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Days went by with no word from either Jounouchi or Yugi. I tried telling myself that I wasn't worried and that everything was going back to normal, but that growing pain inside my heart refused to subside. I didn't want to lie to Jounouchi or hurt him further, but life for him would be easier without me in it. I stared at the computer in front of me, correcting all my mistakes from the last couple of days where my eyes were too tired to focus. I stopped and glanced out the large windows. It was raining again. I hated the rain; it reminded me of the memory where Jounouchi tried to kill himself.

I rose and walked over to the window, placing my hands behind my back. The world seemed dead with the rain slaughtering any hope of enjoying the day outside. A flash of lighting surged across the sky. I watched it as it formed a pattern through the dark clouds. A rumble of thunder vibrated my glass and wall. The weather reflected the torment I felt inside even though I would never outwardly show it. My ever present emotionless mask remained firmly placed to hide everything I felt. I placed my hand on the glass.

I heard my office door click open and shut, assuming it was my secretary delivering more messages for me, I didn't bother turning around. Usually she placed everything on the corner of my desk and walked back out regardless of what I was doing. After a few moments when I didn't hear her leave again, I turned around to address her, but my words stopped in my mouth. Standing close to the door was Jounouchi. His hair dripped water onto his shirt. We stared at each other, neither one of us saying anything. I gave specific instructions to not let him in, but whatever relationship my secretary had with him was stronger than her fear of my reaction.

He took a step closer to me. "We need to talk," he said softly.

I leaned against the glass. "We have nothing to talk about. I told you that when you woke."

Jounouchi frowned and stepped closer to me. I didn't feel intimated by that. He didn't scare me. "I think you were trying to push me away like you push everyone away. I think you're afraid of letting someone close to you, afraid that they would see that you're not as scary as everyone believes. I believe that you want to be with me, but you don't want to hurt me. I think someone needs to show you that you deserve to be with someone and you won't hurt them. I think your brother is the only exception to the rule, but that just shows that you can love someone without hurting them."

Slowly Jounouchi continued to approach me as if he was walking towards a scared animal. It angered me that he would view me as that. "I hurt Mokuba all the time. He doesn't have enough money to leave me yet. That's why he chose to live on the dorms at his college. Once he's financially secure he'll leave just like everyone else."

Jounouchi smiled softly. "That's a lie. I know for a fact that Mokuba is not ever planning on leaving your side. He loves you and admires you. He also knows, like everyone else, that people who love each other will still fight. He never takes anything you say in a fit of rage seriously." He placed his hand on either side of me, trapping me against the window. "How about starting with the truth. Tell me how you truly feel about me."

I sighed and uncrossed my arms. I thought for several long minutes on whether I should tell him the truth. I placed my hands on his shoulder and gently pushed him away. "Haven't I hurt you enough?" I turned and walked away from him, over to my desk. I felt him pull on my wrist and push me against the window again. He sealed our lips together before I could get a word out. Time slowed and nothing else matter but him and I.

Our lips danced in a silent harmony, neither one of us demanding more than the gentle caress. We broke apart after a few minutes. He left me breathless against the glass unable to draw a thought through my once hectic mind. He stared at me, using his thumb to rub circles into my wrist as if waiting for me to speak. I sighed and finally found the one word that I yearned to speak. "Why?"

"Why, what? Why do I continue to fight for your affection? Why can't I let you go even though you may say you don't want me? I know you are hiding behind that mask. I know you love me as much as I love you. My question to you should be why won't you let me in?"

I slowly closed my eyes, gathering all my thoughts together. I opened them again, gently placing my hand on the side of his cheek. "If I let you in, you'll see all the pain that I keep hidden from everyone."

"I've showed you my pain, let me see yours. We can start our relationship by sharing the pain."

I walked over towards the leather couch and sat down. "You don't need my burden. I'll carry yours but you don't need mine."

"No," Jounouchi said firmly. "A relationship consists of sharing. Tell me, Kaiba. Tell me what causes pain to shine through your eyes."

I cupped my hands together and searched through my rational thoughts. I can't reveal anything to Jounouchi. I feared that he would take my dark secrets and sell them to the highest bidder even though I knew he'd never do that. "Gozaburo wasn't the tender hearted father like he was preserved. Everyone thought that he adopted us because he was kind hearted. The truth was that he needed someone that he could control even after he died. He spent several months breaking my will and even more months training me to be his living puppet. Even to this day, I notice that if I'm not careful, I slip into the puppet he created. That is why you shouldn't be near me. Yugi may have banished the darkness in my soul, but he could never make me forget everything that was drilled into me.

"Did he give you a choice?"

"What?"

"Did Gozaburo say to do it his way or he'll kill you or did he say you could do it this way or that way?"

"He threatened to beat Mokuba to death while I watched helpless to do anything to prevent it," I answered quickly without realizing it.

"I don't think that makes you a bad person you know. Somewhere inside of that ice you've formed, there is a warm heart." Jounouchi moved and gently took my hands. "Why can't you see that you are more than this?"

I growled and pulled away from him. I moved quickly across the room and towards my desk. I pushed a few buttons to the locked bottom drawer and picked out several letters that were sent to me. I threw them on the desk just as Jounouchi walked over. "If I was the good person you say I am then I wouldn't see hundreds of these every day." Jounouchi picked a few of the letters up, reading them slowly before tucking them back in their envelopes. I knew what each one of them said. They all expressed their opinion on how the world would be better without me. A few of them were graphic on the different ways I should die and then a couple said I should have been thrown out the window instead of Gozaburo.

Jounouchi gathered the stack in his hands. "How many of these do you get a day?"

"Too many to count."

"Do you ever get any mail that praises you?"

I rolled my eyes. "You mean the ones that are pink, smelly and telling me how much they want to marry me. Oh yes, I get them all the time. They only send them because I'm rich, run a company, smart and apparently attractive to them."

"You do realize that some of them are your good qualities."

I snorted and shook my head. "So you're attracted to me because I'm smart and have a lot of money?"

"No, those are petty things to be attracted to you with. I'm in love with who you are. One o things you do is make like easier for children who don't have families. How many of those yearly passes for your parks get donated to local orphanages? How many times have you drove by those same orphanages and sent money to them when it looks like they need renovations?"

I glared at him. "What makes you say that?"

"I've seen one of your limousines drive by an orphanage close to my house. The next day the woman who runs it told me she that a group of men showed up and volunteered to do any repairs she needed it on top of a box of money was received with no return on it. Tell me the truth, Kaiba. Did you do that?"

I growled and sat down. "I wouldn't do something like that. Why would I care if those children have fun? I had no childhood myself and that didn't stop me from becoming who I am now."

Jounouchi slammed his hands down on my desk. "Enough of the lies! Why can't you just tell me one truth? You say you don't love me but I know you do. I can see it. Why else would you allow me this much of your time? I know you care about orphan children because you want to give them something you never had the chance of getting for yourself. You make it seem like you are the devil incarnate but you are more like a fall angel in disguise. I think with a little more push, you should be able to love someone without fear of hurting them or being hurt yourself. Everyone would then see a more relaxed and sensitive person even though I'm sure you don't want them to see you as that. I'm sure this cruel personality helps in business deals, but you shouldn't have to hide behind that forever. Try little things at first. Maybe let the orphanage know you are donating to them and see how the public reacts if you are afraid of them."

Sometimes Jounouchi could make sense. Even his rational mind could change the public's opinion of me. Not that any of that matter. As long as my brother knew I wasn't heartless, that's all that mattered. I stared down at the letters. If that was true, then why did I keep all the hate mail? Why wouldn't I just throw them away? I sighed and put the letters back in the drawer. "It makes no difference what people think of me. I think it's time you leave."

Jounouchi glared at me but didn't make any motions of leaving. "I'll leave if you truthfully answer one question." I couldn't understand why he kept doing that. As if one answer would change anything. When I didn't answer he took that as a right to continue. "What did Gozaburo do to you the night of Mokuba's first birthday after being adopted by him?"

The shock of the question sent my mind spiraling out of control. I feared that Gozaburo was influencing my life again. How could someone like him know about that night? He didn't say he knew anything, but he hinted that he knew something. No one but Gozaburo and I knew exactly what happened. Gozaburo died with that part of my life sealed in his cold lips. Mokuba knew something happened, but I never told anyone. "It was a week before I started to plot the hostile take over of his company. Mokuba was excited because this would be the first year he could have anything he wanted. Gozaburo seemed to change during that week. He was nice to Mokuba and encouraged him to tell him what he wanted for his birthday from presents to the types of food. I never trusted him, but if it made Mokuba happy, I could sacrifice some of my suspicions for that one day."

I walked over to the window and stared at the clearing sky. The storm didn't last long. "I should have never gave up any of my suspicions. The day was great. I remembered how happy he was enjoying all the presents and food. The only sad thing was that he didn't have any friends but he told me it was okay because he had me for once. Gozaburo constantly took me away for my studies but he didn't do it that day. I play for hours with Mokuba until he fell asleep in his room. Gozaburo came in after that to inform me that I had to pay for his happiness."

I grunted my teeth and placed my hand on the glass. "Every toy, every free moment with him and every bit of his food. That was the only time he had ever physically abused me. By the time he was finish, I could barely move or breathe. It took one of his servants an hour or two to finally clean all the blood off me. Luckily, after all the abuse, I only had one scar. I feared that I would have too many to hide from Mokuba. The next morning, he asked me every time he saw me what was wrong. I could never tell him. In fact, I turned angry. I started blaming him for what happened, but I was angrier with myself. I should have known Gozaburo wouldn't do anything without a price. After I destroyed him and watched him take a jump out the window that still wasn't enough to satisfy the blood lust."

I turned and faced Jounouchi. "I didn't care for Mokuba or any of you. You were in my way and I was going to destroy you. How can you say that I'm capable of love when all I'm after is my own benefit? What makes you trust me? After I finished with you or even bored, I could throw you out and I won't care if you don't have anything. Are you really willing to risk that?"

"Yes."

My eyes widened in shock. He didn't even hesitate. "You may think that now."

"I think you are capable of showing love and caring considering that you are doing everything you can to protect me from a what if situation. And that situation will never happen."

"How do you know that?"

"I trust you."

I sighed and moved back over to the desk and sat down on the chair. "You're not going to leave until I agree to try are you?"

"Now you are understanding me."

"This is a change from how you were just a few weeks ago. What happened to giving up?"

"I realized that if I wanted you, I have to fight for you."

"You make me sound like some princess in a fairytale."

Jounouchi chuckled. "I wouldn't mind being your prince."

I rolled my eyes, Sometimes he could get on my last nerve. "Where's your bodyguard today?"

"Yugi went back to Egypt where his grandfather is working. It took me a little bit to convince him that I was fine. He doesn't approve me coming to see you today, but he wasn't going to stop me."

Jounouchi's stomach suddenly gave a loud growl that seemed to vibrate the office. I hid my smile behind my hand, watching as his face turned three shades of red. I couldn't stop the chuckle from escaping my lips. "I guess we finalized that contract. How about we seal it with a meal?" I offered, trying to keep my laughs under control.

He turned suddenly angry. "Laugh it up, Kaiba! As if your stomach never growls."

"Not that loud. What did you do go without eating for a week?"

Jounouchi shrugged. "More like a few hours." I stared dumbfounded at him. A few hours? In a few hours he was that hungry. "What?" he snapped angrily. "I'm still trying to catch up on my missed meals while I was in that coma."

I chuckled again. "What do you want to eat?"

"Anything." I turned my computer off and packed all the paperwork I planned on working on into my briefcase. Carrying it over to the door, I waited for Jounouchi to walk in front of me before locking my office. Apparently time flew while I was talking to him because there was no employees left in the building. The ride down to the main lobby was quiet. Jounouchi was oddly didn't say a word. He must have used everything he had in his mind to say while we were in the office.

I didn't know whether to start a conversation or leave the silence linger. My thoughts ran rampant. I wondered how much courage and preparations Jounouchi did before coming to my office. I wondered if I should take the chance of letting him get close to me. Everyone that I truly cared about besides my brother always ran from me once they began to know me. So far everything that I did to push Jounouchi away only made him remain fully in place. I glanced over at Jounouchi. I did miss him and his smiles. Not the ones that he would smirk when he thought he was better than everyone, the ones that would cause his eyes to sparkle. I sighed in defeat. I was in love with Jounouchi. There was nothing I could do about the gravitational pull that he unleashed towards me. I smiled as I waited for Jounouchi to slide into the limousine. Maybe I could give this a chance.

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Could a year fly by without someone noticing? I would say yes. A year. Can you believe that? I've been with Jounouchi for an entire year and nothing horrible has happened. He made it through every angry event in my life. He was even my outlet a few times, but all he did was smile and told me that everything was going to be fine. Yugi had finally stopped watching me like a hawk a few months ago. There wasn't a day during those first few months after Jounouchi and I made our relationship official that he didn't call me and threaten to unleash Atemu's darkness on me if I were to hurt Jounouchi. Not that I wanted to hurt the blond beauty. I shook my head rapidly, realizing that I was staring at the wall in front of me like some love sick teenage girl.

I smoothed out the invisible wrinkles in my suit and stood to pace. Today was the day...or not. I bit my lip nervously and opened the locked drawer. Gone were the letters that made me sound like the devil incarnate and now a small black box sat in the huge drawer. I tapped my foot and shut the drawer, hearing the auto lock click in place. Maybe not today. I couldn't believe that I was nervous. Who would have ever thought? I've only been going out with Jounouchi for a year now. Are you tired of me telling you that yet? I'm in shock. "Flowers would be too girly," I thought, trying to solve the puzzle of asking Jounouchi to marry me.

"Dinner and a movie," I continued to think but nothing sounded right for Jounouchi. I continued to stare down at the sheet in front of me, not reading any of the words. For a month now I've been fretting over asking Jounouchi, but I couldn't find the perfect scenario that would guarantee a positive answer. Crossing off more and more scenarios, I finally decided that perhaps I should just ask him and not plan anything else.

I opened my briefcase and placed the small box inside. I moved out of my office and pass my secretary. She never questioned when I left, not that I expected her to anyway. I rode the elevator all the way down to the lobby, not paying attention to anyone who entered nor exited. My mind felt oddly distracted and I was unable to focus on the tasks for the day. It infuriated me that this one blond man could influence my thought pattern and leave it destroyed. I left the elevator, moving swiftly towards the exit until I heard my name being shouted. I turned, thinking it might have been an employee addressing me informally, but I was shocked to see Jounouchi running towards me. "What is it?"

"I was coming to see you. Luckily I saw you leaving the elevator before I got into a different one. You seem distracted today. What's wrong?"

I wanted to scream that he was the reason for my distraction, but my lips refused to say something cruelly. "Nothing," I answered, still moving out of the building. I didn't like talking to him while at work, not because I was embarrassed to be openly gay, but I didn't like people knowing my private life. He continued walking behind me and got into the limousine with me.

"Are you going to tell me now or wait until we got home?"

Home. I smiled to the word. For a long time I didn't think Jounouchi would ever call the mansion home. He tried making it on his own. Working and paying all the bills to continue to live in Yugi's house. I let him, not wanting to crush his pride. I would offer once a month until finally he told me he would like to move in. Even to this day we still have separate bedrooms. We don't use them half the time, but I feel more comfortable knowing that we're taking this slowly. We haven't even slept together. Shocking, huh? It did get close a few times, but I always stopped it. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I was still in disbelief that Jounouchi wanted me as much as I wanted him. "Kaiba," he called.

I shuddered hearing that name coming out of his lips. "Why do you still call me that?"

"I don't think I should address you as Seto until your bedroom or my bedroom becomes ours."

"Fine. It can become ours once you become my husband." There it slipped. All the weeks of planning and struggling to find the perfect time to ask him, it came as a slip of the tongue in the backseat of my limousine. I groaned and looked out the window. He remained silent before he started chuckling.

"I thought if you were to ask me, I would get a ring."

I reached for the briefcase, putting in the code to opened it and lifted out the small black box. I opened it, revealing a small silver ring that had a dragon with its tail wrapping around the band of the ring. Its eyes shined bright blue. He ran his finger along it before taking it out of the case. "How long did you have this?"

"Almost a month."

"I can't believe you've been worrying about this that long. I knew something was wrong, but I didn't want to bother you. Of course I will marry you." He held his hand out. I smiled and slipped it on his finger.

"I wanted something more glamorous, but I guess the back of a limousine is fine."

Jounouchi punched me in the arm. "Stop. I thought we agreed to not wallow on things. I would have told you yes even if you asked me in the middle of your office." Jounouchi leaned up and kissed me. "I'm planning the wedding and the honeymoon. You have no say in it."

I laughed. "As long as you give me three weeks noticed. I need to plan for a long honeymoon."

He smiled brightly at me before curling up beside me. "We'll decide the date together, but everything else is my plan." I played with his hair, running my fingers through the soft locks and down the back of his neck. I knew he was only saying this to keep the pressure off me. If he planned the wedding, I could focus on getting the company ahead of schedule in order to accommodate a few weeks off. I leaned my head on his head, knowing that the trip home would be short, but I was exhausted. Too much worry was a killer on the body. At least now, I had all I needed to live the rest of my life happily.

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I hope you liked it. Don't forget to read my other two that should be uploaded within the next couple of days. I just want to look over them one more time before I uploaded. Don't ask me where this idea came from it actually wasn't suppose to go this way when I first wrote it. Thank you all for reading. Let me know what you though