Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ Final Distance ❯ Under a Spreading Chestnut Tree ( Chapter 10 )

With a distinct whoosh, Kaiba watched as the scene before him was pulled away into the darkness, turning from a setting into a movie scene into a photo and then finally, nothing but a speck in the darkness. The young CEO's hand reached out for that warm scene a bit too late, and it was long gone before he had registered its absence. Heat then fell upon his back, and sooner than he realized that he was dressed in a tunic with a pale, glowing white cloak around him did he pull it around his shoulders to prevent from burning under the hot sun. His sandaled feet were sinking slightly into the sand, and he can smell the scent of the ocean spray behind him. A part of his arm felt hotter than the other parts, and it was when the heat finally reached his mind that he realized he was leaning against something red and metallic, structured like bones. In the distance, Kaiba could see a person run up to him. Once again, the person was saying unintelligible words, calling a name he never recalled responding to. Those outstretched hands reached out in a motion that Kaiba saw as an invitation to an embrace, and he stood up straight, no longer leaning against the structure.

However, the outstretched hands were not any sort of invitation to an embrace. Instead, they clutched at Kaiba's tunic with such rage and intensity, it made him step back. Those hands, nonetheless, continued to grip at his tunic, pulling him over and down, staining them red. Red liquid was sprayed across the bony structure that overlooked the ocean like a crude third coating of paint that an exasperated artisan poured over the structure in frustration at its complexity. The dark hands shook, whether in anger or pain, Kaiba could not decipher.

"Traitor," that mouth spat.

Yami sat at the dining room table downstairs, his face in his hands. It seemed that no matter what he did, when he tried to help Kaiba's condition, it only worsened. After the rain incident at Sumaru, Kaiba had collapsed, shivering and feverish, into Yami's arms. In his worry for the condition of the CEO, Yami had neglected to think everything out properly and immediately rushed Kaiba back home and put him to bed, dressing him in the warmest set of pajamas he could find in the large walk-in closet. When he saw that the brunet's chest rise and fall steadily in a deep slumber, the young ex-pharaoh retreated from the room and into the dining room downstairs. And it was in the dining room downstairs that he stayed the night, ears pricked for any sound of movement from the silent room upstairs. The tick-tock of the kitchen clock rammed into his head, threatening to make Yami's head explode in its reminder that seconds were passing by and Kaiba was not getting up.

As much as he figured that he didn't need sleep, Yami still allowed himself to fall asleep on the dining table in small hour intervals throughout the night, and his mind berated his own body for showing such weakness. At times like these, sleep was not as important as the well-being of Kaiba, especially when there were so many questions to be answered. Going to the festival, or rather, the park and that beach, seemed to have triggered something that was hiding in Kaiba's memory-inflicted mind as well as the slumbering memories inside the Pharaoh's millennia-old mind. Something in the back of Yami's mind was triggered with the act that Kaiba put up at the ocean last night, and it reared its ugly head inside his dreams. In those dreams, Yami could swear he saw Kaiba, or to be more precise, "Seth" in those visions. The High Priest in his dreams always looked like he wanted to tell Yami something, but before the words could even be uttered, Yami was forcefully dragged out into the waking world. Even with those few precious hours of sleep and returning memories, Yami still couldn't understand the context behind them all. But the taste, the nostalgia, the shackled emotions all pointed to one thing-he had something with that Seth in their past lives.

Yami had to admit it, he was slightly attracted to the young CEO for some time, and this situation was not helping his resolve that the attraction was just a phase. Now that the face in his dream overlapped with the face that he had to see and "baby-sit" everyday, he found that fighting off the over-powering lust was…no! It wasn't lust, can't be lust. During a time like this, he couldn't allow his emotions get the best of him. The conclusion now was that perhaps it was not a phase, but just confusion between the lines of the past and the sympathy he now held for the ailing youth. He cannot take advantage of the circumstances as they were now, he was sure of it. Kaiba needed a buddy right now, not a body.

"I see that you're quite troubled," a smooth voice spoke behind him, causing Yami to jump in his seat. He turned around so quickly he nearly twisted himself off the chair in an effort to face who had entered the house. As far as he knew, Kaiba was still asleep upstairs, and if the young owner of the house were to come downstairs, Yami would be able to see him. This intruder, however, had managed to creep up behind Yami without the ancient spirit knowing. Ruby eyes met gold ones, and the latter sparkled as their owner smiled.

"Toudo," Yami breathed. By now, he was almost frightened by the presence of the young doctor, the strange demeanor of the man disturbing him for reasons even he cannot fathom. Next to him, Maki was like a goddess, but next to her, Toudo was like a demon.

"You're wracking your mind trying to figure out whether it is love, lust, friendship, or sympathy…or rather, you are torn between which one you would want to keep…the one from your past with whom you shared a mutual love with, or this ideal one in the present that's staring you in the face but hold no emotions towards you…yet."

"What are you doing here?" Yami demanded, getting up from his seat, his strong hand clutching the back of the chair to suppress his urge to run up to Toudo and punch him square in the face.

"It would appear to be nine," Toudo answered, smiling. It was then that Yami noticed the disarray of black hair that peeked from Toudo's shoulder. The small form that Toudo carried on his back was sound asleep, his breathing the only sound in the otherwise silent dining room at the moment.

"Before you ask me what I did to him," Toudo said, closing his eyes and shaking his head as though talking to a life form whose intelligence was much lower than his, "I'll tell you. I did nothing. We merely stayed up a bit too long last night playing video games and he fell asleep on the trip back here. As for how I got into the house, he gave me the keys on the way." His arms moved like he was shrugging, signifying that Mokuba's burden on his back was pretty great, he needed to hoist the boy up a bit more. The motion, however, woke Mokuba up, and Toudo set him onto the ground for him to stand on his own. Looking as though a hostage had been released, Yami walked swiftly to Mokuba's side, placing a protective hand over the boy's shoulder. Toudo laughed at the amount of animosity Yami was exhibiting towards him and he patted Mokuba's head, turning to leave without a second word.

It was only after Yami heard the soft click of the door closing and locking automatically that he released a large sigh of relief. "Are you okay, Mokuba?" he asked, crouching down to examine the younger Kaiba.

"Yeah!" Mokuba shouted, beaming. "We had so much fun! The only way to get to Naoya's room is by conveyor belts in the factory, and on the way we saw so many monsters!" Yami wrinkled his brows and frowned, baffled by the talk of monsters coming out of Mokuba's mouth. But he decided to let it slide. Standing up, he walked over to the coffee maker to pour himself some in order to chase away the demons of sleep that had found their way to his shoulders, weighing his mind down.

"Yami, are you okay?" Mokuba asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah. Just a bit worried. Your brother's still sleeping, by the way," Yami answered, taking a long drag of his coffee. As he waited for the caffeine to hit his system, he went back to the dining table. "How's everything going at the company?" he asked when Mokuba sat down across from him.

It's been almost a month since Kaiba had been absent from his office at work, and some of the executives as well as competitors were getting suspicious. Mokuba, being sole beneficiary of Seto, took it upon himself to keep the company running. It was a good thing that Seto had prepared them for situations like these by preparing a program where Mokuba can speak into a microphone at home and conduct a video conference with the board at work. All the people there will see is the face of Kaiba Seto on a huge screen in the conference room, complete with expressions that were modified to the computerized face after scanning the ones on Mokuba's face. It was rather convincing, and Mokuba was talented and smart enough to get through all the desk work with amazing accuracy and efficiency, thanks to the summer vacation, which was now coming to an end. Even if so, it wasn't like Mokuba couldn't decide for himself to quit school and start distance learning at home to conduct business behind his brother's back. He was quite good at forging signatures, something that Seto knew of but forbade him to do.

Yawning again, Mokuba began to swing his legs under the table before he answered with a simple "fine." He then looked up at Yami and a light bulb clicked in his head. "What about your summer assignments, Yami?" Mokuba teased, "School's starting up soon for you, isn't it?"

Upon hearing the question, Yami nearly collapsed at the realization that he didn't do his summer assignment at all! Yuugi was going to kill him! The two of them had been switching between who would do certain assignments when, and it was Yami's job to do the summer assignments while Yuugi did the winter assignments, but because of all the hiatuses that Kaiba's condition gave, Yami nearly forgot about the rest of his summer assignment-and the most important one at that. Before all of this crap happened, Yami had managed to finish the Japanese, math, history (which was a piece of cake), and science homework. But English was his worst subject, and he realized that he had put it off for way too long what with school starting up in only a few more days.

"CRAP!!" Yami hollered, knocking his chair over as he stood up.

"No cursing in front of my brother, Yami!" Kaiba shouted, apparently awake now. He descended the stairs in a slow speed, not quite awake yet. Mokuba sniggered as Yami turned his spiky head around to face Kaiba.

"Kaiba!" Yami shouted, for once very glad to see Kaiba, if not counting those times when he felt his heart skip whenever the mahogany haired youth entered the room. "You came just in time! I need major help on my homework!" One thin eyebrow raised in amusement, hidden now behind the long brown bangs. Sneering, Kaiba crossed his arms, stopping in his steps on the staircase as he looked down at Yami.

"Come on, Nii-sama, it's not like you have work today. It's Sunday," Mokuba said, seeing the desperate expression on Yami's face. On cue, Yami pulled out his backpack and extracted his thick English assignment, waving it in emphasis. Something that sounded like a growl emitted from Kaiba's throat, but the young man descended the stairs nonetheless and pulled out a chair to sit down.

"Why do I keep feeling like it's Wednesday?" Kaiba muttered to himself, his hand running through his hair in confusion. Mokuba shot him a sad glance and then decided to leave the two of them to their studies.

"I'm going to Maki's place!" he announced, running to the door, grabbing his backpack and cap along the way. "She said that her workplace looks like a fairy tale book. I want to go and check it out!"

"Wait, Mokuba!" Kaiba shot up from his seat, horrified at the notion that he should be left alone in this large mansion with only Yami. "Where is that? And who is Maki?!"

"A psychotherapist!" Mokuba's retreating voice shouted as he made his way out the door. "Don't worry, I've got my cell phone!"

"Mokuba, wait..!" In one last attempt to summon his brother back, all Kaiba got was a slam of the door. Bemused, Kaiba sat back down onto his seat with such force Yami was surprised that he didn't squish his vertebrae. "So," Kaiba growled, "What is it that you need help on?"

"We needed to read Othello and 1984 and then write a whole essay summarizing what happened in English. In English!" Yami shouted, sitting down as well.

"It's not the end of the world, Yami," Kaiba mumbled, flipping through Yami's notes for a brief moment. After about ten pages, he shut the notebook and promptly chucked it at the Egyptian's head. "Ow!" Yami cried out when the edge of his notebook made contact with his forehead. "What was that for?!"

"Your notes are in Japanese with very bad English, and then they sudden turn into hieroglyphics with even WORSE English notes, how do you expect me to help you?" Kaiba ground out through clenched teeth, his fist balled up on the table, trying to resist the urge to punch Yami for mere stupidity. Yami rubbed his forehead and gave a forlorn expression, causing Kaiba to reconsider what he's said. He sighed and took the notebook again, tearing out a few pages and then handing the book back to Yami.

"You DID at least read those two books, didn't you?" he asked, taking a pen from Yami's pencil case. When he saw Yami nod in assent, he sighed in relief. At least he didn't have to go through those two books as well! "Then just tell me what they were about and I'll write down what you've said, word for word. When you're done, you just look off the summary I wrote in Japanese and translate it into English. If you need any help, just tell me."

Yami nodded again and began to recall what he read of the two classics. Othello was easy to remember because of its soap-opera like components in the plot. Something about a Moor ship captain named Othello and his beautiful wife Desdemona, whom Iago had the hots for or whatever. The whole play was based around how much of a lying bastard Iago was, telling horrible falsities to Othello to make his trust in his faithful wife diminish into nothingness. As cliché as the whole thing sounded, Yami rather liked the play, but it also saddened him for some reason. He sighed as he finished up his summary of how in the end, Iago got his, but not before Othello killed Desdemona in anger. Shuddering, Yami blinked and saw something that made his stomach churn.

A pair of darkened hands strangling a pale white neck…

He shook his head rapidly, tossing that image away. He looked across the table at Kaiba, who was still scribbling away, apparently abusing the thesaurus inside his head because of Yami's simplicity in language during the summarization. Vermillion eyes studied the youth, starting from the soft brown hair that was slightly unkempt due to sleep down to the neck, which leaned on a skinny white arm that had its elbow on the table. The lazy position Kaiba displayed reminded Yami of the boy that used to study with him thousands of years ago in that thick and musty scroll room, the only source of light a small window that was dug into a mud wall. As the two got older, however, the boy had left for a long time, and when he came back…he…

"Yami? Are you done?" Kaiba asked, looking up from the paper. "If you are, then start on the translation for this one first."

Yami's eyes fluttered for a brief moment, dazed from the sudden rush of memories so strong he could almost smell the papyrus and taste the salty air on his tongue. He shuddered again and reached out for the paper that Kaiba had written for him. Their fingers made momentary contact, and just that was enough to send Yami off on a tangent of emotions. There was something there inside him for this young, intelligent, and very attractive man sitting across from him. But he was obviously oblivious to the staring that Yami was giving him for he was now flipping through the books to see if Yami had missed any important details, not at all sensing the intensity of the look shot his way. All Yami can do right now is try to suppress the desire welling up within him for this pale youth that was the mirror image and most likely the reincarnation of his former High Priest. Heaving a heavy mental sigh, Yami glanced down at Kaiba's elegant handwriting of his words and began to translate, wracking his mind as his train of thoughts zigzagged between his meager English vocabulary and thoughts of Kaiba.

For the next hour, neither of them said anything, the only sounds in the dining room were the tick-tocking of that annoying clock and the scribbling of Yami's pencil over paper, as well as the occasional turning of pages on Kaiba's part. Every so often, Yami would let the thoughts of Kaiba get the best of him and his scarlet eyes would roll up slightly to steal a glance at Kaiba. This was Yami's break from homework; to look at those half-lidded blue eyes veiled by thick, long eyelashes that moved like fluttering raven wings when Kaiba blinked. Full, supple lips moved silently as Kaiba read silently to himself the lines of the book, and a pink tongue darted out occasionally to wet those lips, sending shivers down Yami's spine whenever he did such a thing. Only when Yami realized that he was nearly writing off the paper and onto the table did he jerk his attention back onto his scribbles, but he would repeat the process about fifteen minutes later, this time studying some other part of the young billionaire in front of him.

Finally, after a painstakingly long hour of half writing an essay and half mentally peeling the clothes off Kaiba, Yami stretched his hand out with a thrust, his paper finished. Taking the paper in his pale hand, Kaiba took out a red pen and began to skim over the paper, motioning for Yami to sit next to him in case quick revisions needed to be made.

"This part is strange," Kaiba said, pointing at the jagged words that Yami had strained to write down. "You wrote here, `She would no open her lip.'"

"Is that wrong?" Yami inquired, looking down at the paper, his head leaning in a bit too close even for his own liking. At this proximity, he could smell something that was like the aroma of lotuses on Seto, and he was taking him all his sanity to not knock Seto onto the ground. All he could remember right now was the extreme love he had held for his High Priest, Seth, and now that desire was spilling over on this side. But he couldn't act, not now, when Kaiba didn't seem to remember anything except maybe how to eat chocolate the Egyptian way and make it rain.

"Yes," Kaiba stated bluntly. "You see, you have to write it as `she would not open her lips.'"

"Why? There's only one mouth."

"Yes, but lips are referring to `kuchibiru,' which would consist of the upper and lower lip, which would then make up the one mouth."

"How complicated," Yami muttered, scribbling down the correction.

"It's all right, not as complicated as…" His words were cut off when he felt something looming over him and he turned to stare into deep pools of red as they closed in.

"What are you doing..?"

"Shh…"

"What are you doing?!"

"It's not like you'll remember, anyway…"

Before he could register what was happening, he felt firm, hot lips upon his own and he widened his eyes in shock. Yami's resolve had shattered completely, and now he held Kaiba's chin up with one strong hand, pressing his lips onto Kaiba's, reveling in its sweetness. He had wanted to go further, wanted to explore that hot mouth, but Kaiba shoved him away violently and stood up, knocking his chair over in his haste.

"Seto…"

Blue eyes darted around the room for a minute, avoiding Yami's and yet wanting to glare at the former Pharaoh in anger and embarrassment, but instead the brunet opted to run for it despite himself. He pushed past Yami even as the other teen shouted after him, and bolted up the stairs, into the safety of his room.

Seeing that he had frightened Seto off, Yami congratulated himself on his own stupidity and sat down, hoping that Seto would soon forget that it had ever happened and come back down. When he heard the door to Seto's room slam closed, he decided that perhaps it would take longer for Seto to come down if he forgets that Yami was even in his house.

Panting, Kaiba leaned against the door of his room, finally feeling safe for now. He gulped, his mouth dry from…what was it? Anger? Nervousness? Embarrassment? He didn't want to admit that he had actually enjoyed the feel of those velvety lips on his own, didn't want to admit that he had been attracted to Yami, but he still walked to his desk and pulled out a notebook he had labeled "Diary" but never remembered purchasing such a thing. Flipping through the pages full of scribbles that said essentially the same things, Kaiba stopped when he found a blank page and wrote down the only entry for the day.

"I am madly in love with Yami."

Right after he wrote it, however, he forgot what had taken place and how fast he heart had beat when he tasted Yami's mouth. Suddenly feeling sleepy, Kaiba dropped the notebook haphazardly onto his desk and plopped down onto his bed.

Hands roamed on moonlit pale skin, the dark hands contrasting the soft skin that they traveled on. The sound of sheets shifting as one body moved to hover over the other ran through the room, disrupting the pants and the moans that hung in the summer air. A hot tongue shot out and trailed down the sweat-slicked body shuddering beneath him. The Pharaoh chuckled as his prize moaned again, his back arching to the heat of the tongue, to those hands, to the other body, desiring and yet resisting at the same time. Moonlight poured in from the large windows that adorned the walls around the luxuriously large bed, shimmering in the tearful blue orbs of the captured. Trembling white hands pressed against the domineering figure's chin, resisting.

"Don't do it…we mustn't…"

There was a deep, cruel chuckle before the soft touches turned harsh and rapid, littering marks of pure lust over delicate white skin. A free hand shot out and grabbed those pushing hands and pulled them over the brunet's head.

"Your body is no longer a temple, Seth. You are no longer High Priest…and I can do as I wish…"

Stop it…!

Red eyes narrowed as their owner relished the sob that emitted from the shuddering form beneath him, and he leaned down. His breath was hot as it tickled Seth's ear and a tongue teased those keen ears.

"I love you, Seth."

Liar.

A bruising kiss rewarded silent and unresponsive lips, not at all unfamiliar in its ferocity and its emphasis of desire. Those strong, dark hands began exploring again, not that they haven't touched the beautiful skin before, but this time it wasn't in tenderness. The goal of those hands were to mark a territory, to make Seth his.

"I love you, Seth…I want to kiss every part of your body…to mark you as mine…"

Liar!

The sovereign continued to utter those words like a mantra as his continued to administer touches that wretched sobs of desire and sweet tears from Seth, unable to resist the pleasure that was being handed to him, as forceful as they were. An animalistic howl came from his throat as he threw his head back, and he saw the face of his hunter, his dominator.

Yami.

I HATE YOU!

The shaking hand ripped at the cord of the bedside lamp with such brutality, the lamp nearly fell of the small table and shattered to a million pieces. Apparently, the one who turned on said lamp didn't seem to mind, or care, as he darted to the bathroom across the hall from his bedroom.

Kaiba lifted the toilet seat and emptied what little content he had inside his stomach, a wave of nausea washing over him. The force of his vomiting knocked the wind out of him, and he pulled at the flush knob as he coughed, another set of vomiting convulsions wracking through him. Yami, hearing that the CEO was up and out of his room, ran upstairs to the bathroom, worried about all that clamoring. When he reached the bathroom, he saw Kaiba sprawled on the tiled floor of the bathroom in front of the toilet, coughing out the last of the green bile that was ailing him, his elbow hanging off the edge of the toilet, tears rimming his eyes. Panting, Kaiba turned to Yami and heaved out a question.

"Who were you when you said you loved me?"

To be continued…

Sorry that this chapter came so late, I fell asleep twice while writing it. About the title, it was from the book 1984, a book I had to read for my own English class. Hopefully people are now starting to get the idea of what exactly (maybe) happened in the past with Seth and Yami. This chapter was inspired by an Uesugi /Naoya doujinshi I read as well as the manga "Okaneganaide."

Is it just me, or is Naoya getting more and more creepy?