AN: I, of course, do not own Yu-Gi-Oh.

The Sun Wears Golden Rings

Chapter One:

Ryou walked the brilliantly lit hallway of the top floor of the Kaiba Corp building while carrying a small stack of papers. The entire left side wall was comprised of glass that ran the whole length of the hallway, top to bottom. The window that blew through the red and orange trees below looked like a sear of fire under the bright October sky.

Ryou reached the end of the hallway, where stood two giant solid steel doors with the Kaiba Corp logo right in the middle but no handles. To the right was a small electronic panel with a plain green screen. He placed his thumb on the panel and it immediately sprang to life, scanning his thumb. It seemed to beep cheerfully at him and the doors silently slid open. He entered the now all too familiar private office he and Seto had shared for the last year and a half they had been married. It served as a second office with absolute privacy from the world. Only he and Seto had the thumbprints to even access this floor from the elevator. He approached the giant black steel desk and set the stack of papers in front of the most important thing in his life. He smiled, "Okay, Seto. You need to look through these revised budget proposals and sign them, the PR department emailed me again that they are awaiting your official statement on that downsizing rumor, R&D is ready to show you their VR prototype, lunch will be in here in 20 minutes, and after all that I'm going to crawl under your desk and blow you."

He saw Seto raise his eyebrow at the last bit, but otherwise didn't indicate he had listened to anything Ryou just said and continued to glare icily at his computer screen.

Ryou shrugged knowing full well that Seto had without a doubt most certainly heard every word.

He walked over to his own smaller desk which stood off to the right side of the room and perpendicular to Seto's. The other half of the room was taken up by a comfortable looking lounge area with a large plush sectional, pillows, and blankets, cornered around a 60" 4K TV. Ryou had said a smaller TV would be all they needed, but Seto had insisted. They had turned the TV on only twice in the time they had it. Once to test it, then another time a few months later to see what time it was. The couch had had much more use. For fun things, but also for times when Seto slept at the office.

Which unfortunately was every night now.. Ryou took great satisfaction in the tiny reaction he got from Seto. Seto had been under immense stress over the last several months due to a security breach and a large drop in Kaiba Corp stocks. When Ryou asked how serious it was, Seto told him if something doesn't change, Kaiba Corp will be bankrupt before New Year's. As the weeks past, they still had not found out how the breach occurred and Seto's mood grew darker. He was staying at the office all night, not sleeping, not eating. Ryou could only do so much for him, he couldn't force Seto to come home for dinner and sleep in his own bed, though he had momentarily considered trying to just shoot Seto with a tranquilizer gun.

Ryou conceded, Seto was stubborn but he was also brilliant. Seto had comforted Ryou saying he would find a solution to Kaiba Corp's problems before their one year anniversary so they would take a month long second honeymoon. Their anniversary came and went and the situation had not improved. But Seto was optimistic. "Next week", he said, "I promise.", "Sorry, Ryou.. Give me two more weeks and I'll do anything you want.", "This deal looks good, I promise." Ryou always said great, can't wait and never got mad when Seto broke his promise time after time. He knew how much this company meant to him.

After they had gotten married and moved into the private office (a wedding gift to Ryou.), Ryou took it upon himself to learn about Kaiba Corp and its innerworkings, departments, employees, projects, even the janitors' schedules. There was no detail too finite that Ryou did not want to learn. His studies paid off immensely as it inadvertently made his and Seto's jobs much much easier. After learning the history of Kaiba Corp and seeing how Seto created and raised his company, Ryou was able to essentially become him when it came to business matters. He answered any email, call, question, fax sent to Seto. After spending every waking moment together almost since they met, Ryou had come to learn exactly how Seto's mind worked. He was extremely logical and approached everything with a skeptical mindset. It allowed Ryou to operate with a great deal of independence since he didn't have to bug Seto for guidance. Seto could now essentially run his company without being there. He was free to do whatever he needed to attempt to save his company.

Ryou sat down at his desk and began sorting through Seto's emails, forwarding the ones Seto really needed to see, deleting or responding to others. All the same bad news, "things not improved, no new leads on the breach, stocks low but stable". One message in particular caught his eye. It was very strange. It had no sender name or address, just a subject line that read, "To rYou, My Love" Ryou's eyes instinctively went to the typo "rYou" before he opened the message that read:

"I'll see you soon.

All my love.

B."

His mind raced in different directions, forming different questions, but not quite able to put a single one together. He turned away from his computer and stared at the large wall to wall window behind Seto's desk. He took a shaky breath and exhaled.

He knew of only one B and he was definitely dead. He remembered quite vividly how Seto had killed him. How he just kept slamming his skull into the floor. Ryou shook his head. Definitely not him. Then who? Not everyone in the company can send email to his address, but there was no sender... Ryou turned back to his screen to double check. Ryou's eyebrows shot up. The message was gone. That's impossible! He checked the deleted bin, not there, he checked the archives of every email ever sent or received in the company... Also not there. He stared at the ever filling inbox of emails, staring at the spot where the message had been. I saw it.. I remember seeing it came in at exactly 12:00pm.. Ryou shook his head again, clearly there was some sort of weird glitch going on with email. He emailed IT and went back to answering emails. His job kept him pretty busy. The hours just flew by when he was really focused on his tasks. But that day, his mind kept drifting away to a certain letter. B.. Who would be seeing Seto soon? A girlfriend? Ryou swallowed, his eye flickering briefly to the platinum band around his ring finger. Who does Seto know with a name that starts with B? Ryou thought silently for a few minutes and it came to him.

"Seto," he began, keeping his eyes on his work, "I know you've told me before, but what was the name of your assistant before me?"

"Beverly." Seto responded. "Why, did she email me?"

Ryou was surprised. Why was he expecting an email from her? "Uh, yea. I think so. Something must have glitched when it came through because it didn't have a sending address and then it deleted and removed itself from the deleted bin."

"You're too easy on the IT department. If I was still running things, that wouldn't have happened," Seto looked over and winked at Ryou. "Did you see what the message said?"

Ryou hesitated, nervous for Seto's reaction. "See you soon, all my love. B."

Seto nodded. "She is now the secretary for the CEO of one of the companies I've been trying to merge with to save Kaiba Corp. She's been trying to setup an official meeting between me and their Board." Seto didn't acknowledge the "all my love" part. Ryou relaxed. He trusted Seto. It was probably just a sign of affection between them. Seto had rarely mentioned her at all since he and Ryou had known each other. Ryou knew Seto would have told him about her if there was anything to know, but he didn't get the sense they parted on bad terms.

Ryou sighed and leaned back in his chair. He felt silly for getting all worked up over a weird email. His eyes drifted to a photo in an elaborately designed silver frame. It was a picture Seto had taken of them on their honeymoon in Hawaii. It was Ryou's favorite picture of them. They were standing in front of a waterfall, their faces cheek to cheek. Seto's face was handsomely tanned, his bangs plastered to his forehead from sweat. On the contrary Ryou's cheeks and nose were slightly burnt from the merciless Hawaiian sun, and his hair was unruly and frizzy from the humidity. He remembered how Seto pulled him in tight for the picture and he smelled like salt from the ocean, coconuts, and the smallest hint of pine.

"Are you okay?" Seto's soft voice startled him from his daydream.

Ryou looked round at him and smiled shyly.

"Yea, I'm fine. I was just thinking about our honeymoon." He said as he rose and crossed to stand behind Seto's chair and wrapped his arms around his neck. "I love you," he whispered in Seto's ear then kissed his cheek.

Seto smiled and leaned back his back against Ryou's shoulder. "I love you, Ryou. More than anything."

"More than work?" Ryou asked quietly.

Seto spun around in his chair to look Ryou fully in the face. "Of course." His eyes were stern. He grabbed Ryou around the waist and pulled him down into his lap. He wrapped his arms around Ryou and buried his face in Ryou's soft platinum hair.

"I'm so sorry I've been working like crazy," he groaned. "I'm hardly ever home and you don't get the attention you deserve."

He stroked Seto's silky brown hair assuringly, "Don't worry about me, focus on Kaiba Corp. You've given everything to build this company into what it is and knowing you the way I do, I would be disappointed if you gave anything less than your full attention on your greatest accomplishment."

Seto met Ryou's eyes, they were much softer. "You're amazing," Seto smiled earnestly. Ryou could clearly see the signs of many sleepless nights behind those icy blue eyes. "I'll make it up to you. When I've got everything sorted out, we're going to take a vacation." Seto chuckled when Ryou rolled his eyes and smirked, "I mean it. A real one this time. Not a business meeting or anything like that. Just you and me, wherever you want to go. What do you say?"

Ryou had heard this offer many times over the last few months, but he smiled anyways, "Sure, that sounds great."

"Great." Seto repeated and kissed him long and fully on the mouth as a small chime sounded from the intercom on Ryou's desk signaling lunch was ready and waiting in the elevator.

"Lunchtime!" Ryou exclaimed as he hopped up from Seto's lap and left the office. He came back with a plate of sandwiches, chips, and drinks on a cart that he pushed over to Seto's desk.

Ryou pushed his office chair next to Seto's and they ate in content silence while Seto who was actually eating would occasionally look over at his computer screen and glare, like he was expecting something. Ryou stared at his uneaten sandwich.Something bothered him and he couldn't quite figure out why.. He kept thinking about the email from B.

"You know," Ryou began cautiously. Choosing his words carefully so that he didn't give away the fact that he was suspicious. "You never told me what happened to her. Beverly, that is."

Seto shrugged and spoke with a mouthful of sandwich, "Job was too stressful she said. I can't imagine how. You handle it perfectly and you've never even had experience."

Ryou blushed in spite of himself, "It helps that we're madly in love and sleeping together."

Seto grinned and took another bite of sandwich. Ryou smiled. Seto was in a much better mood than usual. It was good seeing him eat and smile like a normal person. Maybe he really is close to a solution, Ryou thought hopefully. He really couldn't wait 'til things were back to normal with Kaiba Corp. He believed in Seto with all his heart, but as time grew and things had not improved, he wasn't sure Seto could do what he claimed. But he had faith. He would always have faith in Seto.

Seto surprisingly changed the conversation back to their vacation as they finished eating, occasionally running his fingers up and down Ryou's inner thigh as they spoke. Seto suggested Hawaii again. Even though they had spent 3 weeks hopping to various islands on a whim, there were lots of things they didn't get to do. Ryou liked the idea, but he wanted something different. Less humid. He had always wanted to explore many different places in Europe though. Seto smiled and agreed with Ryou wholeheartedly.

When they finished, Ryou cleaned up Seto's desk and placed everything back on the cart. Ryou glanced at Seto out of the corner of his eye. Seto seemed like he was in a good mood now. Ryou wanted to see just how good it was.

"You know," Ryou purred as he returned to Seto's side. "My offer from earlier still stands..." Ryou turned Seto to face him as Ryou got down to his knees and ran his hands up Seto's thighs.

Seto sighed and looked away, "I can't right now, Ryou."

Ryou frowned and stood up. Seto grabbed his arm as he turned to move away. "I'm really sorry. Like, REALLY sorry. I want to and you know it, but..." Seto didn't finish his sentence as he looked up at Ryou with pleading eyes.

"Oh, it's fine," Ryou said quietly. He moved away from Seto and pushed the lunch cart out of the office. When the doors slid closed behind him, Ryou let the tears he was fighting, leak down his face. He let out a small sob and sniffled his nose. He was hurt. Seto hadn't touched him with more than a kiss in weeks. And Ryou had certainly tried every opportunity to seduce him. He never succeeded at the office and when Seto did come home, he was much too tired to fool around. He would shower, sleep, then be back at the office before Ryou even woke up. Even though he spent most of his day with Seto, he was very lonely. Seto forbade Ryou to stay at the office past 5pm so in the evenings, Ryou had the Kaiba Manor all to himself. Mokuba was attending a boarding school and the only other person that had lived in the Manor was... Ryou returned the cart to the elevator and pressed the button that would return it to the kitchen floor. He took his time walking back to the office.

Thanks for reading! Thank you to my new readers and (if I have any) my returning readers for hanging in there however long it's been since I've posted. I have no idea how popular this genre is anymore, but as long as I know someone is reading and reviewing and caring, then I will keep this going.