Me: Hello, other Yu-Gi-Oh! fanatics! Another hopeless fic from Ishuzu!

Seto: Uh...... shouldn't you be working on "A Very Yu-Gi-Oh! Christmas"?

Me: Huh? *Erm...* Yeah......

Seto: And you're instead gallivanting around, writing new fics, and eating doughnut holes! For shame!

Me: *sigh* Alright, I'll try to work on the Christmas one today...... But first, here's this...... And remember I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! But if I did, I would write twisted episodes of it, so that it was too explicit for it to be on WB. And I don't own Seto Kaiba. But if I did, I would keep him on a leash (concept from K-Chan) and show him off to my friends. And I'm also not Ishuzu. But if I were, I would eat ice cream all the time and not get fat, and take Kaiba around on a leash.

Seto: I think they get the point.



Simple And Clean

I walked tentatively, and sighed softly, using my back to push the door closed, smiling as I listened to the soft click it made. The simple and innocent grin stayed painted onto my face like a watercolor painting. My lips, curved upward, were not my own, but drawn on with the softest brush, and the most supple paints. He had painted it there.

When he had walked out the door, I had wanted to call after him, pull him back into my arms, feel his warm breath against my neck as I tightened my embrace. But I hadn't. I hadn't reached out and taken his hand. I was too afraid to open that door.

//When you walk away you don't hear me say,

"Please, oh baby...Don't go.//

I stepped onto the soft, white rug, and looked around the lavish room. It was so pure, the room, shinning like a crystal. I blinked and stared at the opal room, hardly believing the beauty of this place, hardly believing that it was a bathroom.

I kneeled before the great bathtub, shimmering like a pearl, white as the rug and floor. A smile finding its way to my lips once again, I turned the crystal knob beside me and soft, shimmering waterfalls began to fill the tub. I reached out, and held my fingers under the spray. Warm and inviting, the perfect temperature. I picked up a bar of soap and held it between my fingers, staring at the soft pearly surface, musing affectionately about how the soap matched the room. That was just like him, to think of something like soap matching the walls. I smiled and let the soap slip through my fingers, and fall into the thick, crystal-like water. It made me feel so elegant, as I shed the business shirt I was wearing (his) and the pair of jeans (my own).

//Simple and clean is the way that you're makin' me feel tonight

It's hard to let it go//

A slow moan fell from my lips as I sunk into the warm embrace of the tub. As the water fell from the faucet and covered my body, I began to think of the night before. I had never experienced such a love. Everything had been perfect. Soft candles, burning intensely about the large bedroom. A giant, luxurious bed, soft pillows cascading down either side. The warm scent of red wine coming from a bottle chilling at the bedside. And him. Of course. He had made everything perfect. Done it all for me. I was overwhelmed and swept off my feet.

//You're giving me too many things lately, you're all I need//

He had known exactly where to touch me, where his lips should press against my neck and how hard, how slowly he should proceed to laying me gently across the bed. I still cannot comprehend his expertise. It made me feel both suspicious and sensual.

The next morning, it was very much the same as always, though. I woke, my eyes heavy with sleep, when I saw that he was no longer lying beside me. What had I expected, anyway?

He had been in the kitchen, the Wall Street Journal resting in his strong hands, a piece of dry toast, untouched, and a cup of coffee serving as breakfast. I had walked slowly down the stairs, almost afraid to approach him when he was dressed and awake. I stepped into the dining room, and sat down in a chair next to him. He had acknowledged that I was sitting beside him but did not kiss me nor make any eye contact. After he finished his coffee, he stood. I opened my mouth, wanting to ask him about last night. Had it just been a fluke? Did he want me to leave? Was he going to say anything at all, damnit?

He turned on his heal, finally looking at me with those piecing blue eyes, making me feel both love-struck and frightened. He spoke quickly and quite curtly to someone who had just spent the last night in his arms. Checking his watch, he hurriedly told me that I was to stay in the house (more of a demand than a statement of permission) and that he wanted to see me after he got back from work. He bowed his head in my direction, and breezed out the door, his long coat flowing behind him. I sat, staring after him, wondering what my mother would say if I ever tried to bring him home for dinner. Realizing with slow, humorous satisfaction, I became conscious of the fact that he would not want to eat dinner with my parents anytime soon.

//You smiled at me and said,

Don't get me wrong, I love you

But does that mean I have to meet your father?

When we are older you'll understand what I meant when I said 'No.'

I don't think life is quite that simple.//

Coming up for air, I saw that the tub was filling rapidly and tired of my bath. I turned the crystal knobs again and watched as the stream subsided and finally fizzled out. I let the water out of the tub, and stepped onto the soft, white rug. I blinked and touched a long white bathrobe that hung in front of me tentatively before wrapping it around me.

I opened the bathroom door, and walked across the hall to the bedroom to survey the aftermath. Candles burned down to the end of their wicks, small strings of smoke wavering as they traveled to the ceiling. An empty bottle of red wine sat dutifully at the edge of the nightstand. Two glasses next to it; stained a soft crimson yet shining brilliantly in the flicker of the dying candles. Sheets and a warm comforter disheveled, showing the presence of two bodies cuddled together the night before. I smiled. A night to remember. The most magical of my life, indeed.

I thought about him again as I sat on the edge of the bed. And, still, I remembered how I had wanted to pull him back into my arms. But even after this realization, I knew I couldn't have even if I had tried.

//When you walk away you don't hear me say,

"Please, oh baby...Don't go."

Simple and clean is the way that you're makin' me feel tonight

It's hard to let it go//

I fell softly onto the bed. It was so inviting. The urge came upon me to burrow into the soft, warm covers and close my eyes, shutting out the world until I was back in his arms, until he was with me. Until he was with me.

Aren't you supposed to be at work?

"What?" My mind raced. Someone was speaking to me.

Work, remember? You have a job. Isn't that what you get paid for?

I blinked softly. That little voice in the back of my head, the nagging one, it wanted me to work.

"Work? I don't want to work!"

Well, its not like you have a choice. Work is work.

"Work?"

//The daily things that keep us all busy are confusing me//

Yes! Work! The voice was becoming irritated. You should be working! And instead you're lying here, in bed, trying to hold onto memories. Get up!

"No," I grinned, defying the nagging voice, "No." I rolled over, blotting out the sensible part of my brain. Everything was spinning. I let my mind rewind the events of "last night", going farther back to when he had first taken me back to his house. We had walked up to his door when I realized that we weren't at my house. He had smiled and led me through the front doors into the lavish parlor. I turned and put my hand flat against his shoulder.

"Seto. I don't know about this."

"Why?" he removed my hand from where I had so carefully placed it, and held it in his own. I suddenly felt detached from that limb, like it belonged to him now, "We have known each other long enough! What do I have to do to prove that I care about you? Must I tell you I love you? Don't know already know? What do you need, Ishuzu?"

//That's when you came to me and said,

"Wish I could prove I love you

But does that mean I have to walk on water?//

I had contemplated this for a moment. Then I looked upward and locked my eyes with his, "Yes. Tell me you love me."

//When we are older you'll understand it's enough when I say so.

And maybe some things are that simple.//

I had always expected commitment to be difficult for the great Seto Kaiba, I mean, its obvious, right? But he took much longer to answer than I had anticipated.

"Why not?"

I paused, listening to those words. They did not sit right with me for some reason, leaving a bad taste in my mouth. I continued to stare at him, hoping he'd say more. But he smiled, and wrapped an arm around my waist, leading me up the stairs.

"Why not?" The words were so simple. Was love that simple? It should be, right? Maybe that was the best answer at a time like this. I looked up at him again when we reached the top of the stairs. When the door to his bedroom swung open, I was overwhelmed. I scanned the room, and was soon led over to the bed where there were two glasses of red wine on the table beside it, the bottle chilling next to them. He picked up the glasses and handed one to me.

"Isn't champagne more customary?" I teased, "Isn't that what the usual suitor does?"

He took a sip of the wine, his icy-lightning eyes blazing like a blue fire over the top of the glass.

"Well, my dear, I'm not the usual suitor." He put down the wine, and cupped his hand below my cheek. His touch was pure ecstasy, making me forget nearly everything and remembering only him. And when he pressed his lips to mine, something new inside me was born.

//When you walk away you don't hear me say,

"Please, oh baby...Don't go."

Simple and clean is the way that you're makin' me feel tonight

It's hard to let it go//

I rolled over on the bed, coming back to the present time. I still couldn't believe I wasn't dreaming. Opening my eyes, I reached toward the pillows and burrowed into the soft covers. This is how I would stay. Until he returned.

//Hold me

Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on

Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all

Nothing's like before//

Maybe I should have gone after him, I didn't know. But things would defiantly change tonight. I would be the one to surprise him. My lips curled into a grin again, thinking about what would happen when he got home.

//When you walk away you don't hear me say,

"Please, oh baby...Don't go."

Simple and clean is the way that you're makin' me feel tonight

It's hard to let it go//

He would come through the door, tired and hungry, a smirking servant taking his coat gingerly. The servant, of course, would know what was in store for him. She would bow to him, and exit quickly, for fear she may give away the surprise.

//Hold me

Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on//

Rubbing his eyes, he would stumble into the dining room. He would blink harshly, and then catch sight of the dinner and of me. I would be standing at the edge of the table, next to the food I had prepared, and just smile softly, the words normal yet sensual as they tumbled from my lips,

"Welcome home."

//Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all

Nothing's like before //

And he would wrap his arms around me, and hold me and kiss me. And when I would close my eyes and rest my head on his shoulder, he would lean down, and whisper into my hair,

"I love you."

//Hold me

Whatever lies beyond this morning is a little later on//

I closed my eyes then, letting my head fall heavy on the silken pillows. I was drifting, slowly, away from the world, when I heard a voice in my ear, and words I knew too well.

"Why not?"

I frowned, pushing these thoughts aside. I didn't want everything to come crashing down just because of two little words. I would be hearing the three I anticipated soon enough.

//Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all//

I finally felt sleep, heavy in its warm embrace come upon me. I smiled, knowing that now, everything would be different.

//Nothing's like before//





Me: *falls back into chair* THANK GOD! I thought I would NEVER finish that fic!

Seto: *grin* I... LIKED it! *GRIN, GRIN, GRIN!"

Me: *mumbles* Yeah, I BET you did......Man, all I WRITE about is you! What's up with that?

Seto: *shrug* I'm your muse! *strikes a pose*

Me: Why are you acting like such a lunatic?

Seto: Your good mood is contagious!

Me: *smile* Oh, alright, fine.

Seto: Please read and review! She does tend to like reviews!

Me: Oh, do I ever! Please review!

Seto: *strikes another pose*

Me: *sits down with popcorn and applauds like a Sim! ^^*