Autumn Affair

By Pearl of the Dark Age

The night lights of Tokyo made it impossible to see the stars, but the only stars the citizens were interested in were the celebrities on the streets below. All around every pedestrian was noise. Horns and bells of traffic clanged, the clamor of crowds all talking excitedly, and the occasional yells of a few drunks were all considered normal background noise. One person stood alone in the dimness of an alley. He ignored all the festive noises of the Tokyo nightlife, and his cobalt blue eyes focused into the shadows in the depths of the alley.

Kaiba Seto took a step back, hiding in a shadow himself. His eyes tried to pierce the darkness, as if to unveil it. Out of the shadows appeared a maroon and black knee-high boot, followed shortly by the form of a lithe, redheaded figure. From behind him stumbled a drunk, who managed to walk around Amelda without falling over, past Seto, to rejoin the crowd in the streets.

Grey eyes narrowed. "I know you're there," Amelda said firmly. "I ought to charge you a spectator's fee."

Seto moved from his poor hiding place. "I guess I'm not as good a stalker as you are," he said suavely.

"Hmph!" Amelda snorted. "I thought it was you… I just couldn't believe it."

"What gave me away?" Seto asked casually, encouraging conversation. He stepped towards Amelda with confident strides.

Amelda smirked, cocking his head ever so slightly in amusement. "The way you stand, the way you hold your head, and even the way you breathe through your nostrils all profile you as an arrogant asshole with more money to burn than the government. That's how I knew."

If Seto was insulted, he did not show it. He folded his arms and asked in a would-be casual tone, "What are you doing here in an alley?"

"That's my business," Amelda answered sharply, "and none of yours."

"How goes business?" Seto retorted before he could stop himself.

"Fuck you!" Amelda spat.

"That's what I'm here for." Seto's eyes widened along with Amelda's, as he realized he had spoken his private thought aloud. Recovering his cool quickly, he asked nonchalant, "How much do you charge?"

"Who says I charge anything?" Amelda replied, realizing an instant later he had just confessed his business in his answer to the loaded question. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. "Whatever it is you're thinking, you can just forget it!"

Seto waited a moment, pensively considering his options as he continued to lock eyes with the former assassin. "What are you doing in Tokyo?" he asked suddenly.

Amelda blinked. "What are you doing in Tokyo?" he returned childishly. "You live in Domino City, don't you?"

"Yes," Seto answered calmly. A smirk splashed across his face. He knew Amelda was momentarily shaken in this battle of wits, and it gave him the edge he needed to conquer. "I live in Japan. I'm free to travel as freely as I like within my own country, and within this world, for the most part."

"As am I," Amelda said simply. He seemed to think this settled the matter and started walking towards the street. As he passed Seto, the latter held out his hand to stop him.

"You'll pleasure some drunken fool," he snarled, "but you won't spare me a chance?"

There was a long, chilly pause that had nothing to do with the autumn wind that breezed through the night. Amelda stood frozen still, as if made of marble. His head turned slowly; he locked eyes again with the challenging stare. In stressed syllables strongly suggesting Seto was on proverbial thin ice, Amelda gnashed, "I don't do this for the fucking money… If that were the case, I'd find myself a sugar daddy and settle. I don't settle…" His voice conveyed the truth, even if laced with dark, threatening tones, "I like sex. It's just easy to take money…"

Seto sighed, unsure of how to argue. He declined the obvious comments on dignity and self-esteem. "Amelda…" he started, dropping his arm to his side. "Your life is yours to choose to do with as you will, of course, but…"

"What?"

"Is this how you want to live, really?" Amelda stared at Seto in mild surprise. Seto continued, knowing quite well he sucked at walking around eggshells, "How do you want to describe your life to your brother when you meet up with him in the afterlife?"

Seto was not surprised when he found himself on the ground, the left side of his face throbbing in pain. He expected Amelda to hit him; he did not expect the lightning fast reflex. He had meant to dodge the blow. "Nice punch…" he complimented. He opened his eyes gingerly to the form looming over him. He also had not expected Amelda to cry.

"You have the wrong idea about me," Amelda said softly, his expression almost calm. "I wonder around the world. I travel here and there because I have no home. I meet many people, learn many new things, and I have the experiences of a hundred lifetimes!" He drew a deep breath before continuing, "I happen to have sex when I feel like it, and I'll take money if people are too stupid to mistake me for a whore. I'm the one who is taking advantage of others."

"Then what are your objections to having sex with me?" Seto asked heatedly.

"There are no objections, you stupid fuck!" Amelda hissed. "You haven't even asked me yet. Sure, you did imply, you made assumptions, but you have yet to just be forward. Honesty is all I really want from a person."

Seto sat there, now grounded from fresh shock. He recovered quickly, as usual, and stood up a moment later, dusting himself off. "Okay," he agreed. "I can do that." He suppressed a smirk, gesturing out of the alley and to the street. "My place or yours?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Amelda asked rhetorically, a hand now resting jauntily on his hip.

Seto set his jaw. He knew the truth would be best in this situation, and he decided to be forthcoming. "The truth is I want to have more than just a one-night stand with you. I'd also like to take you home with me to Domino City."

"That seems kind of…" Amelda's voice trailed off, uncertain.

"I know," Seto acknowledged without a trace of embarrassment. "I know what I want, and I know whom I want it from. That's you. I can't let you go to waste."

"'Go to waste'?" Amelda repeated, a bit incredulous. "What? Who do you think you are?"

Seto knew the question was baited. He thought back to when he had first met Amelda. The redhead had disguised himself and impersonated Pegasus with such remarkable accuracy that he had even been fooled into believing it was really him, until the pattern of Amelda's actions revealed his true identity. He thought of their second duel, the emotions exchanged, and the proud declaration that he would save his brother and Amelda before the plane crashed. He thought of the time after, the many nights when he was visited in dreams by an older brother who lived in despair, lamenting the loss of his younger brother. It caused Seto to awake every time in a cold sweat, heart aching.

"I can't imagine the depths of your suffering, Amelda," Seto said solemnly, breaking the long silence. "I can, however, understand you better than most. I have known that day since we first met, how alike our two souls are, and I have not forgotten you."

Amelda lowered his head, but not his gaze. His voice dropped to just above a whisper, "I don't need a savior."

"Would you consider one just for one night?" Seto asked smoothly. "Then, you can decide if you want to stay with me or not, but you have to promise to stay the whole night with me."

"Fair enough," Amelda conceded.

The penthouse suite on the seventh floor in the largest, most expensive hotel in Tokyo was smaller than Amelda had expected, but it was still much larger than the coffin-sized cubicles in the more affordable hotels in the city. There was a large bay window in the bedroom that had a cushioned bench where Amelda sat, gazing out at the tops of the trees. "It's like they're on fire…" Amelda breathed as Seto walked in after a long conference.

"Huh?" Mind still on business, Seto was confused. "Is something wrong?"

"No…" Amelda sighed, his eyes gazing out beyond the horizon to the sunset. "You're later than I expected; I take it your conference went well. How long are you going to be in Tokyo again?"

"Until tomorrow," Seto answered. "Why? It's only been two days. Are you bored already?"

"Two days and two nights…" Amelda murmured. He breathed deeply, closing his eyes. "I can feel the wind blowing. I love autumn… It's the only season that matches my personality."

Seto looked up from the desk where he was opening his laptop. "What was that?" He sat down, turned on his computer, and inserted a flash drive.

Amelda watched him with waning interest. "I said I love autumn."

"Oh, yes," Seto agreed without taking his eyes off the screen. "The leaves all change colors. It's beautiful."

"It's like the cleansing fire before winter." Amelda gazed back outside the window, soliloquizing softly to himself. "The rich reds, the vibrant oranges, flaming yellows, and deep browns make the treetops look as if they're burning when the wind blows through them. I watch the leaves roll on the wind, caught in the torrents, and I find myself relating to them, wondering where they will land…"

Seto murmured wordlessly, as if he were listening to his lover. His cobalt blue eyes were still fixed on the monitor. Amelda turned to gaze at him pensively for a moment, eyes narrowed in mild frustration that Seto was not really paying attention. Amelda exhaled sharply through his nose and continued, "You're like the winter before spring. People think you represent death, as I once did. I know now that you represent new life, new hopes, and new beginnings. You hide what lies beneath the snow, the spring to come…"

Amelda bit his bottom lip. "We're seasons apart," he concluded. "We can only come together briefly, joyously, as these last two nights have proven."

Seto turned to Amelda suddenly. "Did you say something?"

Amelda narrowed his eyes. "Is it going to be like this all the time?"

"What are you talking about?"

Amelda scoffed. "You… on the computer… Do you ever know when to stop? Do you ever take a vacation?"

Seto looked at Amelda as if he were speaking a foreign language. "Vacation?" he laughed. "My work is very important to me, Amelda. It does not mean I will neglect to pay you any attention…"

"Uh-huh…"

"Give me a minute." Seto tapped a few more keys, a little hourglass rotated onscreen, and he closed all his applications and turned off his laptop. "Come to bed with me, and I'll show you what you can look forward to many more nights of…"

The next morning, the alarm clock in Seto's cell phone went off, waking the couple in bed. It was not yet daybreak, but the twilight yielded enough light through the crack in the hotel curtains to illuminate the room. "Fuck this…" Seto muttered, growling in irritation. "I'll sleep in for once!" He turned over, groped for his cell phone blindly, for he refused to open his eyes; found it, flipped it open, and fumbled for the button he knew would turn it off. Once finished, he turned back over, rested his arm over Amelda, who was sleeping on his left side, too, and interlaced his fingers with one of Amelda's hands.

Amelda lay rigid, hardly daring to breathe much louder than the slumber of a sleeping person. He did not want Seto to think he had awoken. He listened, with ears strained, to the sound of his lover's breathing. Once Seto had settled down again comfortably, it seemed to Amelda he had fallen back to sleep only after 15 minutes. Grey eyes watched the illuminated numerals on the hotel clock beside his side of the bed, waiting impatiently for the time to drip by.

When Seto's breathing slowed, the traffic outside in the street increased in volume. Cars honked - their drivers late for work; big trucks rumbled past carrying their heavy loads, rattling the manhole covers in the street tumultuously as they drove over it. The city was stirring, birds were chirping, and dogs were barking; Seto was not likely to sleep in much longer. It was now or never…

Amelda gave Seto ten more minutes just to make sure that he had fallen asleep. He slowly unlaced his fingers, and the hand that had been holding his relaxed and fell limp. Seto's arm felt like dead weight, and Amelda wondered briefly just how light of a sleeper the brunette really was. The redhead slowly, cautiously, lifted Seto's arm by the wrist, taking care to apply as little pressure to grip it as necessary. Very dexterously, Amelda maneuvered himself from underneath Seto's arm with the most minimal shaking of the bed. He lowered Seto's right arm down gently, laying it near the left.

Amelda slinked out of the bed, barely moving the mattress as he did so. He breathed a quiet sigh of relief as he stood there, gazing upon the peaceful sleeping form of Japan's most powerful CEO. There were two longings in his heart; part of him yearned to stay, part of him screamed to go.

The sky outside brightened, and Amelda knew he had only minutes to spare before Seto would awaken once more. He dressed quickly, silently, and piled the rest of his belongings into his bag, and carried it without zipping it up. Without a backwards glance, Amelda stole out the door, silent as a shadow.

Eight minutes later, blue eyes slowly opened as their owner rose from slumber. He blinked. Amelda was not there. Seto propped himself up on his left elbow, glancing at the bathroom door. It was open, and the light was not on inside. His eyes traced over to the door leading to the living room, and Seto knew with a sinking feeling Amelda had left. He bellowed curses in his skull, grinding his teeth, and otherwise silently fuming.

Grabbing the hotel phone so hard that it nearly fell off the nightstand, Seto pummeled the button for the reception desk. A lady's voice answered, and Seto's anger seethed in carefully clipped tones, "This is room 701. When did my roommate check out?"

"Please wait one moment, sir," she replied politely. There was a brief moment as he heard the pattering of computer keys. "Ameruda-san checked out only just ten minutes ago, Kaiba-sama."

"It's Amelda," he corrected automatically. Ten minutes, he thought, I wonder how far he got… "Did you call him a taxi cab?" he demanded of the receptionist.

There was a brief pause as he imagined the lady downstairs covering the mouthpiece, speaking to a coworker. She returned seconds later, answering cheerfully, "Our concierge called Ameruda-san a taxi cab, Kaiba-sama. Outani-san said that it should not arrive for another five minutes."

Seto slammed the receiver onto the cradle and sprung out of bed. He dressed at his fastest speed yet, misaligning the buttons of his shirt, no belt, no tie, and no socks. He snatched his key card as he ran out the door to the elevator. Pounding the button to call it, he took a few deep breaths to simmer his impatience. A ding, and one controlled descent later, the elevator deposited him into the lobby.

Seto walked as briskly as he could, ignoring the looks received as he passed by. He thought of only of what he could see beyond the glass front doors. There the redhead stood, waiting for a cab. Just as Seto's heart skipped a beat in delight, a green car with an orange stripe pulled up at the curb. Amelda's car door swung open automatically, as the driver opened it by remote.

Seto sprinted through the glass doors, yelling, "AMELDA! STOP!" The redhead froze, one foot inside the cab, the other still on the pavement. Grey eyes narrowed, and his features hardened. Seto felt for one wild second that he was staring into the eyes of an irate tiger. "Don't go," he ordered.

"I'm a leaf on the wind," Amelda answered. "I have to go."

"It can't end like this!" Seto said, his voice mixed with hurt and anger. "It only just started…"

Amelda exhaled sharply through his nose, closing his eyes. When he opened them, the storm grey within seemed a lot calmer. "It's autumn," he stated. "The leaves turn color, fall from the trees, and drift on the wind. Soon they settle on the ground. So, have hope. I'll return when you least expect it."

"Winter is over a month away," Seto protested, unsure of the meaning of Amelda's words. "I do not approve of this arrangement."

"I'm the one person in this world you cannot boss around!" Amelda snapped. "I'm not your brother, I'm not your employees, and I'm not one of your household servants!"

"I know that!" Seto growled. "I could not have slept with anyone unless he was my equal! Amelda…" He stepped forward, controlling the tone of his voice, softening the volume, "you and I are kindred spirits. If I'm the dragon, you're the tiger. We share the same pain of being orphaned and the same experience of being an older brother."

Amelda's grey eyes froze stone cold. "My brother is dead," he whispered icily.

Seto's heartbeat quickened; he fought off the encroaching panic of losing his chance that he could feel slipping away. It made him want to cry. Voice stiff, he said, "I know." He paused, examining Amelda's face for clues. At least he was still listening. "Amelda," Seto continued, "please find some solace in me. You won't find it out there…"

No change of expression occurred in his features, but Amelda's eyes conveyed that he was heavily considering Seto's offer. "Light a candle in the window, for I'm bound to drift awhile," Amelda said solemnly. He smiled through the pain and cold and added in a bittersweet tone, "But I won't lose my way, as long as I can see the light."