Summary has been changed and now states that this is a SetoXRyou fic.
Big thanks to those who have been reading with extra thanks for those of you who have taken the time to leave a review.
And ... I still own no rights to Yugioh!

Chapter Eight

The next morning Bakura woke up in one of the guest rooms at Kaiba's mansion. It wasn't long before he got out of bed, made his way downstairs and entered the dining room where Kaiba sat at the table reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.

"Sleep well?" Kaiba asked still focusing on the text in front of him.

"Not bad, considering the day I had yesterday." Bakura replied and sat down beside Kaiba. He was very grateful that Kaiba had listened to his problems last night and that he had agreed to help him sort things out.

"I've been thinking about last night." Kaiba spoke as he folded his newspaper and placed it flat on the table. "Why don't you move in here?"

"I can't do that." Bakura said shaking his head.

"Why not?" Kaiba felt slightly hurt by the way that his offer was rejected so quickly. "There's more than enough room and you wouldn't have to worry about working just to pay bills. So then you'll have more free time to yourself and won't feel so stressed and worn out all the time."

"But..." Bakura started to protest. Kaiba did have a point but he didn't want to burden his friend with looking after him too.

"What could be better than living with a friend?" Kaiba smiled warmly assuring Bakura that it was okay for him to accept the invitation.

"Thank you." Bakura smiled back. The only time someone had looked out for him was when the spirit of the millennium ring made sure that no harm came to his host for his own selfish reasons. He shuddered as some of the memories started to come back to him but knew that that part of his life was in the past and that the millennium ring was long gone. "But you have to agree to let me take a job to help pay my way." He told Kaiba.

Kaiba nodded in agreement even though the money aspect hadn't crossed his mind. "Why don't you come with me to work today?"

"You work on a Sunday?" Bakura was surprised that Kaiba spent his weekends working.

"I had a meeting already scheduled." Kaiba explained. "But since you're moving in I won't arrange to work anymore weekends, besides the company I'm dealing with might just have the job you're looking for."

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Kaiba Corp was about to unleash its first ever games console. When it came down to past experience in that field Kaiba's company had none, but he knew that he would easily beat the competition as his consoles were guarantied to be at least twice the power of the current models by the three main competitors. The meeting that was scheduled that morning was with one of the smaller software companies that Kaiba had a contract with to supply him with exclusive games and rights for his company's console.

In his first meeting with them, Kaiba had been so impressed with that he agreed to let them use his company's technology straight away to produce the game demos that were to be produced for today's meeting. The end result of what was presented before him lived up to his every expectation that he had. It had been previously mentioned that the game company was always on the look out for seeking new talented and skilled staff, which was why Kaiba had put forward Bakura as a possible candidate for them.

For the past hour they had been interviewing Bakura and now Kaiba was starting to think that maybe it hadn't been a good idea after all. Nervously Kaiba began to pace his office. His intentions had been to help his friend but now that he'd thought about it, Bakura didn't stand a chance at succeeding. Who in their right mind would employ someone with no résumé and who was clearly unprepared for an interview? He certainly wouldn't. There was a flutter in his stomach as he thought about Bakura.

Out of the corner of his eye he noticed that a painting hanging on his wall was slightly at the wrong angle. He straightened it and smiled as he remembered that it had been a gift for his last birthday from Mokuba. The painting itself he hated but the fact that his brother had bought it for him was the reason he kept it in his office. He laughed to himself at the thought that maybe Mokuba had known that he hated it and that was his brother's reason for giving it to him in the hope that he'd hate it so much that he'd spend less time working if he had to look at it constantly.

The fond memories of his brother began to fade as the reality of what had happened just a couple of months back came rushing back to Kaiba's mind. He missed Mokuba dearly but now knew that life had to go on without him. It had been Bakura who had made him see this fact and he owed him a lot for doing so. There was another flutter in his stomach.

Why did he keep getting these feelings every time he thought about Bakura? Was this what it was like to have friends? No, he had had friends before in his life, he wasn't always a loner. But it had been so long ago since he had been at the orphanage, not to mention the fact that he had also been a lot younger, so how could he be sure that he hadn't forgotten what it felt like? Kaiba had forgotten so many other things but he was sure that something like friendship wasn't the kind of thing that could be forgotten easily. He rolled his eyes at the thought that he was now starting to sound like Tea.

The only person Kaiba had truly cared about had been Mokuba but over the past couple of days he'd found himself caring for his friend just as much, maybe even more. How could it be possible for him to feel this way about someone who wasn't his brother? A knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts. "Enter." He said and felt his heart skip a beat as Bakura entered his office. Curiously he asked; "How did it go?"

"Okay I suppose." Bakura shrugged as he walked over to Kaiba but failing to hide his excitement as a smile appeared on his face. "They've given me a job in the art department doing scenery and backgrounds."

"That's great news." Kaiba replied surprised but happy that his friend had succeeded so well. "When do you start?"

"As soon as the semester has finished." Bakura answered the question asked. "Thank you so much for getting them to agree to interview me at such short notice. I never thought that I'd be able to get a job like this so soon and …. are you okay?" he asked seeing Kaiba look lost in his own thoughts.

Kaiba had indeed been lost in his own thoughts. If Bakura was due to start work once the semester had finished then that meant that they would both be tied up working and probably spend less time together. This was going to really bother him. "Ryou, there's something I need to say to you but I'm not sure how to say it." His checks started to redden.

"Just say whatever comes to mind first." Bakura could see that his friend was becoming embarrassed and uncomfortable with the situation. "Don't worry how it sounds, I'm sure I'll be able to make sense of it all."

Easier said than done. Kaiba thought to himself. The fluttering sensation in his stomach was now starting to become more frequent as he became even more nervous. He tried as best as he could to explain. "Since my brother died you've helped me a lot to come to terms with the reality that I just wanted to deny. From this tragic event I've gained two very important things to me, the first being you as my friend and the second is that I'm finally starting to realise who I really am."

For a moment Kaiba stared at Bakura as he tried to say what was on his mind but couldn't find the words to express it. Instead he reached out and pulled Bakura closer to him until their lips met. Kaiba could now feel his heart beating double time as adrenaline rushed through his body whilst his lips glided softly over and around Bakura's.

Slowly Kaiba broke away and saw Bakura standing there looking slightly dazed. The fact that Bakura hadn't pulled away was a good sign, but he hadn't returned the kiss either which made Kaiba feel slightly uneasy about what he had just done. "Well, say something." He pleaded.

Bakura blinked a couple of times still dazed and surprised at what Kaiba had done. "I …. erm …I…………" he stuttered lost for words before he fell silent again. The phone on Kaiba's desk began to ring. "You had better get that." He told him with a weak smile and started to blush.

Kaiba turned and headed for his desk. With his back to Bakura he leaned across and picked up the phone. "I'm kind of busy at the moment." He told the caller, a girl from supplies, who kept on talking over him. She was droning on about ordering toilet tissue for the Kaiba Corp bathrooms. "I really don't have time for this." Kaiba sighed but still the girl continued to chatter. If Bakura hadn't of been in the room he would have yelled down the line at her about asking him such rubbish that didn't concern him but instead kept as calm as possible. "People use it to wipe their ass, I'm sure they don't care what colour it is." Feed up with the conversation he cancelled the call and left the phone off the hook. "Sorry about that." He apologised to Bakura but when he turned back around he was nowhere to be seen. "Ryou?"

It felt like his stomach had been tied into knots. Kaiba had clearly just made a fool of himself, deeply offended and probably lost his only friend in the process. Since he didn't know at what point Bakura had left during the call it would be too late to try and catch up with him leaving as the elevator was most likely half way down or even at the bottom of the building by now.

Rain drops hit against the window as he raced over and looked down to see if he could spot Bakura. It was only a few seconds before he did spot the white haired boy hurrying away from the building as fast as he could. Angry with himself Kaiba cursed and smashed his fist against the reinforced glass before backing away to slump back in to his chair.

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Just before lunch Kaiba had decided to finish for the day as it was hard for him to concentrate on his work with what had happened earlier. He sat in the back of his limo watching the rain fall as he was chauffeured home. As the limo came down the drive Kaiba could see Bakura sitting on the steps leading up to the front door of his Mansion.

The limo stopped, Kaiba climbed out and signalled to his chauffeur to leave before he approached Bakura. "I didn't expect to see you again after your reaction earlier." He spoke calmly. "I even thought that you might have gone back to your old place."

My keys are in the mansion." Bakura began to explain as he stared down at the wet ground. "And since your maid doesn't work Sundays there's no way I can get in."

Kaiba reached in to his pocket and pulled out his keys. He placed the door key in the lock ready to turn as he continued to talk to Bakura. "I understand if you want to leave."

"I don't want to." Bakura raised his head to look at Kaiba. "I'm sorry that I ran away earlier. I just ……"He broke off and stared back at the ground in front of him where a puddle was starting to form. "Last night when you were holding me, I didn't want you to stop."

The key stopped turning as Kaiba froze at what Bakura had said. Was he trying to say that he felt the same? He listened as his friend went on. "I've been feeling so confused recently. You're the only person that has bothered to spend time with me outside of school hours and I really liked it. I learnt that you're not as horrible as some people make out and I found myself liking you, even more than what I should. But I just kept telling myself that I only felt this way about you because of the lack of people in my life." Water dripped down Bakura's long white hair and he pulled his jacket collar tighter to try and stop the cold droplets from going down the back of his neck. "I didn't ever expect you to feel the same way about me and now that I know you do, it scares me."

"I scare you?" Kaiba asked confused. Water was dripping down his hair too but it didn't bother him.

"Not you." Bakura replied as his vision began to blur from tears building up in his eyes.

"Then what?" Kaiba asked rather impatiently. "If we both feel the same then what is there to be scared of?"

"Losing you, what other people will say, and ……" his voice was extremely quiet and tears mixed with rain drops as they ran down his face. "Getting hurt."

Kaiba now felt bad for asking so rudely. Even if he didn't believe everything that he had been told about the millennium items, like the spirit that 'supposedly' had taken over Bakura, it was still clear that Bakura had been deeply hurt by it as well as other things in his past. He wasn't going to let the chance for them both to be happy just slip away.

Standing in front of Bakura, Kaiba crouched down and placed one knee on the ground, right in the puddle, to steady himself. "I'm not going anywhere, screw what others might think and say, and as for getting hurt." He reached out, placed his hands around Bakura's and smiled. "I won't let anyone or anything hurt you. I promise."

Bakura looked at Kaiba and saw the warm loving smile on his face. He believed that every word Kaiba had just said was the true. "What if I'm not ready?" he asked shyly.

"Ready for what?" Kaiba asked puzzled. He saw Bakura's checks flush a deep red colour and then knew that Bakura must have been talking about sex. Kaiba laughed softly. It hadn't crossed his mind just yet but now that Bakura had mentioned it…… "Then I'll be here waiting until you are." Both of them smiled at each other and held hands tightly. "Come on let's go inside where it's dry." Kaiba said as he helped Bakura rise to his feet.

Kaiba pushed the door open and let Bakura enter first. "I'll go and get us some dry clothes." He said closing the door behind him.

"Not for me." Bakura blurted out. "I have to go."

"But I thought……?" Kaiba was confused. They'd just talked through their feelings for each other realising that the both wanted to be together and yet here Bakura was still wanting to leave?

"I'll be back." Bakura laughed seeing the puzzled look on Kaiba's face before he started to run up the stairs to the room he had stayed in. "I just have to hand the keys back to my landlord. He'll be expecting me any time soon."

"I knew that!" Kaiba shouted after him feeling slightly embarrassed.