BEJ: I LOVE THIS!!! I've been up-dating regularly… it's nice, and a lovely new change for me… since I never used to up-date anything. But this is a new account – SO NEW LIFESTYLE!!! He he! Oh and thank you for reviewing, I feel loved, and I love you people.

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"Please come in."

Yami pushed the button again. "Th-thanks," he stuttered as the black gates opened and he hobbled up the drive.

The door was no less comforting, it was large, and possibly of a nicer color – with the impending fact that it was cherry. Yami knocked on it angrily, begging to be let inside, where his butt wouldn't fall off.

A few moments later Mokuba answered. His smile was the warmest thing Yami had seen for a while now. "Hey Yami! Come on in, are you here to see my brother?" he asked as he stepped aside to let the Game King enter.

Yami shivered into the sudden toasty warmth. He sighed relief that he'd made it. "Yeah, is he here now?"

"Yes! Hold on, I'll go let him know you're here. But wait… you're not here about today are you, 'cuz Seto's really sensitive about that right now. He might not want to see you right now, now that I think about it…"

Yami's face fell and looked at the boy with pleading eyes. "Mokuba, I came all the way here in the cold so I could see him… please… lemme talk to him. I can try to make him smile."

Mokuba hesitated for a moment before complying. "Alright, I'll be back in a minute," he said as he darted up the stairs towards his brother.

Yami sighed. Helping people was hard work.

He looked around the room for a nice place to sit and wait, he knew as well as any that it could be a while. He settled on a nice couch, not leather, velvet.

The Pharaoh sunk down into the luscious cushion. It hugged his sides well as he rested his head against a matching pillow.

It was so soft, and it was all he could do not to fall asleep.

…

But moments later Mokuba came flying down the stairs once again. "Yami, he doesn't really wanna talk right now… he's still kinda upse-"

"Mokuba, that's fine… bye." Yami said, but he didn't leave, instead he ran past Mokuba, up the stairs, and quickly glanced for a room he prayed Seto would be in.

He chose the one nearest him as he heard Mokuba yell up at him. It was a closet, and Yami hoped Seto wasn't in there.

So he went for the one at the end of the hall – another closet. But the one to the right of that was a bedroom, Yami could tell – the door was different, in an almost unnoticeable way.

Yami pushed the door open and stepped inside.

A person, Seto, was sitting on his bed with his knees pulled up to his chest, bloodshot tear-stained eyes, and a look of shock on his face.

"Seto…"

"Yami please, I-"

Yami walked to him slowly and put a finger to his lips. "I'm here for you, and I can't stop thinking about that tape. Seto, what happened? Why didn't you tell us?" he asked, his face full of concern for the depressed CEO.

Seto looked down and another tear fell from his gorgeous blue eyes. "I was scared… they said –" his voice choked.

Yami sat on the bed next to him and gave Seto a much needed hug. "Shh… breath," he whispered.

The Dragon Tamer sucked in air and paused.

"You were saying?"

"They swore to me… if I ever told anyone… they'd do it again. And I wouldn't come out alive… they were serious Yami. They had power, they have connections to people. It's not just a group of stupid boys, they're the line and sinkers to some big fish," Seto said quietly, and tearily.

Yami squeezed him tighter. "Seto, you don't have to worry. No one is going to hurt you anymore –"

"Yeah? Well that's what they said when Gozaburo left!" he yelled, pulling away from Yami's warm embrace.

"Seto, I know he was cruel to you-"

"No, you have no idea. You haven't the faintest conception under God of everything I've been through. And you never will," Seto said in monotone as he gazed in Yami's eyes. It was almost like he was blinding the older boy…

"You're right, no one besides you will ever understand what you've been through. But I am here to be a shoulder for you to cry on. This time you don't have to go through it all alone. You have lots of people who just want to help you,"

"That's what everyone said; my therapist, my doctor, everyone. But they don't understand that I don't want help. I want a friend, I want someone that I can actually talk to and call at 3:00 in the morning and talk to just because I had a bad dream, someone who knows me, not someone who knows about mental problems and about how to cope with life. Because they don't know my life, a friend would," Seto said softly as he looked down at his silk blue sheets.

"Well I'm your friend, and you know what, you could call me at 3:00 just to tell me you can't sleep," Yami replied with a smile.

Seto looked up at him, the tears looked almost distant now. "You mean that?"

The Pharaoh nodded. "But why wait 'til 3:00, talk to me now."

Seto got sad again. His eyes turned watery, and he looked away, avoiding eye contact. "Yami, you don't know how sensitive a subject rape is for me…"

"But I want to know. I want to know everything about you. This can just be our motive, so tell me what happened. From start to finish, and if you need to cry – its okay," Yami said as he, almostshyly, pulled the surprisingly light boy against his chest.

The blue eyed angel pulled with him a soft, light blue, home knit comforter against him, and curled up under it. He closed his eyes and laid his head on Yami's strong chest. To this the Pharaoh's eyes widened, he never would have thought that KAIBA – of all people would submit to his embrace and fall against his chest in tears, but Yami's only explanation for the unusual acts was the ever impending fact that the CEO was very vulnerable right now, and really needed someone.

"Why?"

The Pharaoh looked up confused. "Hmm?"

"Why does it mean so much to you? Why do you care so much?" he asked, his voice still showing signs of having cried a bunch not long ago.

Yami paused. He frowned and was grateful that Seto wasn't looking at him. "Well… because I care about you. I care immensely about all my friends, and you're my friend. So you mean a lot to me. Even if we don't always get along, I care," he said, a small smile of satisfaction creeping into his face.

This time it was Seto's turn to pause and think of what to say. "Oh… well, in that case. The other night, I was waling home – from work – and I had to stop at the H-E-B on Burnet Lane, so I could get some stuff, I don't remember what, but there were these guys down at the end of the school supplies isle, and they were all dressed in black, so I was kinda worried. That, and they were all glancing at me and doing that creepy 'huddle and laugh' thing – so I was creeped out. And when I was leaving, you know, checked out and everything – they were waiting outside. Of course I didn't notice, I had two giant bags I was focusing on, trying to balance them… and one of them came over to me. He asked if I had a light, and obviously I didn't. I don't smoke, well… yeah… but I told him no, and he said, 'well then what can I have?' – and I asked him what the fuck he was talking about – and that's when the other two came up from behind and grabbed me. One of them had that little cloth thing, the breather thing that makes you pass out… and the next thing I knew I was in their car on my to hell," Seto explained, getting through it all without crying. Yami was proud of him.

But his pride for Seto was over thrown by his horror at the story. "Oh my God… that's awful… what happened afterward though? I mean they didn't just leave you there permanently did they? They came back for you to take you home? Or someone else came? Did you call an ambulance?" Yami asked his anxiety level was at an unhealthy stage.

Seto did look at him this time. His blue eyes shined with an unspoken innocence, it was amazing how they told a story without words ever leaving his mouth. "No Yami, they left, and no one came. They didn't have a phone; they took their cell phones. I waited, waited until I could move, and I ran away. I couldn't think of anything else to do. I didn't have one, I didn't have anything."

"They didn't take anything of yours did they?"

"Only my dignity, what little of it that was actually mine anyway," Seto replied as he readjusted to be more comfortable; snuggling into Yami's chest, and putting his head in the crook of the older boy's neck.

Yami looked at him. This moment was precious, and it would never happen again, hell – Kaiba might never talk to Yami again, but for now. The only thing that mattered was that he was helping a friend, and he was doing it the right way for a change – not through empty words, but through actual kindness. Physical affection, something that was real and not just known. Something that was felt and not just shared. Something warm, not bitter and cold… the way words could be, so empty and nonchalant, so dense as air – forgotten, and held onto like a rope of redemption, leading back to nothing but pain, because the words are no more.

Time passed, neither of the boys was sure how much, but the air was getting colder, the sky was getting darker, and both were growing sleepier. Yami gently rubbed Seto's arm; the skin was cold. The Pharaoh guessed that it was time for them to sleep. He might have to go home also, if Yugi and Grandpa were back. He gently nudged the CEO to see if he was still awake. He got a groan in response.

"Nope, sleeping like a babeh," Yami whispered to himself as he gently pulled out from under the Dragon Tamer to leave. He knew that when Seto woke up he'd be freaked out because he was alone, but his family must have been worried that Yami wasn't home.

Just as he thought this, his cell phone began ringing. The large blast of "Vindicated", ring tone style, came blaring through the room. Yami winced, he didn't want to wake up Seto. He whipped it out and answered.

"Hello?!" he asked in a hushed, angry whisper.

"Hey! Where are you?" came Yugi's voice on the other side of the phone, bright and cheerful as ever.

Yami sighed and ran his fingers through his marijuana plant looking hair. "Hey, I'm at Seto's right now, we talked…"

"Oh my God! What'd he say? Is he alright, I mean, after that tape was shown to everyone he didn't go off and to anything stupid did he?" Yugi asked hurriedly, making Yami smile with his bubbly concern for everyone.

"He's better, he told me what happened. Yugi, these people are sick – I wanted to ask about why they threw a bunch of money on him before they left – but I was worried he's get upset. But I did get through and I think he's gonna be alright," Yami replied with a natural smile coming to his face as he realized the true reality of his own words.

"That's good, well, come home when you're ready – Grandpa ordered pizza. And hey, bring Seto too, we can all talk and watch a movie, no school tomorrow – remember?"

Yami sighed. "I don't know if he'd be up for that, I mean… he was even reluctant to talk to me about it."

"Then we won't talk about it, we'll just hang out. Spend some time with friends and pizza."

"I dunno…"

"Here, lemme talk to him – I know I can get through," Yugi said warmly.

Yami glanced at Seto, still curled up in his blanket. "Um… actually… he's asleep."

There was a pause on the other line. "Oh… well wake him up and bring him over, it would be nice to see him again. You can even bring Mokuba… though I don't think Seto would want him to watch this movie with us, Resident Evil tends to be quite a doozy on young children…"

Yami laughed his stinky laugh. "I'll tell him. Bye Yugi,"

"Bye."

And with that, the conversation with those two – was over

Yami put his phone back in his pocket and turned around. Seto was sitting on his side, head propped up by a hand, and was giving Yami the most adorable 'you are an idiot' look ever.

"I didn't wake you up did I? Mokuba's downstairs… he didn't go anywhere… I'm so sorry! That was Yugi and I had to make sure he knew I was okay 'cuz he was worried and –"

Seto interrupted him. "It's okay, I wasn't really that tired anyway… but that was the best nap I ever had…"

Yami smiled and held out his hand to help the CEO stand up.

Seto swatted it away. "I'm tired now ya poo head! You made me tired with all your babble about… well… I wasn't really listening – so I don't know."

Yami: sweatdrop "Well that's okay, because you probably don't want to go out anyway do you?"

"With you?"

"Well… I wouldn't say it like that. More like, I would take you to Yugi's house, you'd all eat pizza, hangout, and watch Resident Evil. It sounds like too much though right?" Yami asked, he seriously doubted that Seto would even want to go somewhere for something wonderful like ice cream – much less for Yugi.

Seto thought for a moment. "That'd be fun… I haven't seen a good zombie movie in a while. It would also be nice to be around people who don't judge me for what they saw… I hope not at least."

Yami shook his head. "No! We're all behind you 100!" he said dangerously, "and don't you forget it!"

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BEJ: . … please review! - and i know that it seemed like they were moving too fast - i'm sorry! : l