Rating: T
Chapter Warnings: Mentions of death and child abuse, implied violence, general creepiness and supernatural themes
Seto woke the following morning from a restless sleep. Instead of the same images of his dead brother haunting him, the paranormal investigator had been plagued by visions of a familiar short man with red eyes. He hadn't slept much and was incredibly grumpy, but he got up regardless. When he glanced at his phone, it was 9:00. Seto decided to head back to his apartment for a shower before going to the university to conduct some research. He got dressed, picked up his bag and stepped out of the guest room, standing in the chilly hallway as he looked around for any hint that Yuugi was still home. The young man figured that if his host attended any morning classes, he would already be gone to school. His hypothesis was confirmed when Seto headed downstairs and into the kitchen to find a bowl of some breakfast food covered in plastic wrap on the dining table with a note from Yuugi. Seto pushed aside the slightly burnt offering of food and headed outside.
After a short stop at his apartment, Seto parked his motorcycle in the car lot of the university. He settled on an empty spot near the back of the lot, where he would get less wayward looks for his choice of vehicle. While he didn't care what people thought, it didn't stop him from getting annoyed at people staring at him like he was a member of some biker gang. Scoffing, Seto headed inside one of the multiple buildings on campus and followed the familiar path leading to the university library. He wanted to research the history of the Mutou residence to check if any of the previous owners had made claims of paranormal or unexplained activity on the property. As he sat at one of the many computers littering the spacious library, Seto remained highly sceptical of Yuugi's allegations. If there was any cause for paranormal occurrences in the house, he could think of no source that he could recognize. He thought back to the hundreds of articles on haunted objects that had served as his choice of literature during his undergraduate studies. With that, he had to wonder again if the younger man had been lying about or imagining everything. Perhaps Yuugi was only hopelessly grieving over the loss of his grandfather, as the taller man previously thought. Though, Seto recalled the bizarre incident in Yuugi's kitchen the night before and the eerie red glow of the other man's eyes. Even hours later, Seto couldn't quite shake the mental image. Sighing, he decided to focus on the task at hand before figuring else anything out.
For the next week, Seto hunkered down in the university library researching Domino City's property records and looking back in time to find all of the previous owners of Yuugi's small home. The psychology student retrieved all of the needed paperwork, but found no claims of unexplained events from the residence's previous owners. Though there had been a death on the property some seventy years before, which was ruled an accident at the time, none of the homeowners following it had complained of paranormal phenomena. According to the city's database, the Mutou clan bought the property twenty years after the death and the home had been in the family since. There had been no other bizarre occurrences ion the property since. Frustrated by the lack of any real leads, Seto turned his attention to working outside of his research. He held a job as a part-time teaching aide to some of psychology professors' charged with undergraduate classes. He helped with correcting assignments and course planning, but stayed away from teaching in an actual classroom. Seto wanted to be a doctor of psychology, not a professor; he didn't have the patience needed to handle a large group of snot-nosed freshmen who barely paid attention to the lessons they wasted good money on to attend. The one time he had helped Professor Ishtar, his mentor, in her Introduction to Psychology class, Seto caused a student to cry after belittling them in front of the whole group. He felt no regret for it, as the girl had been a whiny little brat complaining about the class' work load, but the experience had shown to Professor Ishtar that her brilliant student was not cut out for teaching. Thus, Seto spent the week researching or correcting assignments. He didn't mind the job as much as he had first assumed he would and it helped pay his bills.
During that time, Seto spent several nights sleeping over at the Mutou residence, where he had minimal contact with Yuugi. His case subject was always courteous towards him when they did meet, trying his hardest to make his houseguest feel welcomed. He never tried to force a conversation and he left Seto alone when he asked, which the latter was grateful for. Yuugi also prepared dinner for the both of them every evening Seto had visited, but the psychology graduate never ate with him. He either intentionally got back to the house late to avoid eating with the shorter boy, or made sure to eat before arriving. Seto knew he was acting like a jerk by rudely rejecting every attempt Yuugi had made to be kind to him and he could see it was hurting him, but Seto tried not to care. It wasn't in his plans to make friends while working on the Mutou case. He preferred his solitude to catering to somebody else's wants and needs constantly. Beside, every time Seto got too close to his subject or made eye contact with those captivating violet orbs of his, it made him uncomfortable in a way he couldn't define. He kept his distance; it was safer for both of them.
The paranormal specialist had also started collecting data for his investigation. Every night he visited the Mutou home, he had set up cameras, audio recorders and motion detectors to capture any unusual activity around the home. Yuugi had even insisted that Seto let him help with the equipment's set up one evening, because he felt bad seeing him do all of the work, and the older man caved. He was unable to refuse Yuugi's request under the stare of those persistent lavender eyes of his. Instead, the taller of the two men coolly warned the other to be careful when handling the electronics, as they belonged to the parapsychology unit and were costly to replace. Of the several nights' worth of data, Seto only found enough evidence to confirm Yuugi's previous claims of odd noises in the house. Several of the clips contained odd sounds not produced by Yuugi or Seto, and were typically located outside the shorter student's bedroom. Video evidence had shown that Yuugi had not been the cause of the noises, but Seto still felt as unsatisfied with the collected audio and video clips as he did with the rest of his research for the case. Weird sounds in an old house proved nothing of paranormal or supernatural origins. Though, Seto struggled to explain the constant chill in the residence. He had questioned Yuugi about it, only for the homeowner to have no conclusive answer. It wasn't that inconvenient, in the damper summer months of Monsoon season, but it did make the paranormal investigator's skin crawl unpleasantly every time he stepped foot in the home.
One afternoon, a Friday, Seto headed to Professor Ishtar's office to deliver a batch of corrected midterm papers. Luckily for the student, the older woman was still situated in her office despite the late afternoon hour. Seto knocked on the door and it opened moments later. With a grim smile from his professor, the graduate student was waved inside and sat down across the large desk from the Egyptian woman, after placing down his stack of papers. Isis also sat and glanced at Seto curiously.
"Kaiba," the professor greeted smoothly, "how are you today? How's your investigation into the Mutou case?"
- "I'm fine, Professor. I've made little progress on the case." Seto replied flatly, trying to keep his need for a smart remark under tight wraps. He knew he stood on thin ice with his mentor since his assignment to Yuugi's case.
- "Well, what have you found until now?"
- "Nothing more then what you wrote down in the initial report. Property records offered no new information and the audio or visual evidence I've collected only confirms that the Mutou home is indeed noisy." Seto couldn't help the bit of sarcasm he let slip.
"Well, I know you will be able to find the roots of the problem soon, Kaiba," Isis assured, ignoring her student's remark, which caused him to glower in annoyance.
"But, remember that no matter what you find, try and be compassionated to Mister Mutou. The parapsychology unit's mission is to investigate, but also assist those affected by the paranormal, regardless of our own beliefs on the topic." She silenced Seto with an elegant wave of her hand as he opened his mouth to interject. "I know you have many reasons not to believe in psychic phenomena, from scientific fact to your personal experiences." The word 'experiences' made Seto's stomach sink and his fists clenched in his lap.
Professor Ishtar regarded her student for a moment, a frown marring her smooth, tanned features. She leaned forward in her seat, her demeanour switching from a worried teacher to that of the inquisitive doctor she actually was, before quietly asking, "Have you ever considered counselling? It could help you deal with your brother's-"
Seto stood up abruptly, his blue eyes filled with icy fire. He slammed his hand on the teacher's desk and spit out angrily,
"Is it fun for you to nose around in my personal life, Professor? It's not entertaining to me whatsoever." Seto shook before Isis, the mere mention of his brother setting a burning blaze of anger and pain to his soul. He never wanted to talk him; it was enough that he saw him in his nightmares almost every night.
"Seto," Isis raised her hands in a gesture of peace, her expression calm if not a little sad for her student. She acted like she would if dealing with an irate patient. "I was merely suggesting it. I don't want your grief to affect your work more than it already has. Your ideas for a Masters' thesis were strong when you joined our unit and you always were one of the brightest students in our department. I just feel like you lost your way and sight of your original mission because you want a sort of revenge or vindication for your loss."
Seto growled and grabbed his bag, storming out of his professor's office before slamming the door behind him, managing to scare the poor secretary nearby. Isis sat back and sighed, her dark eyes staring at the door before her. She shook her head and closed her eyes. Even if Seto had never mentioned what had happened to his younger sibling, Isis knew. She could sense the pain radiating from her student like a dark aura. The woman could only hope that her brilliant mentee would soon find peace and self-forgiveness for the tragedy he had no part in.
Rain began to fall from the sky the instant Seto stepped outside the psychology department's main building. He tried to calm the racing of his heart and the anger-induced shaking in his hands. He had never mentioned his past to his professor and while his brother's death had never been a secret, due to the media coverage at the time, Seto still guarded the details of the crime. It was for the sake of his little brother's honor and his own sanity and guilty conscious. He hated to have the topic brought up, as it only reopened old wounds that never quite healed. Kicking hard at a wayward rock in his way, the long-limbed young man headed back to his motorcycle, not caring about the rain now pouring down around him. As he walked across the parking lot, his blue gaze remained fixed on his bike until a flash of red, black and blond passed in his peripheral vision. Turning his head, Seto caught sight of Yuugi as the shorter boy walked several meters ahead of him, drenched by the downpour. His previous anger lessened a bit at the sight of the poor wet student and Seto couldn't quite catch himself before he called out to the other boy. Cursing under his breath, he watched as Yuugi turned and spotted him, a small smile lifting the former's lips. Seto's stomach clenched for a moment before he stepped closer. He wasn't even certain why he had called Yuugi.
"What are you doing in this rain, Mutou?" Seto asked in what he hoped was a normal tone, trying to seem nonchalant in his questioning. Yuugi looked up at him and laughed gently.
"I'm going home. My friend Jounouchi usually brings me after class on Fridays, but he had to leave earlier for a work emergency. I don't have a car, as you know, and buses stopped travelling to the area I live in an hour ago. So, I'll walk." He might shrug it off, but Seto could see Yuugi's shoulders slump as the rain became more persistent in its assault.
"That's ridiculous." Seto said and instantly wanted to kick himself as he grabbed the shorter man's arm. He tugged him to his nearby motorcycle. He didn't know what suddenly possessed him, but Seto uncovered his bike from under its protective plastic sheeting and dug into his under-seat compartment before handing a surprised Yuugi his spare helmet. The taller boy wanted to take back his action and speed away in his embarrassment, but he was already too far gone, as his shorter companion only hesitated for a moment before taking the offered headgear.
Grumbling under his breath, Seto swung his long leg over the seat of his motorcycle and slid on his helmet. As Yuugi climbed onto the seat behind him after securing the spare helmet over his unruly head of hair, Seto wasn't sure if he was more annoyed at his passenger for not refusing his offer or at himself for spontaneously springing said offer in the first place. He groaned lowly and shook his head, kicking the pedal after igniting the engine. The bike roared to life under them and Yuugi gripped the edges of the seat as Seto manoeuvred his motorcycle out of its parking spot and towards a nearby exit.
Once on the street, Seto pressed on the gas pedal and went as fast the speed limit allowed. As they sped up, he heard a soft squeak from the seat behind him and felt arms secure themselves tightly around his waist. The gesture was unexpected and the taller of the two boys only groaned again. He wanted to feel bothered by the manner with which Yuugi clung to him, but instead he found the hold he had around him stirred an unnamed emotion in his chest. The feeling made his heart skip and his mouth dry. He was a grown man and he was acting like a middle school student holding hands with their first date, Seto thought depressingly. His day couldn't get any worse. He could never admit to somewhat enjoying the tight hold Yuugi had around his waist as he drove them back to the younger man's home. He couldn't even explain his body's reaction to Yuugi and it frustrated him.
Several minutes later, the pair arrived at the small, quaint home on the outskirts of Domino City. Seto held his composure and did not jump off the motorcycle seat as soon as he parked the beast of a machine before Yuugi's residence. The rain had greatly lessened in their area compared to its raging assault minutes away in Downtown Domino City. The taller man removed his helmet, shaking out his wet brown hair. Yuugi, who was still holding on tightly to his waist, finally let go and climbed off the bike first, turning away from his impromptu driver. Seto watched him silently as the other shook out his hair after pulling off his helmet, his multi-coloured mane a wet mess, and frowned when Yuugi turned to hand him his borrowed headgear, his face red but his smile bright. Seto wrote off the other man's blush as the thrill of riding on the motorcycle.
"That was amazing," the game design student laughed lightly. Seto bit his tongue to keep from replying. Yuugi's laughter made his stomach flip and he hated himself a little bit more for feeling that. Saying nothing, for fear of lashing out or betrayed his current thought pattern, Seto took the helmet and tossed it with his own on the motorcycle's handle, before standing with his bag to head inside the dwelling.
"Come on. Get inside before you get any wetter from the rain, because I won't babysit you if you get sick, kid." The older of the two said in his usual flat tone. Yuugi's voice sounded much less raspy then it had the week before and it would be a shame if the shorter man fell sick again. Seto heard his companion hurry behind him, huffing out a reply.
"I'm not a kid! I'm twenty years old. You can't be that much older than me to be calling me that." Yuugi's lavender eyes darkened in annoyance and Seto chuckled as he turned his gaze away.
"I'm twenty-two. I'm older and I'm your upperclassman, so I have a right to call you kid." Seto answered with a mocking smile, but the expression came off as more of a teasing one. He found that he enjoyed small banter with Yuugi, as the shorter boy, when angered, was amusing to watch. He was like a furious cotton ball, with the way his red cheeks puffed out slightly. Seto cringed when it crossed his mind that his host also looked endearing when irritated.
After a quick change of clothing, the two young men headed into the kitchen, Yuugi's annoyance seemingly forgotten as he scrubbed his wet hair with a towel and wandered to the refrigerator in search of food. Seto watched from the doorway as the purple eyed man hummed, looked at their selection, and then closed the appliance's door abruptly.
"I almost forgot!" Yuugi said before hurrying past Seto and out of the kitchen. Despite his lacking height, he almost knocked the taller man over in his haste with little effort and Seto huffed, miffed. As he followed his host to the living room, the psychology student realized that his anger from his earlier encounter with Professor Ishtar had all but faded. He tried not to think that the lack of said emotion had anything to do with his spiky haired case subject, but Seto couldn't even fool himself. He was reluctant to admit he felt somewhat comfortable with Yuugi, despite their lack of in-depth interactions. The shorter student had always been kind to him and respected his need for personal space, even when the former had obviously wanted to engage him. He put up with Seto's attitude when he had no reason to. The taller boy realized he might have been wrong about his small host after all.
The blue-eyed man blinked in surprise when Yuugi reappeared in the living space with what seemed to be a medium sized wire cage with a solid plastic bottom in his hands. Placing it on the floor near the floor-height table, the violet-eyed man kneeled and opened the top of the cage, pulling out a small, black rabbit. He has a freaking rabbit, Seto thought as he looked on in mild stupor. Yuugi cradled the small fluffy creature in his arms, petting its long downturned ears. He looked up at Seto from his spot on the floor and grinned before motioning to the animal in his hold,
"This is Yami." Yuugi explained as if his houseguest should be interested in the rabbit's identity, but Seto's blank expression didn't stop the shorter boy from continuing,
"I got her after Grandpa died. I've been keeping her in my room so she wouldn't bother you, but I think she needs some exercise." He then put the pet on the bamboo mat covered floor and smiled as it wiggled its little black nose and looked around curiously before hopping away. Yuugi pulled a yellow rubber ball and a piece of carrot from the cage beside him and placed them near Yami. The shorter man then stood and smiled to Seto, gesturing to the kitchen.
"I'll go make dinner for us. Just keep an eye on her, please?" Without waiting for Seto's reply, Yuugi dashed into the kitchen and left the taller man staring at the dark fluff ball snacking away on its carrot. Seto was speechless for several moments until he managed to open his mouth.
"Mutou, if your rabbit eats your electronics, it's not my fault. I'm a paranormal investigator, not a pet sitter."
The only reply Seto received was laughter from the kitchen doorway as Yuugi stuck his head out, grinning.
"She'll be fine. Please just make sure she doesn't hop away." With that, the homeowner disappeared into the kitchen again. His houseguest stood by the small table staring warily at the rabbit hopping across the floor nearby. Carefully, Seto sat down and watched the furry creature make its way towards him. The tall young man had always been guarded around animals, as he never had one of his own and house pets were uncommon in this part of Japan. He simply didn't know how to behave around them. Seto could easily dissect the human mind, but he had no understanding of animals. It was a good thing his calling in life hadn't been veterinary medicine.
He blinked when Yuugi appeared beside him with a pot of some steaming stew and he looked to down to find himself petting Yami the rabbit gently between her long ears. Huffing a bit, Seto turned away from the pet, embarrassed. Yuugi only smiled at him before setting down some bowls and utensils.
"I knew you two would get along." The shorter boy hummed happily. Seto only gave a grumble in reply and looked at the meal before them. It smelt decent; better than some of the other dishes his case subject had prepared since his time here. Yuugi obviously wasn't much of a cook, but he was headstrong. With a glance to the kitchen area, Seto noted the mess of pots and what looked like an open book on the countertop. He glanced back at Yuugi as the latter began to eat while looking over a textbook for class. Had the other man taken extra time and trouble to make a modest meal for his guest? Seto frowned at the thought, as he had been nothing but ungrateful for the meals Yuugi had prepared so far, but that didn't seem to deter the younger man from making the effort.
"Thank you, for the food I mean." Seto said awkwardly, causing Yuugi to glance at him with a mouth full of stew before he swallowed and smiled.
"I figured since you haven't eaten any of the other food I've made before, I should actually try and follow a recipe. I looked around in the storage room and found one of my late grandmother's old recipe books. I hope it turned out well, since I'm not usually very good at cooking." He gave a sheepish laugh and Seto looked away, pushing past the lump in his throat before tasting the food before him. The flavour was surprisingly good and the older boy had no trouble continuing to eat. It felt nice to enjoy food so carefully prepared for him by someone else, even when Seto didn't deserve such courtesy. He felt even more like a jerk for how he had behaved towards Yuugi up until that point, but he didn't understand why the other boy tried so hard to be accommodating or to befriend him. Yuugi owed Seto nothing; even for the work the latter did researching into the supposed paranormal activity in the former's home.
The psychology student gazed at his companion seated across the small table from him; Yuugi's attention was on the large book before him and his fingers fiddled idly with a silver chain hanging under his usual choker around his neck. He looked exhausted, Seto noted. Dark purple circles marred his undereyes and the younger man barely seemed to be able to focus on the textbook as his gaze shifted restlessly over the words before it. In the back of Seto's mind, a piece of information pulled at his memory, an possible explanation for Yuugi's current state, but try as he might he couldn't remember. He didn't feel it was his place to ask about it either, as the pair weren't really friends. Seto also didn't want to give the impression he cared too much or wanted to pry, so the psychology student turned his attention to the necklace around Yuugi's neck. When he looked closer, he thought he caught a glimpse of purple on the other man's neck just over his collar, but quickly wrote it off as a trick of the light when Yuugi pulled the chain out from under his long-sleeved gray shirt. Two silver rings, one slightly bigger than the other, hung on the delicately crafted necklace of the same metal. Curious, Seto wondered about the significance of jewellery to his host. A thought crossed his mind and left a bitter taste in his mouth; perhaps Yuugi had a special someone. The shorter man would not have mentioned it and the latter's relationship status was none of Seto's business, but the idea nevertheless made him scowl. He turned his head away from Yuugi as the latter toyed with the rings on his chain and finished his meal quietly.
Several days of research, studying and work passed as Seto stayed with Yuugi in the latter's home, both young men settling into a routine. Most nights, the older student would arrive at the residence and have dinner with its owner. Sometimes, they would both study quietly; Seto still attended a few classes even if his thesis work had been put on hold. Sometimes, the boys would chat idly. It had been uncomfortable for Seto at first, but he soon opened up a little as Yuugi asked questions about his academic career. Seto had revealed that he'd graduated from high school early and as class valedictorian, only to start and finish his undergraduate studies in less than two years, again at the top of his program. He didn't mean to brag, but Seto had always been proud of his academic skills. The taller man knew he was a genius. It had been something his mother had always praised him for, before she died. The thought made his heart ache, but the psychology graduate pushed it aside. At least it gave him the drive to work towards his goal of becoming of a licensed psychologist and parapsychology expert, much like his mentor Isis Ishtar. Seto would rather die than admit it, but his professor inspired him greatly.
In turn, Seto had learnt of Yuugi's desire to become a game developer. While the older of the two boys first scoffed at the thought, he realized that game design was Yuugi's true passion. It had taken the shorter man a year after finishing high school to find his calling, as he explained, but he discovered it because of his late grandfather. Since his youth, Yuugi's grandfather had exposed his grandson to all types of games he'd collected during his career as a historian. In turn, the young man always loved games, but never thought it could be a viable career option. But after working for a year in a video game store in Downtown Domino, Yuugi realized his calling had been in front of him the whole time. His Grandpa had only encouraged him and the shorter man soon inscribed in Domino University's game design program. Yuugi hadn't regretted his decision since.
Seto grew more comfortable around Yuugi during their talks and the newfound ease left him confused. From the start, he had been adamant about not wanting to make friends with his case subject. Now, after a few weeks of knowing each other, they had grown closer and it made Seto uneasy, feeling so vulnerable with someone else. He hadn't opened up to anyone since his mother and brother's untimely deaths eight years before for fear of being hurt, or worse, facing loss again. It was a terrorizing sentiment and Seto couldn't figure out how he felt about it, so he kept most of himself locked away from Yuugi.
Late one evening, again a Friday, Seto arrived at the Mutou residence to find his small case subject in the kitchen singing to some absurd American pop song while the latter washed dishes in the sink. Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Seto placed his progress report for his ongoing investigation on the large dining table before heading upstairs to the guest room to dispose of his bags. While Yuugi's singing voice was not unpleasant, the music it sang to was obnoxious and not to Seto's taste. He also didn't want to be around when Yuugi found the envelope full of yen Seto had attached to the report. The older boy had felt bad for all of the food the younger had purchased, and sometimes wasted, during his stay, so Seto decided to pay the other student back. He already knew Yuugi would refuse the money, so he limited his ability to do so by disappearing upstairs.
The paranormal investigator stepped into his assigned room and dropped his bag by the door, staring at the neatly arranged pile of electronics by the futon. While he truly doubted their usefulness, Seto continued to collect audio and visual data every night he spent in Yuugi's home. The collected clips continued to show odd noises in the house late at night, when its two residents were asleep. Seto could have sworn he caught a bit of indistinguishable speech from the audio recorder positioned in the second floor hallway a few days before, but otherwise the data offered no notable evidence. The investigator moved to set up a video camera with an infrared lens in the hallway before the bedrooms, as he had many nights before. He also set up the audio recorder. Most of the more credible cases of paranormal activity he had studied caught evidence on such devices, which was why he used them. After setting up his laptop and linking the equipment, Seto stood back and looked over his work. Unsure of what more to do, he settled on the two electronics for now. He sighed and wondered if all of his research was for nothing. The thought of Yuugi lying still crept at the back of his mind, but Seto pushed it aside. The shorter man showed no signs of lying so far, except for on the first night of his investigation. Seto was more concerned that he wouldn't be able to give the other student any sort of answers to his problems, even if the problem was Yuugi himself.
Looking around the dimly lit hallway, Seto's eyes settled on the wooden door of the only room in the house he had yet to visit; Yuugi's late grandfather's bedroom. The young man's dark brows furrowed and he stepped closer to the silent room. He recalled Yuugi's reaction on the first night of his investigation, after their initial tour of the residence. Something in the Elder Mutou's room had scared Yuugi before Seto's arrival, recalling the other's reluctance to even speak about the matter. Regardless of the threat being genuine or imagined, the memory peaked Seto's curiosity. He quietly opened the door and looked inside the dark room, its air musty from disuse. Reaching out to flip the switch of the ceiling light up, Seto let his eyes adjust and glanced around. The space seemed tidy and normal, with a large bed in the middle and a desk attached to a wide bookcase, which was littered with literature. On the floor laid several cardboard boxes obviously packed by Yuugi. Nothing seemed out of place, except for the unreasonably low temperature of the room, much like the hallway outside it. Rubbing his hands together for warmth, Seto chalked the cold up to the lack of heating in the room. The faint sound of music coming from the kitchen stopped and he turned to leave before Yuugi came up to check on him, but something caught the investigator's attention from the corner of his eye.
The man looked back and noticed a gold glint. Curious, Seto stepped over to a box in the midst of the clutter and found a medium sized gold rectangle. Knowing he shouldn't pry into a dead man's belongings, Seto still bent down and picked up the object, which was a gold box in the shape of ancient Egyptian sarcophagus with hieroglyphics littering its surface. Giving a low hum, Seto opened the box to uncover a bizarre, inverted pyramid shaped pendant. He reached out to touch it when he heard footsteps behind him.
"Kaiba! I'm not taking the money, so you can just... What are you doing in here?" Yuugi stood behind Seto, his usual cheery tone gone and annoyance plain in the harsh tilt of his brows. He glared at him, clearly mad to find his guest breeching his grandfather's privacy. Seto stood like a deer caught in the glare of an oncoming car's headlights. He struggled to say something so Yuugi opened his mouth to speak; perhaps to kick Seto out of the house for his intrusion, when his eyes fell on the artifact between the latter's hands. The shorter boy's mouth snapped shut and he stepped back, his violet eyes wide and his face paling. In turn, Seto looked down at the pendant in his hold and lifted it from its box. The metal object was freezing, almost painful to the touch and Seto winced as he dropped it on the floor. Yuugi, who had been eerily still, jumped as the gold object landed on the bamboo mat flooring. The taller of the two boys inched closer to his host, putting his hand on the shorter boy's shoulder. Yuugi hardly moved in response to the touch.
"Mutou?" Seto shook Yuugi's shoulder lightly, causing the other boy to clutch his forearm. He looked up and he seemed so scared it took Seto aback. Yuugi's wide lavender eyes shifted back to the fallen artifact on the floor.
"... Two weeks before Grandpa died, I found that thing," the shorter man waved weakly to the aforementioned pendant, "It was a puzzle of some kind. My grandfather kept a ton of things like that around in our storage; from before his retirement. I remember he said it came from Egypt and was thousands of years old. It was given to him by a colleague of his, but he was planning on getting rid of it for some reason." Seto frowned as he looked down at Yuugi, unsure where the exposition was headed, but he had a feeling he needed to listen.
"I thought it would be fun to put the puzzle together, because it seemed challenging and I love complex games. It took about two weeks for me to finish it and the night before Grandpa passed away, I completed it. After I put the last piece in, I can't recall anything. I woke up in my bed the next morning. I figured I must have fallen asleep and I headed out to see if my grandfather was awake." Yuugi finally choked and stammered in his explanation, the pain of his recent loss vivid in his expression.
"I don't understand. He was healthy up until that same night. Even our family doctor said he was in great shape for his age. He died in his sleep from a massive heart attack." The shorter man bit his lip and held his hand to his eyes, shielding them from Seto's view. The latter stood awkwardly, uncertain of what to say or do to comfort Yuugi. With all of his time spent studying human emotions and his desire to become a doctor of psychology, Seto was terrible at offering comfort. He struggled to open up on an interpersonal level and let people in far enough to see that he understood their pain, for he was human too. He had walled off his own emotions for over eight years, for fear of being hurt again, and now in a time where he actually wanted to comfort the other man before him, he couldn't. He had lost people he'd loved too; a tragic, violent loss.
"Mutou..." Yuugi looked at Seto and lessened his hold on the taller student's arm before steeping back.
"After his death, the nightmares started. They were filled with these horrible images of death and gore and these red eyes that haunted me." The image of a red gaze made Seto recall the scene with Yuugi in the latter's kitchen a few weeks before. The thought made his stomach turn.
"The dreams have gotten worse in the last week. I can't sleep." Yuugi glanced apprehensively at the pendant and whispered, "I don't know if that thing had anything to do with my grandfather's death, or even my nightmares, but I found it again on the day I finally decided to pack his stuff. I hadn't been able to do any sorting or packing until almost a month and half after his death... It was too hard." Yuugi bit his lip, his face taunt with sorrow. "I found it in a random box. I'm not even sure how it got there. It glowed with a bright light when I touched it before I felt the worst sense of panic I've ever experienced. It chilled me to the core, even worse than when I found Grandpa the morning of his death." The shorter man hugged his arms and looked into Seto's alert blue eyes, hesitant to continue. It was the story he had not wanted to share the night Seto and he met, the former thought, before Yuugi pushed on quietly.
"I must have passed out, because when I came to, I was on the floor and something was choking me. No one else was in the room."
I don't think I mentioned this before, but I'm imagining Kaiba and Yuugi as they looked at the end of DSOD, just for reference. Enjoy the chapter.
AN1: Yami the bunny. That is all. You are welcomed.