Hey there, my fellow writers and readers. :) Here's a new Buffy/Yu-Gi-Oh crossover oneshot I cooked up one day. I decided to call it "Like the Kiss from a Rose Petal" because I can visually imagine the scene between Buffy Summers and Seto Kaiba along those lines.

Prompts: Buffy, Kaiba, roses, rose petals, music, getting inside the mind

Spoilers: Refers to Out of Sight, Out of Mind from Season 1, Band Candy from Season 3

Feedback: Very much appreciated, especially the nice kind...

Disclaimer: Genius Joss Whedon owns Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Kazuki Takahashi (also a genius) owns the anime Yu-Gi-Oh. I own the fanfics that I cook up from time to time.

Like the Kiss from a Rose Petal

There used to be a graying tower alone on the sea
You became the light on the dark side of me
Love remained a drug that's the high and not the pill
But did you know
That when it snows,
My eyes become large and
The light that you shine can be seen

Baby,
I compare you to a kiss from a rose on the grey
Ooh, the more I get of you,
the stranger it feels, yeah
Now that your rose is in bloom,
A light hits the gloom on the grey
~Seal, Kiss from a Rose

It was nighttime in Sunnydale, California. Buffy Summers sighed, her blonde locks waving in the night wind as she stood at the pier. She was looking over the dark ocean as the waves kept up their cycle of rolling in, breaking and pulling themselves back. Her green eyes were full of sadness.

She was wearing a pair of black Levis, white sneakers and a white short-sleeved T-shirt covered by a green sweatshirt. Luckily for her, the cold night air served as a strong breeze, so she wasn't feeling all kind of hot and sweaty. And she didn't mind a bit when the wind kept playing with her beautiful yellow locks.

Mother Nature's little experiments with hair styling, she thought to herself.

She grinned secretly at the thought. After all, it was the wind's job to do this kind of thing almost every day. Just like it was her job to be the chosen one, the Slayer. At least, she thought so.

All of a sudden, two very familiar hands sneaked around her waist, and then clasped each other.

"Hey," said a familiar voice.

Buffy blinked. That voice… it sounds awfully familiar…

She looked over her shoulder, and there he was…

Seto Kaiba…

"Hey, Seto." The words seemed to slip out easily, like a snake could just as easily slip through grass or a field of wheat without anybody seeing or hearing it at all.

"I sensed you would be here, Buffy," Kaiba began. "And I also think something's troubling you." He then gently turned her around so she was facing him. "Care to tell me what it is? I promise I won't tell anyone else. This will be our little secret."

Buffy thought over what he had said. Was this some kind of trick or blackmail or something? She thought it over some more. Nope — he definitely was serious about keeping a secret.

But then again, being serious was something Kaiba had a trademark for among other things. And why not? In her view, it suited him fine. After all, it was part of his complex personality and a part of the many masks he masqueraded as faces.

"It's my mom," said Buffy. "She hasn't been feeling too good lately."

Kaiba thought it over. He had met Joyce before, and from what Buffy had told him, he thought she was a pretty nice lady. Plus, Buffy had also confided to him that, unlike the distant, uninvolved parents of Willow and the bitter, abusive parents of Xander (especially his father Anthony), Joyce was a maternal presence, and was always there with advice or a warm hug.

It was enough to make Kaiba weep upon remembering the loss of his own mother. If she was alive right now, she would've been so proud of him — knowing that he had survived so many trials and tribulations in his life, and seeing the man he had become. It would've brought her great joy, especially as a mother.

"Is it the flu bug that's been going around lately?" asked Kaiba.

Buffy nodded, her emerald orbs starting to fill with tears. Kaiba noticed this and then cupped her face in his hands. His own cobalt eyes then softened, as he couldn't stand to see a woman cry. After all, he had gotten that from his father, and had seen, even as a child, how his father would comfort a woman in a nice way while his mother had looked on, smiling proudly.

Quietly, Kaiba reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief, and then handed it to Buffy. Gratefully, she took it, saying "Thanks", and then using it to wipe her eyes.

"Don't worry, I got lots of these handkerchiefs, so you should keep that in your pocket for safekeeping," he assured her when she tried to hand it back to him. Buffy was a little surprised, but then thanked him.

"I guess I needed it," she remarked.

Kaiba nodded, smiling still. Then, before Buffy knew what was happening, he then bent and placed his mouth over hers. His azure eyes looked into her now closed ones, and he secretly smirked to himself mentally. He knew that she wouldn't be able to resist him anyway. Not even with all that will power and those witty comebacks of hers, which he had heard her use on a few vampires before slaying them a few nights ago. He had been watching her from the shadows, and had realized that she was special, even though she hadn't realized it herself.

In the meantime, his hands wandered to the small of her back and overlapped each other. Then his left hand wandered up her back and his fingers moved up to her throat, where they curled gently around the skin on it.

The kiss almost caught Buffy off-guard, but she soon welcomed it into herself. It was as though it wanted to come in, and was calling out to her. She had resisted at first...

Buffy... let me in... Let me help you, my love...

No! Buffy desperately replied mentally, feeling afraid. I can't. I just can't. It's wrong!

Really now? Hmm, replied the voice, which sounded oddly like Kaiba. And how do you know what's best for you, my dear?

Luckily for Buffy, it was feeling Kaiba's lips on her throat that spared her from answering with a witty comeback, which she usually had. Now, she was getting a headache, and Kaiba, she felt, was doing a good job of distracting her from the pain in her head that was bugging her.

"Kaiba... stop it... please, stop this..." she said, her tone all breathy.

However, Kaiba simply replied, after applying another kiss to her throat, "Don't fear me, Buffy, my darling."

"But, Kaiba-"

"Really, Buffy, it's OK. After all, I've known you for quite a while, and I think you're one of the strongest women I know. In other words, you're a warrior princess inside. You just don't know it... well, at least not yet, anyway."

*****Later on****

It was a few hours later. Buffy was now in her room, lying on her back on her bed, thinking things over. She felt as though her thoughts were all tangled up, almost like a massive nest of hair, to be exact. But, however, there were a few things that she couldn't get out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried her best to.

And they all had to do with one person... Seto Kaiba...

As the beginning notes of Kiss from a Rose by Seal began to fill her room and float through the air in a flowing motion — at least in her mind's eye — bits and pieces of memories, all fragmented at first but soon began to become more sharp than a vampire's fangs and more clearer than the surface of a pond or a lake, began to appear. Buffy began to remember how Kaiba had been with her in this very bedroom of hers...

Seeing before her eyes a bed of roses all lined up one after the other, with the petals falling into each other and covering each other. Being unclothed and laying there spread-eagle on top of her bedspread. Trying to catch her breath and feeling as though she'd just ran a marathon (but that didn't exactly come close enough, although it was a good simile for how she was feeling at the moment).

Her legs opened in a fashion similar to a flower's petals — kind of, as she wasn't sure how that was supposed to look. And — now came the best part, kind of — her looking directly into a pair of cobalt orbs set in a face above her own. It was a face she would never forget. A face she had heard many women and girls call ‛handsome' and 'good-looking'. Well, they definitely had a point there, there was no doubt about that.

Before she knew what was happening or about to happen, a voice spoke. An oddly familiar one, of course.

"Now Buffy, my dear Slayer, tell me what's wrong."

Now she knew who it was — it was Seto Kaiba. Who else had a voice like that and would talk to her in a seductive way like that? Not many guys, she was sure. However, Buffy was unable to answer as she was still trying to get her breath back.

Smirking, Kaiba then took the initiative and lowered his mouth to her throat. His warm breath — crisp and sweet like those red apples Buffy liked so much — danced across her skin... usually her lips, her collarbone and, finally, her throat before opening his mouth and placing it on her throat. Soon he began to suck at the sensitive skin there, and his smirk darkened as he heard Buffy try and fail to hold back her moans. But this time, it was not just because of his mouth on her throat, but also because of feeling his own unclothed body against her own. Luckily, he was only wearing a long black cape. She was not even able to step into a cat's paws when it came to arching her back or purring. The reason why was because he was pressing her body into the mattress.

In the meantime, she felt two other things. His hands — which she initially thought to be so large and exploratory — were doing some exploring of their own as a treasure hunter does. His fingers — so long and skillful, especially when it came to typing on his laptop or picking out cards from his deck in a duel (which she knew about very well, having seen him pluck one card after another from his deck and show them to her) — danced so gracefully across her skin, exploring the curves that made her a woman.

"Kaiba, please."

Still smirking, Kaiba finally pulled his mouth away from her throat, leaving a purple bruise there (which she knew would never go away, even though she could cover it up with concealer, a turtleneck or a scarf if need be).

"What is it, my dear? Tell me what it is that is currently — pardon the expression — dogging your footsteps, your memories. And I believe it isn't just your mom or her illness."

Buffy gently bit her lower lip, and then frowned, thinking for a bit.

"Ah," purred Kaiba. "Still trying to figure that out? Well then, let me help you."

In the meantime, his skilled hands roamed over every inch of her white skin as he sat with either of his legs on either side of her, straddling her. He delighted in the garden that was her unclothed body. Hearing the delighted moans coming from her throat made his smirk darken a bit.

Before Buffy knew it, Kaiba gripped her shoulders with a vice-like clamp. Then he pushed his manhood into her and slowly began a rhythm that felt so familiar to her. But at the same time, it felt so… foreign. Unknown. Like she was watching herself from afar, which she knew victims of rape also do, as she had read all about that.

She closed her eyes, and soon felt Kaiba smoothly moving in and out of her, growling as he did Luckily, his black cape was definitely quite long enough to cover the both of their unclothed bodies. So she didn't have to worry about using the bedsheets anyway. She looked up at Kaiba, and saw the triumph in his eyes. He knew her. He knew her desires and needs as a woman.

But then, all of a sudden, Kaiba then flipped the both of them over. Suddenly, Buffy realized that she was the one on top.

Then all of a sudden, she heard Kaiba's voice say in her head, "Now, ride me, my love. Show me what you've learned from seeing and reading about the woman on top."

The look came into Buffy's eyes again — the hypnotized look she had read about one summer day — and before she could pull herself back, she had thrown all caution to the winds and was moving up and down on Kaiba as he, holding her in place by her hips, watched her with his triumphant smirk still on his handsome visage…

Buffy blushed as she remembered how Kaiba had been with her in the bed. It was as though he had put her under some sort of… of… spell. She had no idea that he was so... good in bed. Oh sure, she had heard all those girls and women discuss how Kaiba was so... animalistic and passionate in bed. It was almost like he was like a... a...

Buffy frowned. Now what was the word that her mother had used to describe Giles when they had reverted to their teenage personas while under the influence of that magic candy that Ethan Rayne had made? She racked her brain. Finally, after putting all the pieces of the puzzle together, she found the word. Oh, now I remember. It's 'stevedore'. Silly me.

Now all I have to worry about, she thought, is that hopefully I didn't get any blood on the mattress or the bedsheets.

And speaking of which, luckily, it was a good thing she had memorized the sizes of her bedsheets so she could buy extra ones just in case something happened to the ones that were already on her bed. Things like... well, she knew what it was, but didn't want to voice it. Thankfully, her two girl friends — Willow Rosenberg, with her light, risqué sense of humor, and Cordelia Chase, now an ex-Queen Bee who was really good with bluntness and being honest — were much better at saying it for her. After all, they both knew exactly how to put into words what she herself felt, but had or seemed to have so much trouble saying.

Buffy then smiled to herself, knowing that she had some great friends. They were confidants, and she could tell them anything — especially a whole lot of things that she couldn't tell her mom or her other classmates about.

It was then that a secret smile — which Buffy had read was the smile one wore when guarding a secret that was seen to be precious — then appeared on her face.

Wait until Willow and Cordelia hear about this, she thought. I can't wait to spill all of the juicy details.

After all, when vengeful student Marcie Ross had turned invisible because of being ignored and attacked those that were close to Cordelia, she had once admitted a secret to Buffy: "I can be surrounded by people and be completely alone. It's not like any of them really know me. I don't even know if they like me half the time. People just want to be in a popular zone. Sometimes when I talk, everyone's so busy agreeing with me, they don't hear a word I say."

Buffy had asked why Cordelia felt alone sometimes if she was so popular and worked so hard to be that way. Cordelia's answer came as quite the surprise back then.

"Well, it beats being alone all by yourself."

With that, Buffy got ready and left for the Bronze, hoping that Willow and Cordelia would be there. She couldn't wait to tell them about what she had experienced…

~Finis