contemplated for a few minutes whether to include Yugi and pals in the invitations. Finally, Mokuba argued, they were technically friends too, and once, great friends; they deserved to be given the opportunity to attend if they wished to.

A curious feeling came over Seto when he thought about Jou being in his own house, and even though it had happened before, recent events caused him to look at the situation differently.

It would be fine, he argued, the man was hardly likely to even come. Plus, he was sure he would be able to discover what the Christmas fuss was about even without his personal assistants help.

So with mounting enthusiasm from his younger brother, they finalized the preliminary plans, and Seto began to look forward to the occasion with much interest.

 

***

 

You could get lost in snow. And not just in the kind of: “it was so cold and thick and hard to see in that people literally lost their sense of direction whilst walking through it” way, but the kind of “it was mesmerizingly white” sort of way. Like autumn leaves in a park, you could sit and simply watch it fall over and over again. Although it was perhaps more of an indoor activity than leaf watching, and better accompanied by a warm fire and cup of hot tea.

Seto had neither hot tea nor warm fires. He had freshly brewed coffee with no sugar, and considerably expensive central heating, but the snow falling outside his window was as white as the snow falling outside some picturesque cottage in the middle of the English countryside. For the first time in his life, he thought it was nice.

Three times today Jou had been inside his office and he'd completely forgotten to mention about the party and to hand over the invitation. Mokuba had instructed him to do this, rather than mail it like the rest of them, insisting it was a waste of a postage stamp, despite their family's obvious wealth which to Seto rendered the expenditure on such an item relatively insignificant. It was now simply a matter of him actually remembering to do it.

“Last January's expense figures.” Jonouchi slapped three reports onto his desk.

Seto muttered a `thanks', not really looking up from the notes he was making on some paperwork.

Katsuya shrugged, used to the routine, and turned to leave.

“Oh right, the invitation…”

“What?”

“Where did I put it…”

Jou wasn't entirely sure if Kaiba was actually talking to him or not, since he had disappeared into a desk drawer. He decided he wasn't and continued to back up slowly towards the door.

“Here it is!” Seto emerged triumphantly, then frowned; “Get back here.”

“Uh…”

The CEO waved the envelope towards his assistant in a sort of `come and take it' fashion. To Katsuya he looked more like a Venus fly trap. He approached with caution.

“What is this?”

“An invitation.”

“To…” Death?

“To a Christmas party I'm having.”

Katsuya raised an eyebrow. “You're inviting me?”

“I'm inviting you and all of those people you associate with.”

He frowned, “They have names.”

“And I'm sure Mokuba wrote them on their invitations. It's lucky; I would have addressed them to vague physical descriptions.”

He continued frowning.

“Oh just take the bloody thing.”

Katsuya reached out slowly and took the envelope into his hands. He read the enclosed message in silence.

“Not to repeat myself or anything but, why're you inviting me?”

“It was Mokuba's insistence…” Seto lied smoothly, knowing that he had had just as much input in the matter. No one would question it anyway.

“Oh.” It might have been his imagination, but could he detect just the slightest hint of disappointment in Jonouchi's voice?

Knowing that wasn't possible he pressed on, “It's the weekend before Christmas, we're not expecting everyone to attend of course.”

“In other words, you don't expect me to come?”

Seto feigned indifference.

Katsuya glared, “Well don't invite someone if you don't want them to come!” Then he marched out rather huffily.

He is such a woman. Seto mused, staring perplexedly at the door.

 

***

 

“Just because someone invites you to something doesn't mean you have to go.” Katsuya insisted for perhaps the ninth time.

The others had given up arguing with him.

“I'm actually quite excited.” Anzu revealed to Yugi as she strode along briskly next to him, traveling at a fast pace to relieve some of the cold.

He laughed, “Yeah, me too… sort of… it'll be interesting to see what a `party' of Kaiba's turns out like.”

Katsuya suddenly remembered with vivid intensity what the last party of Kaiba's had been like. Would the same thing happen again? Would he be annoyed if it did?

“He'll probably turn into a green monster and start stealing everyone's presents.” Otogi suggested idly.

“Speaking of which, will he care too much we didn't all get him one?” Honda asked in a way that suggested he certainly wouldn't care if Kaiba did or not.

“I told you, I'm going to say my present is from all of us.” Yugi said cheerily.

Katsuya would rather have preferred he didn't, but once Yugi set his mind on something it would take more than a heard of rampaging elephants running straight towards him to make him change course.

Should he have gotten Kaiba a present? You know, colleague to colleague? Did people normally do that sort of thing? Or was it the bosses job to give his employees presents, not the other way around? And whatever happened to that mysterious rumour of a Christmas bonus…

“Jou!”

“Ow!”

“God you day dream a lot lately,” Honda rolled his eyes. Katsuya rubbed his forehead where he'd just walked straight into a street lamp.

Mumbling profanities he suddenly realized everyone else had stopped walking too, they must have finally arrived.

He stared up at Kaiba's mansion apprehensively. Inside was a party he currently didn't want to attend. What if other people from work were there? What if he got drunk and made an ass of himself?

Well, he supposed, the obvious solution would be to not drink then… Yes, that was a good resolution.

In the darkness of evening it was hard to see the roof of the house. Light radiated from a few of the windows, but further out the rest of the concrete became a blur of faint colour, gutterings and window sills leading into who knew how many rooms exactly. Why did he even need a house that big!?

Honda whistled. “Man, I'd like to be that rich someday.”

Otogi smirked, “Well, if one day you develop the brains needed to become one of us booming business owners, maybe you will.” He then had to duck a swipe of Honda's arm aimed at his head.

“It's getting colder, how about we go inside?” Ryou suggested with all the politeness he could muster, considering his fingers felt like they were about to fall off.

A tall man in a black jacket and white shirt greeted them at the door, he surveyed the group for a moment before nodding and bowing them in. They all bowed politely back as they crossed over into the house.

It was ablaze with Christmas decorations that Katsuya was sure Kaiba could not have picked himself. Since none of them really seemed like his taste. They passed at least three Christmas trees on the way to the room the party was being held in. There were tinsel and ornaments hanging practically everywhere, and little tree lights replacing the ones he supposed would normally have been used in the rooms.

I had no idea he was so into Christmas.

It looked like the others were thinking similar thoughts, as they stared around the house with a mixture of shock and approval. For the effect was, really, very nice. There was even holly hanging from the odd nook and cranny, and something else that might have been… He wasn't entirely sure what mistletoe looked like, but he made a mental note to avoid whatever plant that was anyway.

It was hard to get lost. The way to the party was the only really well lit destination in the house at the moment, so with relative ease they found the rest of the attendees.

“You know I'm not quite sure if this is bigger or smaller than I thought it would be.” Honda admitted aloud.

“Friends only!” Announced a cheery voice.

Anzu greeted Mokuba with a Christmas hug. He grinned around at the new guests, “I insisted this not be one of Nii-sama's boring parties with investors where everyone talks and looks like they've got a stick up their arse.”

They laughed and as Katsuya looked over the room he found that, indeed, not many of the party goers fit that description.

“So this time only people we actually like,” Mokuba continued, and something inside of Katsuya tightened just a little; “Hopefully Nii-sama will be able to enjoy himself too.”

Anzu smiled, “I'm sure he will.”

He steadfastly refused to comment. Not that anyone was paying too much attention to him anyway. He followed along while Mokuba led them to where a few waiters were standing around with drinks and finger food.

He let his mind wander. This was Kaiba's party, so where was the CEO anyway? The room was filled with people he'd never seen before. Oh wait, wasn't that that Chinese woman from accounting? Okay, one person he knew. Or sort of knew. He hoped she also couldn't remember his name. Might be better simply to avoid her.

There were a lot of younger people he took to be Mokuba's friends as opposed to Kaiba's, but there were still the fair share of older people too. Many of them looked about university age, some a little older, one who was old enough (and loud enough) to have passed for a jovial uncle.

He was beginning to think that Kaiba must simply have decided not to attend his own party, when he finally came into view. He was standing amongst a group of young men and one woman about his age, all of whom looked like they were laughing about some undoubtedly private joke. Was Kaiba actually laughing?

Katsuya felt a curious need to shake his head in disbelief and take a second look. Also curious was the odd twinge of jealousy that suddenly fired up inside of him. He couldn't quite explain it, but before he had a chance to analyze the feeling it had passed. Well, the CEO had been spotted, mission accomplished, he could go back to ignoring him and forgetting he even existed.

Thank God.

“What do you want to drink?” Yugi asked next to him.

“Um, nothing.”

Otogi stared at him like he'd just announced his engagement to Bakura. “What?”

“You always drink.” Yugi stated.

Wow, he didn't realize how much scrutiny he would be getting for this; “Oh, uh, I will, just in a bit.”

Although a somewhat lame answer it seemed to satisfy them, although he couldn't help but feel slightly left out being now the only one not holding a glass of something cold and bubbling.

Mokuba then excused himself and went to play host to a different part of the room. As somewhat of a prerequisite, comments were made about the niceness of the party and nods of approval at how short the skirts were this year. Ideas were thrown around concerning the availability of some of both the female and male (in Anzu's case) party guests and Ryou pointed out that it wasn't cheap champagne. There were more nods of approval.

Finally Yugi said, “Can anyone see Kaiba? This present is getting kind of heavy…”

“Why didn't you just give it to Mokuba earlier?” Katsuya asked; they were doing such a good job of avoiding his boss, he didn't see any real need to rectify this.

“I forgot,” He admitted, going a little red. Katsuya rolled his eyes.

“I think that's him over there…” Anzu said, squinting and sticking her nose as far forwards as her neck would allow without actually having to move the rest of her body along with it.

“That's a woman.” Otogi corrected without obvious interest, taking a sip of his drink.

“Oh.”

“I think he's actually over there,” Ryou pointed on the other side of the room. He was right; Kaiba was, just at that moment, extricating himself from another group of individuals Katsuya had never seen before and moving in what looked like the direction of the door.

Yugi thought it was best to interrupt him. He led them on a brisk stride through crowds of chatting people, some of whom already looked like they'd had too much to drink, and some of whom were demonstrating their absolute lack of coordination by dancing to the music and trying to eat at the same time.

“Kaiba!” Yugi called, and the CEO stopped and turned.

Katsuya stared, he'd obviously been too far away before to notice but the brunet looked really quite good that night. Kaiba was wearing a suit he'd never seen before, which surprised him because he saw him in suit's everyday, and he had hitherto been led to believe that he'd seen the lot. In any case, this one seemed to be tailored to fit him perfectly. It was double breasted and black, and had a near unnoticeable pinstripe to it. It further occurred to him that he'd never seen Kaiba (in recent months) with an open collared shirt, but he was reminded tonight that it looked even more fetching on him.

The combined effect would have been enough to make him start drooling, had it not been for the novelty Christmas hat someone (with either a lot of guts or a death wish) had decided to stick on the CEO's head.

Honda sniggered, “Nice hat Kaiba.”

“Watch that I don't just make them mandatory for every party guest.” Katsuya noted that he didn't seem to have as much ridicule in the warning as usual. He wanted to ask whether the other man was feeling well tonight.

Yugi threw Honda a `don't upset people' look then turned back to Kaiba, “Thanks very much for inviting us to your Christmas party Kaiba!” He smiled widely to encourage the statement.

Kaiba waved a hand dismissively, indicating it was nothing. “It was Mokuba's idea mostly.” He commented off-handedly.

This didn't seem to deter Yugi one bit, “None the less, thank you. Here, we got you a present… from all of us,” He emphasized the last part especially, just in case the matter was brought into question.

Katsuya thought that Kaiba was probably smart enough to doubt it, but not mention anything.

“Thanks,” He took the offered present, which looked suspiciously wine-shaped, and gave Yugi a small nod.

“It's a nice party,” Anzu said encouragingly, just in case the CEO had been, just at that moment, thinking otherwise.

Kaiba nodded in agreement, although didn't seem very interested. He had never really been one for small talk.

Sensing a silence coming on, Otogi quickly announced a search for more food, dragging Honda and Ryou along behind him.

“You'll have to excuse them,” Katsuya indicated to the way Otogi was literally dragging both men by the top of their shirts; “they were never rich enough to afford tow trucks as children.”

Anzu noticed Kaiba was hiding his amusement at the comment. She also noticed that his eyes would flick to herself and Yugi for instants but then always come back to land on and look at Jonouchi. She wondered if Jou had ever noticed this too.

“Kaiba Corp.'s been in the paper a lot recently. Grandpa always makes sure he points it out to me in the morning.” Yugi managed to add an unspoken, `whether I like it or not'.

“I suppose we've been busy.” Kaiba conceded.

“Well that's good; at least Jou'll never be bored.” Anzu grinned and clapped him on the back mockingly. He shot her a glare.

“I'm sure I can always find something that will amuse him.” The CEO agreed in, what seemed to Katsuya's prejudiced ears, a somewhat suggestive manner.

His stomach began to sink, he didn't like where this was going. Better to knock it on the head before it carried on any longer. Hell, a minute was too long a conversation between either Anzu or Kaiba. It was like somehow, over the past few months, they'd become both his least and most favourite two people to talk to. It was an odd situation to have arisen.

He coughed loudly to express his displeasure; unfortunately this didn't seem to have any effect.

Anzu, on the other hand, felt like she was making headway here and she needed to press on; “Wow, you know come to think of it, you and Jou must spend quite a lot of time together nowadays…”

Like that had only just occurred to you… Katsuya thought with annoyance.

“Well, I didn't see any reason to dismiss his application once he showed an aptitude for the job. Past arrangements aside, one would have hoped maturity had set in by now.” Said Kaiba, answering the rest of her unspoken question.

She nodded in agreement. Yugi looked like he thought he was missing something.

“Well, we're certainly all glad it has,” Anzu laughed, glancing at Jou once again; “He's not that hard to get along with, is he?”

But Katsuya had had enough, he didn't care what the answer was, he knew that all she was doing was squeezing information from Kaiba about his own personal life and, well, that just wasn't fair.

“He is…” Kaiba started.

“Look,” Katsuya interrupted, unaware that he was starting to go red; “isn't this supposed to be a party? Do we have to talk about work? Let's... ah… discuss the weather instead. Mighty chilly today don't you think?”

Both Anzu and Kaiba were looking at him like he'd just stuck his finger up his nose in a rather unimpressive attempt at drawing attention to himself.

Kaiba recovered first, “Well, as you say, this is a party, and there are many guests here who will soon become disheartened if I don't go and tell the kitchen staff to start bringing in more alcohol. So if you'll excuse me…”

He turned and made his way through the crowd, carrying Yugi's gift under one arm. The midget in question gave a half-hearted wave goodbye. “Shall we go and find the others?” He suggested.

Katsuya would personally have preferred to have gone and died in a hole somewhere.

Anzu smiled, “Well that was interesting.”

He turned to her with a look mixed with misery and the beginnings of anger, but was unable to conjure up anything to say.

Screw his resolution, he needed a drink.

 

***

 

Two glasses of champagne and three cups of punch within an hour later, Katsuya was at the point where he felt the need to tell the chairs not to move around so much. Especially while he was still sitting on them; it was just plain rude.

A short while ago he and Anzu had come to a (quiet and out of the way) head about her interference in his personal life, and upon his dire threat of breaking every imported English Soapie DVD she owned she had agreed to stop asking questions where they did not warrant asking. He found he couldn't stay mad at her for too long, since he'd managed to avoid any sort of contact with Kaiba for the rest of the night anyway. That and, she was one of his best friends, and so far seemed only to have his interests at heart. He thought that if it wasn't for her encouragement he probably would be cleaning dishes in a shabby restaurant for 5000 yen and hour right now. He tried to make a mental note to properly thank her sometime.

Following their conversation she had gone off to introduce herself to one of the other male party guests who Katsuya would have agreed was really quite attractive if it hadn't been for the fact that he most certainly was not into looking at men. Next to him Honda and Otogi and a few girls of various ages had begun to play a drinking game involving tequila shots. The girls were also quite attractive, but Katsuya found that they seemed to share a brain smaller than a woodpecker's collectively between them, and he found his attraction could, therefore, only reach so far. The game would have been more fun to watch had Honda not kept throwing salt at him every thirty seconds because he was, at that point, refusing to join in. He felt it was rather a small sacrifice.

Over on the other side of the room, Seto was sipping a glass of something expensive and imported. He actually quite enjoyed a glass or two of whatever was in his cellar, but he knew when to stop, or if it was a night like this, knew how to make one glass last longer than necessary. Besides, he thought as host it was probably unprofessional to be drunk at his own party. He might find he was cleaning up his own vomit in the morning.

And by himself cleaning up he naturally meant the closest member of his hired staff he could find.

He was still in a state of quiet shock at how many of the people he had invited had shown an interest in coming. Mokuba had sat him down and practically nailed him to the chair until he came up with a list of every single person who he'd even remotely considered a friend, over the entire course of his life, and had insisted they invite each and every one of them. So, as it turned out, many people he hadn't seen since before even his biological parents' deaths had turned up.

He found he was pleasantly surprised. It was an unexpectedly nice feeling to know that there were still some people out there that also considered you a friend and wanted to see you again, in most cases regardless of the fact that you had money now. This was perhaps one of the most astonishing factors - people actually seemed genuinely interested in himself, rather than his company or his millions of dollars.

This was something he was very unused to.

And with a no small amount of shocked realization, it occurred to him that this might have been what the whole holiday was about. That oddly warm feeling inside of him that his friends and family gave him simply by being there and giving a shit.

How remarkable.

Well, he'd solved the riddle of Christmas. Nice work.

Everyone seemed to be having a good time. He supposed he shouldn't really care too much, after all, he was a firm believer in the idea that other people could only take you so far, you had to walk the rest of the way yourself. He'd set up (or at least hired people to set up) the party as best he could, there was enough food and drink to go around, and people seemed to be mingling. So he supposed that constituted a good time.

He looked down at his watch; another little while and he'd need to go take a breather.

 

At a certain point in any party's evening, usually after you've been blackmailed into taking several shots of tequila, everything becomes funny, and even the most insane things seem like a brilliant idea.

That person tripping over the rug and spilling his drink all over that girl's skirt; that was funny. That waiter, with one shoe lace undone; that was funny. The fact that Honda could not pick up tonight; that was funny. The fact that outside Yugi was having to pull Ryou's hair back as he made a mess of the concrete; that was funny.

Katsuya suddenly announced that he was bored. Honda was slouched gloomily back into the sofa next to him and gave no more than a murmur to show that he'd heard.

“This party is boring,” He continued, in loud tones reminiscent of an army general about to announce his squadron's departure into battle; “I am going to go exploring.”

Honda made another murmuring sound and waved goodbye with two fingers. Not one to be deterred Katsuya stood up, waited for his eye balls to stop spinning, and then marched off to find the door. He bumped into four different people but eventually made it out.

Picking a direction at random he made his way along dimly lit corridors and past closed doors until finally the open night air was revealed. Kaiba had quite a large yard. Outdoor lights were lit all over the place, and many people, he found, had migrated out into the shrubbery already. He had an inkling those people didn't really want to be interrupted.

“There, there.” Katsuya noticed a figure hunched over against the wall and another one patting its back sympathetically. He found this amusing.

In the dark Yugi's hair almost looked like it could pass for only one colour, and he frowned at the blond; “Be nice.”

“I don't even know what was in that…” Ryou muttered before suddenly bracing himself against the wall again and making sick noises.

Well, Yugi seemed to have that pretty much covered, and he didn't really feel like investigating the back yard at present, so Katsuya trotted back into the house. Past the music from the party, and veering off from the decorated corridor he found himself in a rather less Christmasy part of the mansion. He strolled along at an easy pace, not bothering to keep quiet. He found himself torn between feeling annoyed he hadn't brought along something to sip on, and reminding himself he had probably already had enough.

Besides, he couldn't be sure that painting didn't just wink at him.

He fumbled past a few interesting looking doors to find rooms that weren't as interesting inside. He felt it was probably unnecessary to have so many sitting rooms, but then again, who was he to question the rich? He didn't quite know what he was looking for exactly. He kind of hoped he didn't come across anything as compromising as Kaiba's bedroom, then he'd really be in shit. He thought he'd discovered at least two guest bedrooms though, as they didn't look very lived-in. He also passed some bathrooms and some small closets with cleaning supplies in them.

He was starting to become almost as bored as he had been sitting at the party, the novelty of trespassing through the rest of the house wearing off after having discovered it was just like a normal house, only bigger. The next room, however, he felt compelled to enter.

Turning the light on, he realized this room was unlike any of the others he'd looked into. Not just because on one wall there was a giant television surrounded by DVDs and video games, which instantly grabbed his attention, but because there was some sort of aura about the room which made it more cozy than each of the others. His feet carrying him automatically forwards, he just had to take a closer look.

It certainly had the appearance of a study. There was a desk and a chair behind it, but there was also a couch (which looked surprisingly comfortable), and he was pretty sure in normal study's people wouldn't keep a digital television so close to the desk as it would serve as too big a distraction.

But there were books, hundreds of books. The walls were lined with them and the bookcases reached almost to the ceiling. There was a library of knowledge here, and he walked slowly around the room, scanning over the spines and letting his fingers brush across them like they were something amazing he couldn't stop himself from touching. He was expecting books about economics, or about financial management or world domination. However these books seemed like they must have belonged to a completely different family. There were novels (he had no idea Kaiba even possessed an imagination), with all different sorts of genres, there were books about fishing and travel and books about how to speak various different languages. There were art books from video games and animated movies, there were biographies of actors from eighty years ago, and books about different types of aircrafts. He passed shelves of history books, and noticed an atlas open on the table. Was one of the Kaiba brothers planning a trip to America?

Another section caught his eye, the spines of these books didn't have any writing on them and, like an unopened present, he just had to know what was inside. Pulling out one of them he realized that he had in fact come across a few small photo albums. Inside were various pictures of places he had never seen before. One was of a much smaller house, and another one looked like it might have been the orphanage Mokuba and Kaiba grew up in. He couldn't stop a small smile from forming as he discovered yet another older picture of the two of them at the beach - Mokuba must have been no older than two - looking down at the sand with intense interest at where a large dried out star fish was resting. Katsuya wondered who had taken the picture.

He realized he must have been sobering up even a little, because it only took him three tries to replace the book on to the shelf. It was a bit hard to muster up the amount of concentration required for such a task. He noticed that a little way along the shelf was another unmarked book, this time the binder was a set of rings wound into heavy paper. It looked like it might have been a sketch book.

With unfaltering curiosity and an alcohol-induced lack of respect for privacy, Katsuya pulled it out and flicked through a few pages. He had been right, it was a sketch book, and further observations would have dated it back to a long time ago. Stick figures in bright coloured pencil lined the pages. One of them had a misspelled `beach' as a heading, and the larger stick figure had what looked like a bucket and spade attached to its right arm. Over the page was a three year olds idea of what a car looked like, and some purple clouds in the sky. More curious again was on the next page where someone, obviously much older than three, had drawn a very stunning picture of a bird on a branch, perhaps from observation, and then next to it the three year old artist had tried to copy it.

“What are you doing?”

Katsuya almost dropped the sketch book. His heart recovered from shock and he grasped the book tightly in one hand as if it was still about to fall. He turned slowly.

“Um…?” He looked from the book he was holding back up. It's always him, wherever I go.

“Put that down,” Seto warned.

Katsuya reluctantly placed it on the desk. He felt like he'd just been on the verge of discovering some ground-breaking secret such as the location of buried treasure, or the revelation that Kaiba was actually a human being after all and not, in fact, descended from robots. But alas, he had been denied at the last moment.

He looked back up, not wanting to say anything first. He felt suddenly quite guilty.

“Well?” The CEO demanded.

Katsuya couldn't really think of an excuse, `I was looking for the bathroom' didn't exactly explain why he'd taken it upon himself to look inside the book shelf for it. “I, uh…” He faltered.

“I go to put away my coat, I turn around, and a light is on. I think: why is Mokuba in here when he should be at the party? But then, of course, I find it's you. Little pup just has to stick its nose into everything.”

Which also would explain why Kaiba wasn't wearing his jacket anymore.

“I'm sorry.” Katsuya hung his head, not unlike the mentioned puppy dog, having just been yelled at for jumping up on the table.

Seto glared, but the blond head missed it. He walked over to where the other was standing and picked up the sketch book. He hadn't looked at this in years. It was one of those things you knew in the back of your mind that you owned, but never really paid attention to.

Katsuya watched Kaiba's eyes widen as memories came back to him through the pages of the book.

“Did you draw those?”

Seto shook his head. It was quiet again for a while.

“You have some nice photos.” Katsuya said when the silence got too pressing.

Kaiba's eye twitched, “You looked at those too!?”

Oops. “Ah…”

Seto put the book down again so he could glare at him properly. Jou was looking thoroughly guilty. He realized he thought that was cute. Then he also realized how close they'd managed to get, proximity wise.

It's like he's some sort of human-shaped magnet. What else could explain why he always ended up near the nosey assistant?

Unbidden came a flash back to that snowy night when he'd thrown all sense out the window and kissed Jou on the whim. He had the greatest desire to repeat the occasion.

Above that, though, he remembered the promise he made afterwards. The promise to never do something like that again. It was stupid, why should he even want to?

But he did.

But he'd promised not to.

It had taken weeks for trust to re-build between them, and he knew that he didn't want to throw that away, probably never to be reclaimed, simply because he gave in to the instructions of a part of his body that was definitely not his brain.

Perhaps if he just… stopped looking so adorable…

That night he had caught up with people he had not seen in years. Many of them were not the same as he remembered, but others hadn't changed one bit. One person in particular suddenly flashed back to his mind. A boy from the orphanage, who had always high spirits despite the dreary life they lead, and whose optimism could have contended Yugi's. Tonight he had been asking the person next to him what they would do if they discovered they only had one day left to live. The person had rambled off many things including seeing as much of the world as possible, buying all the things they'd always been too cautious to buy before, and most importantly, making sure all of their loved ones knew where they stood.

Seto wasn't saying he loved Jou. Heck, he wasn't sure what he felt towards the man, he just knew that if this was his last day on earth, and for some reason he had ended up in his study with Jonouchi there too, in the same places, he probably wouldn't be hesitating right now.

So why should today really be any different?

It is also important right now that we re-visit the analogy of the scales used a little while back, for it is important we have another look. First of all, to solve the puzzle one must work out which distribution of weight was correct to make the scales level enough so that one can have a chance at jumping from them to the next platform and continue onwards. Seto and Katsuya's relationship was like this, although it seemed like every time they got the scales level they would miss the jump and fall down to the bottom and have to start all over again.

Furthermore, however, once one has solved the problem of the distribution of weight, the puzzle is complete. One could, in all rightness, be happy with this and sit down, take a breather, maybe clean your sword… and simply do nothing more. You have completed the puzzle, you are in the balanced place. The world is perfect and uninterrupted, you don't need to try to jump to the next platform. Especially since in all likelihood you are about to fall two stories down and have to solve the entire puzzle once again.

The problem with not jumping though is the same as the reward for completing the puzzle. You are in a balanced place, so long as you do not wish to change that. Figuring it out enables you to move forward, but you actually have to jump to get there. Not jumping halts progress, stops you from getting anywhere. It does keep you in an easy place, a balanced place, a place where life is fine. But you're never going to be able to beat the dungeon boss by simply sitting on a scale and not attempting to leap to the next platform.

Life is a risk. Moving forward is a risk. Jumping is a risk. But staying on the scale will get you nowhere. If you jump, you might fall, but you can walk right back up to the top and try again. That was the point of the puzzle.

And when he thought of it that way, he found he had the courage to move just a bit closer to the edge.

 

Katsuya had been so preoccupied with feeling guilty and trying to ignore the rainbow colours he was seeing, that he had only just noticed how close they were once again. He remembered the last time it had snowed, but when he looked for that shocked and scared feeling that had been there last time, he discovered it was much harder to find. He was still scared, but curiosity had begun to stick its nose in there too. Instead of thinking: “Oh God get me out of here,” he was now thinking: “I wonder if this is a good idea or not.” If he had been in a better state, he also might have put this down to the fact that alcohol was a fan of hiring three big blokes in overalls to come and smash down your walls of inhibitions.

Nonetheless, as Kaiba took a step forwards he took a step backwards.

And suddenly there wasn't anymore behind, there was just a book case at his back and a large, rather appropriately good looking, man in front of him. He was too close to see a right or a left. There was just him.

When one is driving a car at night time and the road ahead suddenly becomes co-inhabited by a rabbit, the rabbit in question will tend to freeze in the face of such company rather than make any sort of attempt to get out of the way. Whether this is because the rabbit feels it has less chance of being spotted in a cars high beams whilst remaining motionless or because the animal is simply stupid, it is an interesting similarity to note that when presented with his most recent situation Katsuya's reaction was much less similar to the common rabbit's.

He froze. Kaiba was staring at him way too seriously, and his brain was buzzing from intoxication. What he thought he wanted to do was lean up and see what Seto's mouth tasted like, but that didn't seem very logical. In fact, it was altogether puzzling given what he thought he remembered that he thought he was feeling about the other man earlier. Or something like that.

He also wanted to look away because he thought he might already have been blushing; such an intent gaze was very becoming on Kaiba. Katsuya sort of… liked… knowing that the CEO was looking like that because of him, but at the same time it was very embarrassing. A similar feeling is felt by the recipient of a marriage proposal made by someone at a party or over a loud speaker; a grand gesture but slightly embarrassing all the same.

Whilst Katsuya stood there debating whether he could remember any of the pro's and con's and probable repercussions of kissing Kaiba, Kaiba himself managed to move even a bit closer.

Now his eyes were larger. Their intensity was almost blinding, but there was something else in there; something hesitant.

“Jonouchi, ah, I know I said I wouldn't ever…”

Later, Jou would be left to ponder that if alcohol could be used as a propellant, the world would be able to save thousands on petroleum.

He didn't even let Seto finish the sentence before he launched himself (the small distance) towards the CEO and stopped the other from making much more than an unintelligible mumbling sound as his brain caught up to the fact that he wasn't able to pronounce words properly anymore.

It was Seto's turn to act like a stunned rabbit before it occurred to him that Jou was kissing him, not the other way around, and had to remind himself that this was a welcome turn of events and that he should damn well make the most of the opportunity before Jou decided to come to his senses.

Katsuya found himself flattened against the bookcase; his arms suddenly were wrapped around Kaiba without his conscious thought of placing them there. Something was driving his body without the consent of his brain, and the same source drove his lips to part themselves and let Kaiba's tongue inside his mouth.

Seto, meanwhile, was also wondering whether this move was something he'd regret once his own hangover hit him the next morning. He supposed he could always point out that this time it wasn't his fault…

Katsuya felt Kaiba touch his hair, and his face, and next to his ear… that felt nice. He was warm and a whole lot gentler than he might have thought. Not that he'd ever before really entertained thoughts like the one's he was having now. This was a whole new realm of thinking…

He was thinking Kaiba would look a lot better if he removed his shirt.

With a sudden determination to see this plan come to fruition, he moved his hand down Kaiba's chest with the idea of un-tucking his shirt to discover what was underneath. The other man didn't sound at all like he had a problem with it. Katsuya almost smiled.

There was a loud crash from the down the hall, like someone had broken something expensive. Both men froze and turned to the door automatically, but it didn't open. Seto was close enough to hear Jou's heart pounding. He paused for a moment, then slowly moved backwards and took his arms away from the other. Though he was surprised to feel a little tug at his shirt when the distance stretched too long.

Jonouchi was clutching the bottom of his top lightly, but looking directly at his eyes. Seto looked up. The expression was unreadable. His face was flushed, his blonde hair was a bit messed up, and he was breathing too quickly. He looked almost… confused. Like they'd suddenly teleported and he no longer had any idea where he was. He looked like he wanted an answer.

Seto didn't know the answer, he only knew that any moment now someone would come looking for him to get him to come and oversee the situation, and for both their sakes it wasn't a good idea to be found in this position.

Let go of my shirt.

Slowly, or what felt like slowly, Jonouchi released his hold on the shirt. It hadn't been a tight grip, but Kaiba felt it was more polite not to wrench himself away. After all, his mind was still buzzing with what had just happened.

He stepped back, and finally turned around. The door had somehow managed to relocate to very far away, and it took hours to cross the room to reach it. But once he was outside, and it had closed, time seemed to feel the need to compensate for the slow period and started progressing rather quickly. He barely got through straightening his shirt before someone had found him and he was, at the next instant, amidst a whole group of people standing around a smashed vase and a wine stained sofa. Someone was apologizing and someone else was scurrying over with what looked like surface cleaner and a towel. Someone held a broom out to someone else and he noted with detached interest that the vase had been one of his step-fathers favourites. He had never much cared for it.

And none of it… really… seemed to matter.

 

***

 

Katsuya stared up at his ceiling with as much interest as a deaf man at a stereo system. His brain was miles away, back at Kaiba's house. A week later and it was still all that was on his mind. He considered trying to smother himself with his pillow but could only imagine Anzu reprimanding him in the afterlife with; “You can't just kill yourself every time you encounter a relationship problem.” With a tone similar to a nanny explaining to a child that it's no good staying up late, you'll just be tired the next morning instead.

His eyes started to close of their own free will. He'd thought reminiscing would help him to begin to think about where to go next, but all it had managed to achieve was making him fall to sleep. It was like counting sheep, only instead he was counting the number of times he'd done something stupid during the recent weeks. The events seemed numerous enough to put even the worst insomniac to sleep.

And as his brain slowed to a minimum speed, and his eyes fell completely closed, he thought: `well, it certainly worked for me.'

 

***

 

A/N: If you're still reading, thanks again. I hope I can update sooner next time, and hopefully see you again. Happy reading. (P.S. Side Story! Another dig! Read! Review!)

-Etsuyo