Yugioh © Takahashi Kazuki
Author's Notes:
1. The card "The Creator God of Light, Horakhty" is a real card from Duel Monsters TCG. Here is this card's description taken from Yugioh!Wikia: "Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned (from your hand) by Tributing 3 monsters whose original names are "Slifer the Sky Dragon", "Obelisk the Tormentor", and "The Winged Dragon of Ra", and cannot be Special Summoned by other ways. This card's Special Summon cannot be negated. The player that Special Summons this card wins the Duel."
2. This chapter earns itself M-rate for sexual content. Lemons for Prideshipping.
3. Some discussions, contents, explanations and theories in this chapter are purely writer's point of view (Mine!) for plot and not to be taken serious.
Chapter 7
"Your recuperation is amazing, Atemu-sama." The doctor told them with a smile. "I haven't met many people recover this fast from such severe concussion among other injuries."
They couldn't just tell him Shadow Magic did most of the work. Or who healed Atemu was half a soul of one man died 3000 years ago now lounging in his soul room. There was only so much the humans of this world could take.
"Do you think he can go back to normal activities starting tomorrow?" Kaiba questioned the doctor but keeping his eyes on Atemu.
"Normally I would advise against that, Seto-sama." The doctor straightened up, finalized his regular checkup on Atemu and turned to face Kaiba, "But I don't see why not in his case. However please be careful if he shows signs of headache or dizziness. If he does, please bring him to the nearest hospital immediately. But I am positive he won't. You should still have him eat only healthy foods, drink a lot of fruit juice. And lastly, don't stress him."
Kaiba nodded. "Alright." To Atemu, he said, "Still no fried for you."
Atemu glared at him.
The doctor cleared his throat, knowing it was his cue to escape by the change of atmosphere. "This would be all. I shall take my leave now. Good night to both of you, Seto-sama, Atemu-sama." He bowed.
Kaiba nodded. Atemu inclined his head and said his thank to the man had taken care of him.
"Actually we doctors haven't done any more than Seto-sama." The doctor smiled, "Hasn't he told you? He—"
"That was nothing." Kaiba cut him off. "I'll show you to the door."
Realized his slip, the doctor immediately bowed, "My apologies, Seto-sama."
Wordlessly, Kaiba walked toward the door and the doctor scurried after him, leaving a perplexed Atemu in the room until Kaiba came back.
"Are you going to continue where he left of?" Atemu frowned in Kaiba's direction as soon as the CEO secured the locks of his room.
"No." The finality in Kaiba's answer let Atemu know pushing him for more information would be futile.
Atemu sighed, "Seto…" One after another, they just had to keep things from him.
Kaiba stood in front of Atemu, used his thumb and forefinger to lift Atemu's face and smirked, "Don't worry. We have a whole life time for you to repay me."
"I don't know if we are going to be like this for long." Atemu turned his head away from Kaiba's fingers and avoided blue eyes, "Something may happen. One of us may leave. Or we may realize it's best to be like before. There are many things unsaid between us."
Kaiba crouched to level his eyes with Atemu's, bracing his hands on either side of the former Pharaoh on the bed. Nudging Atemu's nose playfully with his, he dropped his voice to a lower timbre, "Or we will always be like this. Something may happen and push us to be closer than now. One of us may leave and realize it is an impossible thing to do. And we are still like before, but not only that from now on. Don't you realize you are making me say a lot of stupid things I normally wouldn't, and I am willing to do so?"
Atemu gave him a small smile, "You have been doing that a lot these days."
"This shouldn't surprise you."
"Why so?"
"I have changed since I met you. And I have changed again every time we met after."
Atemu hummed softly in agreement, "You have."
"Meeting you, knowing you, even merely crossing path with you changed a lot of people. I am just another one of them."
Placed his hands on Kaiba's cheeks, Atemu whispered, "You are not just another one."
"Maybe not," Kaiba agreed, "But I am feeling a little threatened by your feeling for Yuugi." He hinted suggestively.
Atemu chuckled, "Just as you are being both a father and brother to Mokuba, Yuugi is like my little one. Of course you feel unsettling about him. I hope he will take this well."
"You sound like we are a pair of widowers."
"I am not certain about you, but I actually am." Atemu humored him.
"No, you are not. You have never married to him." Kaiba contradicted.
"I was a Pharaoh. I didn't need to marry to have a partner." Atemu reminded him.
"He was not one of your bedmate when you were alive back then." Kaiba persisted.
"I see. Something like that happened after."
… Shit.
"Since you have slipped. Let us hear the story, Seto." Atemu said with a blank face. And that was very disturbing.
"No." The word seemed to be Kaiba's last defending method now.
"I can always go in your soul room, Seto."
"It is an invasion of privacy."
"Touching me like a lover without my knowledge isn't?"
"They are not the same things."
"So he did."
… Double shit.
"I have my doubt from the way he touches me. Those are not his touches I was familiar with, but my body certainly remembers him."
Kaiba had nothing to say. He had nothing to do with it to begin with. But he found himself unable to look in Atemu's eyes.
"Seto," Atemu guided Kaiba to look up at him, the reincarnated Priest appeared to forget he had been holding his cheeks captive in his hands, "Tell me how much I had hurt him."
"What difference can you do in knowing now?" Kaiba questioned instead.
"True that there is nothing I can do." Atemu said with an empty smile, "But I want to know him more, to understand him. I feel a barrier between us, but at the same time there is none."
"What about me?" Kaiba leaned away from Atemu, removed himself from the bed and stood facing the other.
"This is also about you." Atemu told him, placed his hands on his lap, "Don't carry his memories all by yourself. Don't feel wrong for something you didn't do."
"Sharing has never been my favorite word." Kaiba refused to make any remark about Atemu's later requests.
"Ignoring Seth's impact on each of us, especially you, isn't the way to face this."
"You forgive him. You forgive whatever you have figured out he did to your body." Kaiba didn't know how to tell apart his mixed feelings toward this. Pity. Disgust. Hate. Envy. And more and all aimed at his ancestor.
"There is nothing else I can do for him at the time. Like you said, I died on him after I told him my feeling. In protecting and saving Khemet, himself included, I hurt him more than I have acknowledged." Atemu tilted his head to look at Kaiba, letting him see the sadness and resignation he felt in his and Seth's situation. "Until now, I am in love with him."
Kaiba exhaled audibly, turned his back on Atemu, preferred having his eyes on the same dark and boring scenery on the other side of the window.
"Do you want me to choose, Seto?" Atemu asked, "Between you and Seth."
"Can you?" Kaiba challenged, still facing away.
"Yes."
"You choose him."
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I wouldn't forgive myself if I chose you. You wouldn't, too."
"I would."
"Seto, I would be no longer the same person you want if I was not myself. Choosing you over him is exactly that."
"I am good at denial. I can deceive myself if it fits my purpose."
Atemu smiled sardonically, "Lying to oneself is tiring, Seto."
"Why do you have to do everything with both me and him in mind? Can't you prefer one of us over the other?" Kaiba interrogated harshly, his fingers curled into fists. He was angry. Couldn't Atemu be a little selfish or could Atemu be too selfish that it became selfless in his eyes?
"Look at me, Seto." Atemu requested. Kaiba tensed but he turned around to do as he was told. "I can choose between you and him. But if I had to place one of you over the other, I would prefer being sealed in the Puzzle forever or remaining in the afterlife."
Kaiba sat down beside the monarch, covered his eyes with one hand. "Your cruelty knows no bound."
"I am no Saint." Atemu pointed out with a soft chuckle, "I told Seth that I don't want to lose any of you."
"I don't know if this can be called two-timing." Kaiba glared at Atemu from the gap between his fingers.
Atemu tilted his head to give Kaiba a side glance. "In my defense I'm going to remind you I was a Pharaoh."
"So now am I going to compete with every Tom, Dick and Harry that wants to get on your bed?" The reincarnated Priest groused.
"I have expensive taste too, Seto. Unless I have brief usage for the person, no one without my blood will get to stay in my bed. Not then, not now, not ever." Atemu pulled Kaiba's hand from his face, holding the reincarnated Priest's chin with his fingers after, allowed a smirk visible on the corner of his lips. "We Royals are different from the rest. Pharaoh is living Horus, a God himself. By copulating with our own flesh and blood, we keep our line pure and being closer to our origin, our Gods. While incest was not uncommon, it was also not wide practiced in my time within the commoners. Because they were "mere humans", unlike us."
"What if I was not his descendant?" Kaiba questioned.
"There is no what if in your origin, Seto. But if you are interested in knowing my answer, I will indulge you." Atemu leaned closer, hand moved from Kaiba's chin to his cheek, lips feathering his other cheek. "Do you wish to hear it?"
Kaiba closed his eyes to block the seducing sensation. Did he? What would his life be now if he didn't inherit Seth's blood within him since the day he was born? Who would he have become then? No, it…
"That question rejects your very existence, Seto." Atemu said as if he had been listening to Kaiba's thought. "You might not lose your parents at young age. You wouldn't have Mokuba. You wouldn't meet Gozaburo. You wouldn't become Kaiba Seto. You wouldn't stay sane after having the first taste of my Penalty Game. The only person in this whole world can summon Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon wouldn't be you. And most of all, you wouldn't ever come close to be this important to me."
For the first time, Kaiba felt suffocated. "I…"
"I want you too, Seto." Atemu whispered against Kaiba's lips, again moved his hand from his companion's cheek to the back of his neck. "You, who have changed since the first time I met you. The person you have become today. Someday I want to know and understand the you of your past, if you will let me."
Kaiba kissed Atemu, hard, if only to shut him up, pulling Atemu on top of him on the bed as he did so.
Somewhere along the way, Atemu had undone the knot of his yukata, freeing himself of his garment. But he prevented Kaiba's attempt to remove his own clothes by capturing his hands, keeping both limbs on either side of brunette head with his. "You are my present, Seto." Atemu grinned predatorily in Kaiba's ear before biting his lobe, humming satisfactorily at the reward breath hitching noise from his companion. "I like the sounds you made too. For taking advantage of me and bully me these past days, I am going to unwrap you until my mercy makes me stop."
Kaiba widened his eyes at the warning. "No! You—!" It was a little relief that his dignity was intact from halting his next word on time because it would certainly be muffled by Atemu's kiss. That lithe body of the Pharaoh was hiding too much strength to be legal! Even if Atemu was trained in various kinds of combat, war tactics and enhanced mystical power, his body was suspended for 3000 years without exercises; Kaiba himself was not hopeless in brute force and martial arts, in fact he could earn a few world championship medals if he cared to collect some. But fighting Atemu for dominance in bed was a little close to impossible just like finding a way to defeat him in Duel Monsters! So what was he supposed to do with that recent statement of the monarch? Trying to keep his clothes on? Ripped them off before Atemu could?
Kaiba budged and, miraculously, pinned Atemu successfully beneath him, their fingers interlacing but in a vicious way, nowhere close to the definition of intimate with how their nails clawing skin. It was his time to grin, basking in his victory—
Atemu flipped them over. "I wonder about that, Seto." He purred before biting Kaiba's other ear, resulted in half a groan was swallowed back down the CEO's throat. Atemu paused, a low chuckle rumbled from his chest, his lips trailed a scorching line down Kaiba's neck as he murmured, "There is a little information I think both you and Seth would be interested in."
Kaiba was sure nothing could get him more interested than taking back his control.
"I have never copulated with Teana."
Kaiba stilled, his struggling disappeared. "What?" His voice sounded strangely like it was on the verge of breaking.
"It was true I did touch her. I was fairly curious at what my age was doing to me. I started noticing something I didn't before. There were many available and willing, but their aura of greed and lust for power disgusted me. Teana was at least considered decent and friendly back then. However I am not going to forgive her now for possibly causing pain to my Seth using me."
Kaiba heard him clearly. But all he could focus on was… "You have never…"
"That's why I told you she lied. I know it was an important act of intimacy stemmed from intense feelings. The only person I wished to experience it with was not her. It was his face in my mind. I knew without any more doubt I had fallen for him against my duty of a Pharaoh and protector of Khemet, my heart was no longer had Her in first and foremost place since then. But I wouldn't drag him down with me. At least the Gods were merciful and we didn't end up like Horus and Seth."
"What do you mean by that?" Kaiba asked with a foreboding sense of dread in his stomach. He didn't want to know but it was not something he could pretend ignorance about.
"Kisara." Atemu told him. "Kisara was not a wild card, she was an ace card to turn Seth on me."
"Ridiculous!" Kaiba roared, "A woman was not enough to put his loyalty to you on test!"
"She was not a mere woman, Seto. She was a part of his Ba that was born split from him as the host to his White Dragon." Atemu relaxed and lowered himself on top of Kaiba's chest, putting his ear over the CEO's wildly beating heart. "There was a need for someone to be on constant challenge with me, to horn me, to force me follow my destiny. It was him. He pushed me to be better, my friend, my rival, my heart. The Gods had no plan for me to remain with the living after Zorc was defeated. Seth was supposed to be the one return me to them. But he wouldn't. That was when Kisara appeared in the picture. Her death was supposed to ignite his hatred for me, leading him to believe I was the cause of all chaos happened in Khemet and Zorc."
Kaiba laughed, the hilarious and obnoxious laugh he was often found associate with when something went smoothly according to his plan. Atemu smiled, his cheek nuzzling Kaiba's skin, felt himself pleasantly stimulated by the vibration from the CEO's chest and contented to remain like this. Only Kaiba had other plan, he untangled their fingers to wrap his hands around Atemu waist and pull the smaller person up until their nose touching. "Even when your soul left, your body was alive despite losing the heat of a living being. Your cousin fed it with his Shadow Magic using both his Millennium Rod and the Millennium Puzzle he inherited from you, and half of his soul before he died, then suspended it with witchcraft to ensure its subsisting state after he passed away. When he was in front of the gate to the afterlife, he challenged the Gods for your freedom. Once again he split his soul to merge with his Ka and resided within your soul labyrinth and what remain was put in dormant until the time came."
"The reappearance of my soul when Yuugi solved Millennium Puzzle triggered his challenge?" Atemu questioned in a daze, his dear Seth… his dear and daring Seth…
Kaiba smirked, for once Atemu made a wrong guess. "It had already started since he created the Memory Tablet. Haven't you realized? The part that he was the one who created it. It was also him had left the hint of Eighth Key being your name in the underground chamber of Kul Elna."
Atemu put an arm across Kaiba's chest, cushioned his elbow on it and propped his chin on the back of his hand. "I was wondering why something he created hold the power to redo my past." He smiled lovingly, "According to the second time it happened, even if I have no memory after I made him my successor, I didn't die at that point."
"Thus, only I know there is no reason for you to walk pass that gate while your body is still alive. But that was not the reason you went through with the Ishtar's story of Ceremonial Battle." Kaiba raised an eyebrow, "You realized it, didn't you?"
"It was the Gods' last attempt to retrieve my soul." Atemu said evasively.
"The Creator God of Light, Horakhty." Kaiba snaked his hand under the bed headboard, where he moved a hidden contraption. The wood pieces made up the board rearranged themselves and came apart to reveal a card in crystal case at the center. "This card is meant to be chosen for your last battle against Yuugi. It guarantees your absolute victory the moment you summoned all three Egyptian Gods. But you didn't have it with you and it appeared near me after."
Atemu tilted his head, "I couldn't do that to Yuugi. It's like cheating."
Kaiba snorted. "Then why did you let him challenge you?"
"Should I let you do it? I don't think so." Atemu angled his head and kissed Kaiba. Leaning back slightly, he murmured, "You've known of this card's existence, you would force me use it against you."
"No. I only waited for my chance when your soul was parted from his body. It was the only purpose for Ishizu to mention the Ceremonial Battle. Yuugi and the rest were not fully awaken from their experience in your past to figure out their little act."
"Doesn't change a fact the Ceremonial Battle must happen." Atemu reminded him.
"It doesn't. It also doesn't have to be occurred by playing Duel Monsters. By Shadow Game's rule that they didn't even realize yours and Yuugi's soul were at stake, you could have chosen a Shadow Duel, which I am certain victory would also be yours. I acknowledge Yuugi is strong, but his strength has a limit called human." Kaiba caressed Atemu's cheek with his thumb, grinning sadistically, "Yours, on the other hand, is of a God, being a Pharaoh yourself. The Millennium Items could be sealed in various ways easily by those with knowledge of Shadow Magic, like I did hide them within your soul labyrinth. I has demonstrated there was no need to sacrifice your soul to seal them. The creation of Millennium Items was equally paid by the lives of Kul Elna. The first time you had sealed your soul and Zorc, your cousin had planned to bring you back by using the prophecy of your reappearance in the future and placed his bet with the Gods for another chance to determine your outcome. With you purged Zorc completely that second time had nullified your supposed death, revoked the only reason for you to lose your life. So the real purpose of Ceremonial Battle is to force your soul walk through that door in name of protecting the flow of history because you wouldn't sacrifice Yuugi. You have figured out if you won, you would gain his life as Mutou Yuugi while the real one endured your kismet."
"As expect of my Seth and his blood, do you acknowledge you are risking your own existence by exposing the Gods' playground this way?" Atemu threatened with burning crimson eyes.
"I am not become Kaiba Seto to live a normal life." Kaiba lifted his chin arrogantly.
"You are prepared to be punished by a divinity, then?" Atemu braced one hand on the pillow beside Kaiba's head as his other hand stopped on the first button of his companion's shirt. "A God's desire is a terrible thing, Seto." He growled near Kaiba's ear then dipped his head, clamped his lips over the flesh of the exposing throat and sucked strongly before he pulled away to lick at the red mark he had created. Eye half-mast, crimson orbs found the face of his partner and narrowed more at the sight presented before him. Sapphires covered behind closed lids, Kaiba hung his mouth slightly opened to accommodate his uneven breathing pattern that was going to be an impossible task for his nose soon.
Atemu chuckled low in his throat, kissing down Kaiba's chest now that he was halfway done undressing the other, "Are you still with me, Seto?"
Piercing blue eyes revealed themselves and immediately glared down at the person on top of him, Kaiba gripped the back of the Pharaoh's neck with one hand, careful with his head as he pinned Atemu down, seized his wrists and kept them above his head to prevent any move to flip their position, and kissed him, dominated him before his chance was lost again. When Kaiba pulled away, they both were breathing heavily, fanning each other's faces with their hot exhalations. "I told you. You are all mine after that is over." Kaiba hissed and recaptured Atemu's lips with his again. Atemu arched, pushing their lower region together. The sudden spike of pleasure momentarily shocked Kaiba into loosening his hold on Atemu's wrists, giving chance for the former Pharaoh to free himself. But instead of reclaiming his dominance, he wound his arms around Kaiba's neck and locked his legs around strong hips, pulling his soon-to-be lover impossibly closer.
The next time they parted, Atemu trailed his hand on Kaiba's cheek, his voice was a sin, "If you like your current attire, my Seto, I advise you to remove them before I change my mind and do it for you. Trust me, if that happens you won't be able to use them again."
Kaiba raised an eyebrow and, in a swift movement followed with a loud sound of torn fabric, he was just as naked as the person beneath him. "I have extensive wardrobe and I am going to join you on a shopping trip tomorrow. What kind of threat had you just delivered?"
Atemu blinked before he laughed, and very soon his laughter melt into moans.
As Kaiba was dining in the feel of Atemu around him, clenching and unclenching and velvet heat and his voice, he groaned in his lover's ear, "I have a confession to make, Atemu."
Atemu gasped for another thrust hit him where he wanted most, another, and another. His hands on either side, curling, griping the bed sheet tightly, head throwing from side to side. Their mingling sweats splattered in various directions with their frantic coupling. "Se—tooooh!" He couldn't hold back his voice simply because it was completely futile.
"He might have you like a lover, but he dared not to use any part of himself that was sullied by other women to touch you." Kaiba hissed against Atemu's lips before stuffing his throat with his lover's screams. He timed his next strike, "Like this!" And thrust, and relaxed his hold on Atemu's manhood a second after. They pawed and bit each other during their release to soft nips and licks here and there when their high died down.
It was until they were lying on their side facing each other that Kaiba ran his thumb along Atemu's lip, he asked, "Do you regret it?"
Atemu parted his lips to let his tongue out, flicking the pad of Kaiba's thumb and bit it before released the digit, then he leaned in and kissed the tip of his lover's nose. "Thank you." He whispered, "I love being with you."
Kaiba hugged Atemu tightly. This was both personal and emotional, and dangerous. He couldn't lose Atemu anymore.
"Seto." Atemu called, a little perplexed from catching bits of Kaiba's unsettling demeanor. "Seto?"
"Nothing," Kaiba croaked hoarsely against the side of Atemu's head, "Let me stay like this." He breathed, voice thick with tear, his hold tightening, "Just like this.".
Atemu turned his head with little success because of Kaiba's persistence hands holding him. But they were rivals, they were on par with each other on everything, even stubbornness. Atemu could feel it clearly now. Boundless dread, immense terror, a much deeper layer of fear. It darkened both Seth's presence in his soul room and the aura of Seto in his arms. "Look at me, Seto." He ordered.
It was an order that demanded his blood to obey, and Kaiba had no way to fight its dominance over him.
The vulnerable look in Seto's eyes angered him. Atemu felt cold rage tethering on the surface without any physical object to extract his fury on. He was going to conquer it right about now. In a much calmer voice contrasted to his inner wrath, Atemu proposed, "Repeat after me and mean it with your whole being, Seto. Take your time to let it sink, but only say it when you mean it." Their surrounding was eaten by the familiar darkness of a Shadow Game. "If you fail, you lose and will be punished accordingly. Simple rule, is it not?" Atemu smiled eerily.
Pupil dilated, Kaiba could only say the most common thing came to his mind. "What… are you doing?"
"Game starts." Atemu announced with the same smile on his lips.
"No—!" Kaiba protested, but finding out something was eating away his strength and he had no idea what could he do now.
Atemu smirked, ignored the weak struggling, "You are mine."
Kaiba started at Atemu incredulously. The Pharaoh initiated a Shadow Game just for that?! He opened his mouth with full intention to call the other to cut off his stunt.
"Be careful of the rule, Seto." Atemu warned him mischievously.
Unknown to Kaiba, there was Atemu's lubricious fingers close to his scrotum. When Atemu played with it using the tip of his fingers, Kaiba gasped and opened his mouth but he was on time to stifle his moan.
"You are mine." Atemu repeated. Slithered his first digit in the last virgin passage had yet to be deflowered and was about to. His lips moved over a half-erect peak to form the same words again before engulfed it, drawing circle around it with his tongue, gently nipped and grazed it with his teeth, sucking it. His finger started moving in rhythm.
Kaiba's breathing quickened as a new wave of arousal hit him. He tried moving his hands but was unable to. When he glanced up to see what happened, they were bound by thin threat of shadow like dark smoke to the bedposts. He looked back at Atemu, who was eyeing him with no small amount of cruel laughter in his crimson depth. Kaiba gritted his teeth when Atemu released his thoroughly abused nipple with an obscene noise and moved over to another one already stood up waiting for attention as his body lustfully accustomed to another finger without much protest and pushing against the two digits, begging for more. He was betrayed by his own body!
"You are mine." Atemu slid the third finger inside his lover and went to place kisses and licks downward, dipping his tongue in Kaiba's navel. It had been one of his own pleasure point, he hoped the same would be applied on his Seto, too. Apparently it was, because his captive tensed up more in suppressing his noises. His three digits occasionally spread out during their movements. Atemu continued skimming his lips downward until something stopped him by grazing his cheek. It stood rigid and full. Atemu kissed the leaking tip, running his tongue along his lips when he drew back to test the taste and decided he would like to meticulously sample it at a later occasion. He leaned back and withdrew his fingers completely.
Atemu moved in between Kaiba's legs, draping his body over his lover's. Hands on the other's cheeks, he coaxed gently, "Say it, Seto." He pressed their lips together and pulled away, smiling, "Tell me who I belong to."
Kaiba closed his eyes. A strange sense of reassurance washed over him, forcing the fear of lost under control. If being with him one day would push Atemu to do something like he did 3000 years ago or even stupider, then he was going to stay by Atemu's side, to stop the Pharaoh, or at the very least going after Atemu, to win him back to where he belonged like now. If Seth could do it, then he could, too. And he meant it.
Atemu watched as the blue eyes revealed themselves, disclosed their owner's resolve and conviction. He lowered his lids, and smirked. The Shadow Game was dispatching, got denied of his Seto's fear to continue feasting on. For Seto to be once again consumed by his own darkness was unbecoming. This person was his rival, his Seto after all.
Crimson eyes focused intensely on Kaiba's lips as they parted to form those three words. Atemu barely withheld himself, but he tried. However when he heard Seto, he lost it. He reciprocated Seto's possession over him, claiming his lover on spiritual then physical level, making certain nothing else was going to postpone their union.
This time Atemu was lying on his stomach atop Kaiba, who had one hand over the small of his back. His finger tip drew a loop around the bright red bruise a little below his companion's throat he had left earlier, Atemu sighed contently. The silence was comfortable and welcomed. Feeling more playful than usual, Atemu crawled up and kissed the tip of Kaiba's nose to have his lover's eyes on him. He hummed, feigning thoughtful at Kaiba's quiet inquiring then smiled coyly, "Are you planning to revenge your chastity now? Or I can go ahead and help myself to a post-coital massage in your sizable bath pool?"
Kaiba's answer was a grin that stated "challenge accept". Threw Atemu's hands around his shoulders and guided the tan legs to wrap around his hips, one hand groped the round bottom and the other weaving in tricolor hair to angle Atemu's head and kissed him, Kaiba slid off his bed and walked toward his shower. When they parted for air, he nipped Atemu's neck before demanding, "Both."
It was a strange feeling, waking up with expectancy. This new addition came with Atemu's present being closer than before, and not just on the physical level. There was a sense of anticipation even though Kaiba had already known Atemu still slumbering beside him, as well as how the former Pharaoh looked when he was sleeping, and most if not all of his unconscious habits. There was a foreign and tranquil kind of familiarity in sharing his bed with Atemu that was completely different from the times he held Mokuba all night to keep nightmares away from his brother's sleep. If he was to go back to have his bed for himself and waking up all alone, he had his doubt that it would feel as pleasant. Maybe it was because of their equal standing, that he didn't have to be the stronger one all the time, that he became out of his character completely and willingly gave control to Atemu when the situation called for it. Or maybe the blood of Seth flowing in him recognized Atemu as someone his existence had to bow down, and obey, and please, and protect, and indulge, and service, and be close, and give up everything for, and love. Because, as Seth said, all who inherited his blood was born for Atemu. That man had never died. He lived on in his own blood to watch over his Pharaoh, cousin, and love, cursing whoever of his blood ever had thought of betraying his precious person, to death.
Thus, in the Seth lineage, there was "Curse of Seth" beside "Blood of Seth", those who were born from His for Him. Over the millennia, descendants of his flesh and blood attempted to escape their fate of servitude to the Pharaoh Atem by weakening his DNA, moving to other countries to create their own families, and realized what they did was all for naught in the end. That had given name to the "Curse of Seth". You, who was born from Seth but without Atem in your heart, be gone. A reminder of whom gave them their lives and existences, all for the sake of that person. There was no exception. "Gone" was to experience death slowly, feeling it eat away your sanity, your life, and lastly your existence. Kaiba had forgotten his given name before he became Kaiba "Seto". It was another proof of Seth's existence to this day and time. There was a bright side for Mokuba, however. Most likely because according to Atemu's statement, Mokuba was the reincarnation of Kisara, Seth would never harm her. Even the Other Yuugi himself had hold back from his punishment at their first meeting. While Mokuba fell in his own traps, the Other Yuugi had never given him any serious Penalty Game despite initiating a Shadow Game himself. His younger sibling had waken after a good sleep and passed it as usual nightmare. Could the Other Yuugi unconsciously feel Mokuba was not to be hurt because of the Pharaoh's gratefulness toward Kisara for giving Seth her love and devotion and Light? Or he recognized Mokuba as the most important piece to reassemble Kaiba Seto's puzzle of his heart that he would crush later? It could be both, it could be none, or it could be mere coincidence. Kaiba wouldn't place any bet on the third one, because there was no coincidence in his encounter with Mutou Yuugi.
Everything that had happened all for the sake of this person sleeping beside him, on his bed. Even when his name was disclosed, many mysteries around Atemu remained uncovered. Kaiba agreed it was better to keep things that way. This world shouldn't be aware of what it was not meant to know. Such as how a person supposed to be not even in existence anymore was well and living in his house.
Kaiba ran the back of his fingertips on Atemu's cheek. "Because you are a sphinx." He chuckled at his own pun. As if hearing Kaiba's tease, Atemu turned away from the wandering fingers on his face and jutted his lips in a small pout. Blue eyes seemed to be laughing at the sight, Kaiba watched Atemu for a while before he raised and headed for his bathroom to start his new day's routine. That face was just calling to be ravished again the longer he looked. But dealing with Atemu enhanced his immunity to Mokuba's various kicked puppy expressions and he really had nothing to complain about.
It wasn't long before Atemu joined him with a full force pout. Turned out his resident Pharaoh didn't like waking up alone.
"Hmm," Atemu narrowed his eyes at Kaiba's today schedule in the CEO's smartphone, "This explains my hunch of being set up the day you terrorized my school."
"It doesn't." Kaiba denied.
"There is no coincidence in this world." Atemu stated with a raise of his chin, "If I am to guess, you had seen Otogi in the guest list and formulated your plan of kidnapping me."
Kaiba put his index-finger on the bridge of his reading glasses, lowered it and stared at Atemu blankly, "Are you blaming me for your Stockholm Syndrome?"
"My pour soul," Atemu sighed, put his hand over his chest for dramatic effect, "Up until recently I was a faithful widower, but since last night I have taken the next step with the blood of my love…"
"I will apply you for a missing role in the new criminal action movie. That annoying director has been complaining with me none of the candidates for leading male role is good enough." Kaiba deadpanned.
"But my heart is not ready, Seto!" Atemu gasped, his eyes widened in horror, lips trembling and eyes shimmered, closed to tear.
"Good. I am the one didn't fall for your little act, which means the antagonist role will fit you just as well." Kaiba took his phone back from Atemu's hand and appointed a meeting with said unpleasant director.
"My lover is a slave driver." Atemu announced flatly, face void of his earlier emotional expression.
"Ever since you appeared, Yuugi had turned from a bunny into a hot boy thanks to your good fashion sense. So I'm sending you over to Modeling Department after you are done testing your acting skill." Kaiba went on, completely ignored Atemu's comment.
"And he is a merciless boss." Atemu droned.
"Because your cousin was a stalker, I get to know you can sing well and have a valuable tenor. So you will come with me to the Studio too." Kaiba tapped again to put another mark on the check list in his phone.
"I am glad you finally admit you are my stalker, darling cousin." Atemu emphasized with an agreeing nod.
Kaiba turned his head, facing Atemu's abdomen and bit his belly over thin layer of the shirt he was wearing.
"Ouch! Seto!" Atemu swatted Kaiba's shoulder in retaliation, having not the heart to disfigure that pretty brunette head laying in his lap as they reposed on the chaise lounge.
Curled his hand behind Atemu's neck to pull him down, Kaiba tilted his head up and lowered his lids. They kissed. Simply touching, brushing, nipping each other's lips over and over again with no tongue in play.
The door to the study room they were in opened without any kind of announcement, a familiar voice boomed, "Good morning! Mokuba the Great is here!" At least he didn't burst it this time.
Atemu reluctantly withdrew a little and together, he and Kaiba turned their eyes toward the entrance way.
Jounouchi had a problem, his jaw was on the ground and wouldn't come up anytime soon.
Honda and Ryo stared.
Anzu looked like she was debating with herself to explode first or to cry first.
As for Yuugi, he gaped at Atemu and pulled at Mokuba's sleeve, "I think I am hallucinating."
"You are not, Aibou." Atemu inclined his head, "I think it's the right time. Let's continue our talk from yesterday." He gestured with his hand to the sofa and armchairs across them, "Have a seat, everyone. You too, Mokuba." He called as the kid attempted to escape when no one was looking.
Mokuba shrank. He looked over to his brother for help, only to see said brother covered his mouth with one hand, yawning in boredom and not moving from his previous position still cushioning his head on Atemu's lap. He pouted. Bummer!
TBC
I was planning to update Cat and Mouse today instead but when I checked it and realized it had spoilers for later chapters of this story so I decided to hold it. I only realized the first chapter had already spoiled a little information from chapter 6 and 7 of this story when I posted it before I updated this story with chapter 6 last week... sigh.
