Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Everywhere and nowhere ❯ Where are we now? ( Chapter 7 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

 

The first clue Seto Kaiba had that he'd slipped unknowingly back into consciousness was a pleasant ache in his calf muscles and lower back. Well, really, the ache itself wasn't all that pleasant, but once his sleep fogged brain had managed to process enough information to remind him why those particular, rarely used muscles were bunched and sore, that was what made his lips curl dreamily.    

Reaching out for the slender warm body that had been pressed against his for most of the night his smile turned into a confused scowl as he encountered only a vaguely warm satin sheet, squinting his eyes open and pushing himself up groggily on one arm as his fingers pushed rumpled chocolate bangs from his face.    

Glancing around the room Seto took a brief moment to note that most of the candles had burned down into nothing but puddles of wax, little clear lakes in the round metal containers spitting and hissing occasionally as the wick finally met it's wet and sticky end. The only light in the room now came in a dull orange glow from two roman candles and, between them, sat the previous occupier of those very same warm satin sheets.    

Ryou didn't seem to have noticed that Seto had awoken just yet, and the CEO took shameless advantage of that fact to do a little after-sex ogling. With his head slightly bowed the albino had perched himself in front of the untouched chocolate fondue, stabbing absently at congealed chunks to spear them on the special forks and then nibble on the ends after raising them to his lips.    

Even as his heart swelled (not to mention a certain, until then previously sleeping part of his anatomy) at the sight of his little boyfriend's naked back drenched in a river of moonlight hair and his ribs heaving softly as he inhaled the scent of the chocolate dreamily, the brunette couldn't help the stab of guilt that speared him when he realised Ryou was sat upon a very large, very soft looking cushion.    

Scooting silently towards the end of the bed the CEO let the sheet gather around his hips to form an impromptu sort of toga and remain a tadd modest, long, lean golden skinned legs draped off the end of the mattress. “Ryou, sweetheart?” He murmured, allowing himself a small internal thrill at the endearment he felt was now freely his right to use, finger tips ghosting across one slender curved shoulder and a smile upon his lips. “What are you doing out of bed...?”    

A brief glace at the tiny crack between the heavy velvet curtains had confirmed his suspicions it was still dark outside and the brunette wondered absently what could have dragged his lover out of a nice warm bed so soon. With a small frisson of tension, surprisingly intermingled with the tiniest undertones of fear uncommon in his usually emotionally collected self he wondered if his very presence in the shy albino's bed had been enough to drive him from it...    

Seto didn't realise he'd been holding onto his last breath until the coolness blew over his slightly dry lips, the tension draining from him as the pale skin beneath his fingers turned rosy and a gasp escaped the boy before him. Then, almost imperceptibly, the movement more sensed then seen, Ryou's shoulders dropped a fraction, his lower back muscles relaxing to let him shift, ever so slightly, back into those questioning finger tips.    

The movement alone was all the reassurance Seto Kaiba needed, but as the little albino teen shook his hair from his face and tipped his face back to look at him the CEO found himself answering the warm, upside-down smile with underlying adoration, tracing the blush mark on high, delicate cheek bones with gentle fingers and his smile growing as feathery grey lashes fluttered.    

“I didn't hear you wake up...” Ryou murmured in his rich, sweetly still-drowsy tone, dropping his fork with a tiny chunk of speared chocolate onto the tray and turning himself around on the cushion, ducking his head to purposefully hide his face with his hair as his blush spread across his throat and shoulders, wincing at a pain in his lower region.    

Seto, clucking his tongue softly and mirroring the wince with a guilty one of his own hooked his arms beneath the models arm pits, easily lifting his slight weight to perch him upon his lap and managing a smile at the startled squeak, the younger boy shyly shifting his legs to balance his knees either side of the CEO's thighs.   “I didn't hear you get up either, Ryou. Do you need some pain-killers?” Absently, the brunette traced his fingers along the small nobbles of the teen's spine, feeling the tiny dip of the triangle above the bubble of his buttocks and drawing a little circle there with his fingers. Sighing, he pressed a kiss to the boy's temple, smiling against the delicious snow white skin at the heat emanating from it against his lips, asking gently “Did I hurt you, baby?”    

Even if he'd been asked Seto wouldn't be able to say if the thickening of Ryou's blush were thanks to the question he'd asked, or the endearment he'd tagged onto the end of it as the albino squeaked a hurried “No!” in an obviously startled tone.    

Shyly the model rested his palm flat against one of Seto's defined pectoral muscles, letting his hand slip down gently in a sort of timid half caress, before his fingers began drawing shy circles and he looked up through his bangs, smiling beautifully. “You didn't hurt me, Seto! What we did...What you showed me...It was...” The boy broke off with a longing sigh, one that made the CEO grin as the teen caught himself and ducked his head once more.    

Chucking Seto wrapped his arms around the boy's tiny waist, falling back against the bed and grinning at the lap full of startled, blushing beauty he was left with.    

“I haven't left you sore...?” He asked tenderly, smiling and brushing a few creamy bangs away from glittering, dancing brown eyes, gasping as his hand was caught by a smaller one at the wrist and held still against a pale, hot cheek, a timid tongue licking at the curve of his thumb.    

“Not so sore...” The teen murmured, Seto's breath catching at the undeniably wicked tone in the boy's voice and, before he could muster enough brain power to form a reply finding himself lost in a playful giggle and seeking, searching, finding lips....    

[Scene change: one week later]      

It was a week before, between them, Seto and Ryou, CEO and model, managed to find a free window between them to meet up again, a week that the older Kaiba brother could, confidently, say was the longest of his life.    

At Ryou's insistence the pair had jumped into Seto's stretch limo and drove out into the sticks once more to visit Mother and Ryou's children, the little albino promising, once his weekly visit was over, and afternoon to themselves.    

Of course, who was Seto Kaiba, mere mortal, to refuse and offer like that?! Especially considering the smile it was offered with....    

Once they'd driven up outside a flurry of activity had surrounded the car, tiny faces pressed up against the tinted windows and Ryou laughing delightidly as he was tugged forcefully from inside by little hands and forced into the front yard of the orphanage.    

As Seto climbed out a little more sedately (though little Marina, the blonde toddler from before, complete with Buttons the cat, latched onto his trouser leg as soon as it was swung from the limo), he noted the gates were no longer rust eaten, and behind them sat a brand new, primary-coloured jungle gym, obviously played with with Ryou's money.    

Smiling to himself as his boyfriend swung on monkey bars and chased children across the small wooden bridge Seto made his way to where Mother stood watching, a little, tousled haired boy balanced on her hip and clinging to the folds of her habit.   “They seem to be having fun.” Seto greeted with a smile he couldn't contain at seeing the obvious emotion in the old nun's eyes.    

“Oh yes. They missed Ryou, but the new toys and things he sent certainly made up for it, for a while.” Smiling, she set the toddler she'd been holding down on the floor, giving him a quick pat on the rump. “Go and play Ty.” She ordered softly, ignoring the reproachful look and pout she was given like an old pro used to dealing with children.    

Smiling slightly Seto spoke to Mother of the boring things grown-ups do, mentioning the weather and asking after the children, promising (at least to himself) to find some way in which he could help out. All the while, the maternal looking nun's eyes glittered, her gaze flitting across to Ryou, then back to Seto and, like a school boy, he flushed beneath his collar and expensive tan, convinced she knew more then she should. Opening his mouth to ask why her smile was so secretive, his words were cut off abruptly by a sudden cry.    

“Tyler? Tyler, COME BACK!”    

As soon as Ryou spotted the open gates his heart leapt up into his mouth, watching in horror as the tiny toddler stumbled out into the road, heedless of the cries to try and call him back from the busy street. Turning from his conversation with Mother at the sudden commotion Seto assessed the situation quickly, taking in the open gate, the small child in the road outside and with a mounting sense of dread the sight of an approaching vehicle.    

“Ryou!” He warned desperately, seeing his boyfriend was the closest to the gates but the albino was already off at a break-neck run, the CEO watching with his heart lodged in his throat as he stumbled and skinned his palms on the gravel before he forced himself up, a pain in his chest that had nothing to do with the speed at which he ran as he watched the albino bound ahead of him.    

Blindly the kept on running through the gates and out into the road, the only thought within him was to get to Tyler and Ryou before anything happened to either of them. The only warning the CEO had was the sickening screech of brakes before he watched in horror as Ryou collided with the car, his small form thrown up and over into the windshield which cracked into spiderwebs from the impact.    

People on the side walk screaming the small teen rolled lifelessly off of the hood and onto the ground as the car finally stopped, blood trickling ominously from the corner of his mouth and a frightened looking Tyler, shocked but seemingly unharmed, rolling from his protective embrace.    

Seto's feet stopped moving, his body skidding to a halt along with the pounding beat of his heart that had a moment before been trying to hammer through his chest. He could hear nothing over the furious pounding of blood within his ears, war drums in his mind seeming to drown out even his own thoughts. The CEO had never believed time could stop, but right now his whole world had come to a juddering, sickening, terrifying halt.    

Stop the world, I want to get off.    

What world have I got without him?    

The albino didn't seem to be breathing for a moment before he gasped and retched, small flecks of clotted blood escaping and staining his too large cream sweater. Now his breath was coming in shuddering gasps, showing that he, at least, was still alive, and it was that simple fact that shocked the motionless brunette back into action.    

“Damn it, call an ambulance!” He shrieked, too pre-occupied to be surprised at the shrill note of his own voice, throwing himself to the ground next to Ryou and ignoring as the gravel tore through the skin and trousers on his knees. Desperately he reached out to his younger lover, his breath catching in a sob as, for a moment, he thought it had started raining, only to realise the wet spots on his face were from his own tormented tears. “No.” He sobbed, reaching out for him again only to be jerked back by strong, strange hands upon his arms, dragging him backwards kicking and screaming. “NO! No, damnit, let me go! Ryou! RYOU!”    

People had gathered around Seto and the small teen, circling the pair of them and muttering about what they'd seen and heard, in case the police asked them as two passers-by held back a distraught CEO, knowing he would do more harm then good if they let him touch the boy. A few people sat with the driver, who was only a young woman and whose sobbing was uncontrolled as she feared she may have killed him.    

Seto didn't notice any of them, his vision narrowed in a blinding tunnel upon the still, bloody form of his boyfriend, his hammering heart pounding against his chest in a million painful fragmented pieces as he slumped in the grip that held him, sobbing like he hadn't done since he was a small child.    

Amazingly, the little albino didn't seem to be in too bad a shape. He was unconscious for the moment and a large angry bump upon his brow was trickling with blood from his crash with the floor, staining his face red and making it look far more horrific than it truly was. His laboured breathing was thanks to a broken rib that was pressing awkwardly against his lung but again, amazingly, hadn't punctured the organ. Nothing else seemed to be broken, only badly bruised with a sprained ankle perhaps.    

Apparently someone had already thought to call and ambulance (either that or it arrived in record time) as it came screeching around the corner with the sirens going full blast as it pulled up onto the curb a few feet away from where Ryou lay motionless. A man and a woman, both in green uniforms opened the back of the vehicle and brought out a stretcher as they cleared the people away from the patient.    

“Alright, alright, come on! Move it!”    

As the guy knelt next to Ryou Seto finally found a reserve of strength and yanked away from his captors, stumbling forwards quickly towards the pair. Dimly, he was aware that Mother had gathered Tyler into her arms and stood, surrounded by a flock of distraught children pressed tightly against her robes a little way away. Soaking her clothes with their intermingled tears they wailed and screamed as only children can in grief, the old woman's lips moving rapidly in a frantic, mumbled prayer as her own cheeks became rivers to her sorrow and fear.    

On his knees once more next to the unconscious form of his lover Seto Kaiba, richest and most distraught man in the world stopped himself, only by the force of will that made him who he was today, slapping away the probing, unfeeling hands of the ambulance crew and gathering Ryou's inert form against his breast.    

The usual, careful procedures took place, checking Ryou's pulse, shining a light into his eyes after pealing them open and doing a quick assessment of what was damaged. Seto, slightly amazed, felt a sort of strange awakening twinge against the corners of his mind.    

Here, he was no longer Seto Kaiba, the richest and most powerful man in the world, just an anxious, worried, heartbroken boyfriend. Ryou was no longer the worlds sweetheart, just an injured boy who seemed small, too small, against the background of the windscreen shattered car. No longer was theirs a world of gold and jewels and whirring cameras, but flesh and blood and love and pain.    

Deciding the boy could be moved the man nodded to his partner and they set the stretcher down they'd gotton from the back of the ambulance, rolling the teen onto it and strapping him down so he wouldn't fall. Unfolding the legs at the bottom of the stretcher so they could wheel it into the ambulance Seto, like pulled on some invisible string, scrambled to his feet and followed.    

Blinking, the guy looked over his shoulder at Seto, scowling thoughtfully as the woman pushed Ryou inside the white vehicle. “Only family or friends can ride in the ambulance...” He told the CEO, Seto's fists clenching at his sides, well manicured nails digging into his palms.    

“Damnit, let me past!” He hissed, outraged at his presence being questioned and trying to shoulder his way by. This may not be the world he knew and lived in, one where his very word were law, but as he was shoved roughly backwards those same clenched fists raised, ready to swing and strike.    

“Seto!” The voice of Mother was like a whip crack to his soul, the anguish and pain in the gentle woman's tone and, as he turned guiltily, reflecting in her cornflower blue eyes snapping away the last fine thread of his resolve.    

“Please.” He croaked, turning back to the ambulance driver with a ducked head and tense fists. “Please, he's my boyfriend...”   Somewhere, through all the chaos and the emotional jumble in his mind, in a small voice asked him mockingly what it was like, for the first person in the world to be told officially the nature of his relationship with Ryou to be a nobody from no where. A second, much louder voice said that as long as this man were the one that could potentially save the models life, he was now the most important person in the universe.    

Seto listened to the second, and as soon as the guy's hesitant nod was processed by his brain he was leaping into the back before thought would allow, stifling a sob as he kneeled beside Ryou's unconscious form.   The teen was strapped up to a heart monitor, while the guy and Seto had been talking his sweater cut open to attach the electrode to his chest, the one side slightly caved in thanks to the broken rib or too he sported. The woman paramedic was just injecting a pain killer into his arm, even though he was unconscious he'd hurt like hell when he woke up...    

Looking up from what she was doing the woman, a bubbly looking blonde, offered Seto a small smile as the guy closed the ambulance doors and the vehicle started, the sirens going again. Sensing his discomfort she reached over and placed a hand on his arm, squeezing sympathetically, a touch the CEO tried his damndest not to flinch from.    

“It could have been a lot worse...” She murmured “He's got a few broken ribs, but luckily they haven't punctured a lung, his head wound is only level 2 so it's nothing severe, only a slight concussion and blurred vision when he wakes up. Amazingly, from what I heard from wittiness, he's got nothing else broken, just bruised. He's a though little guy...” She paused, glancing back to the little beaten teen. “Do you know anything he might be allergic to? Any history of medical problems?”    

Dazedly, Seto shook his head, wondering how so much blood, so much pain could not be serious.    

“Do you know who I am?” He asked suddenly, and the woman blinked, shaking her head in the negative as desperation rose within the CEO. “What about him?” His voice was a croak, something to be ashamed of, his hand gesturing to Ryou in an erratic wave. Green eyes slid to Ryou, then back to Seto, another slight shake of the head.    

The rest of Seto's world broke around him. They were through the looking glass, past Kansas and into an existence he knew nothing about. Always, always, the world hummed to his tune, until yesterday his biggest worry when his 10 o'clock turned up at 10:15 and he'd had to rescheduale his 10:30.    

Death and pain shouldn't be in his world, but now they were, blindingly so.    

“Well, we'll make sure before we do anything..." The blonde paramedic murmured, though didn't press Seto and busied herself with Ryou. The model really wasn't in any life threatening condition, unless one of his ribs moved and punctured the lung but since he was immobile and lying down that wouldn't happen.    

When they reached the hospital a few moments later the man opened the doors and jumped out, lowering the ramp so the woman could wheel out the albino on the stretcher, pushing him quickly through the automatic doors. Seto was on their heels immediately, feeling like a puppy and, oddly like a child- no longer leading, but being reduced to follow.    

The doctors who'd been alerted about the crash crowded around the stretcher, apparently, by the looks on their faces, surprised to see him in better condition then they thought, one doctor even leaving as he wasn't needed, leaving two behind.    

While Seto stood wringing his hands the paramedic from the ambulance informed them of his stats and they conferred for a moment before the teen was whisked off again. Before Seto could attempt to follow the woman from the ambulance came and stood next to him to tell him what was going on, even as he tried to get around her before his arm was caught.   “There taking him into surgery to remove the bone fragments from his ribs and patch him up, it should take about an hour. If you wait in the waiting room, I've given your description to the nurse and she'll come collect you when their done, ok?” She asked, deliberately shielding the corridor with her body to try and calm Seto enough to get him to stop and listen. Hands clenched, the CEO breathed in deeply, steeling himself and nodding once it were obvious he wasn't going anywhere, but to that waiting room.    

"Down the corridor and on the left. The room with the blue glass door." She murmured with a small smile, patting him on the arm sympathetically before leaving the brunette alone to go and see to some other patients or to go and do some other job.    

With his head swimming and his heart in tatters, somehow Seto managed to stumble down the corridor and, before he knew it he'd even moved, finding himself sinking gratefully into green, uncomfortable polyester chairs, head in his hands as he wept, unashamedly, for the first time in his life not locked behind a closed door....    

As predicted, Ryou was away for about an hour before a nurse came into the little room to come and get Seto, a clipboard in her hand which she frowned over before making a connection between the description of the once famous, now anonymous in grief Seto Kaiba. "Ryou's friend? The car crash that came in earlier?" She asked "You can come and see him now..."    

Seto didn't wait to be told twice, smoothing his hair from his brow after leaping to his feet and shocked to feel how puffy his cheeks were from his tears, his throat burning and vision swimming as he trailed the nurse, almost stepping on her shoes he walked so closely behind.    

Surprisingly, in the little private room the nurse led Seto too, lay in the blue sheeted bed little Ryou seemed to be awake, though he staring lifelessly at the magnolia painted wall from across him and the CEO had to suppress another sob. His head had been bandaged, as had his ribs after it was decided the bone fragments inside weren't threatening and could stay inside to fuse naturally. His face, arms and shoulders above the blanket were bruised and bumped, but that wasn't what was disturbing.    

When the door was open Ryou turned his face that way, whimpering softly, but it was obvious he'd gone on sound alone for his direction.“Doctor Mitashi...?” He asked quietly, brown eyes glassy and blank as they moved around the room as though searching, but not focussing on anything.    

The crash had left him blinded...    

TBC!  

Poor Kit'z Melody, she's offered to beta, and if she can forgive me for posting it before she's had a chance to, then the beta'd version should be up soon ^^ So, for now, beware my poor skills in both grammer, writing and spelling ^^;    

Anyway, another chapter, FINALLY! And guess what?! The next one is the last!!! No more Everywhere and Nowhere! *Sobs* Maybe a sequel...*Ponders* No, don't worry, I wouldn't subject you to that ^^ Unless you wanted me to 0.o But I've got plans for more, bwhahahahah! *Cough-hack-splutter* o.0 Yeeeehh....    

Well, you all know what I want! And I love you for the ones you already sent! Reviews reviews REVIEWS! Please?! *Sniffles* I'll love you forever...:D