Chapter 10: Emerging Details

Kaiba once again emerged from one darkness into another, blinking slowly as he reentered the world of the living from the land of dark dreams. He wasn't alone, but he recognized that he was in his office bedroom at Kaiba Corporation, so that meant it could only be one person. "Mokuba, you're supposed to be at Yuugi's," Kaiba muttered through a groan, wondering if his brother had come over after hearing about the phone call.

"He still is," Ogata smoothly answered, still typing on his laptop. He had been doing research on Hoshino Haruna while waiting for Kaiba to wake up, but he wasn't finding terribly promising results beyond what he had already discovered.

Kaiba rolled over to face the sound of Ogata's voice and had to bite back a groan as the action made the room spin. "How did you get in here?" Kaiba growled, squinting his eyes against the light the laptop screen was giving off in the small room.

"You tell me," Ogata countered, finishing up so he could properly focus on his boss.

"What did you do, pry my eye open to scan it?" Kaiba accused, wondering how his sole sanctuary had been breached.

"Something like that," Ogata replied with a grin, setting the laptop on the floor so it could still function as a light source in the dark room. "Now are you going to explain what's going on?"

"There's nothing to explain," Kaiba muttered as he closed his eyes once more. He didn't want to see Ogata's concern anymore.

Narrowing his eyes at Kaiba's refusal to talk, Ogata challenged, "What are you so afraid of? That I'll run to the media and tell them that you have super powers and are secretly Kaibaman? Come on, Seto, you know me better than that."

If he had felt better, that sarcastic image Ogata painted might have made him laugh, but the most he could manage was a weak snort. "There's something seriously wrong with you."

"I know what I saw," Ogata stubbornly persisted. "And I know that this occurs with enough regularity that Yuugi asked me not to say anything,"

"That little shit," Kaiba swore as he resisted the urge to bury his face against the pillow and hide from the awkward conversation. "What the hell were you talking to him for anyway?"

"Because he called as soon as the incident was over and you admitted to him that you caused it," Ogata answered, not feeling the least bit guilty over his actions. "I wanted to help and he seemed like the only person who knew what the hell was going on with you."

"Don't do it again," Kaiba warned, not interested in having Ogata cross over that far into his personal life. It was bad enough that Ogata and Yami had somehow become friends; he didn't need Ogata getting integrated into the Yuugi-tachi, too.

Leaning back in his chair and assessing Kaiba, Ogata rationalized, "That makes it sound like this will occur again."

"I meant calling Yuugi," Kaiba muttered, but it sounded pathetic even to his own ears.

"Sure you did," Ogata sarcastically agreed, not believing it for a moment. "That's why he knew what your exact symptoms were."

Even though it was weakness to admit, it was more painful to continue the awkward conversation. "I'm too tired for this shit," Kaiba finally admitted with a heavy sigh, wanting the subject dropped as soon as possible.

Even in the barely illuminated darkness, Ogata could clearly see how pale Kaiba looked and he decided to ease off his questioning for now. "Are you too tired to hear what I found out about Hoshino?" Ogata countered.

It felt like a trick question, but Kaiba didn't care if it meant he got answers. Struggling to sit up, Kaiba bit back a groan when it made the room start to swim again. "Tell me," Kaiba ordered, but his voice was as unsteady as he felt.

"Stop being so stubborn and lay back down," Ogata instructed, seeing how much Kaiba was struggling. "I already know something's wrong, so what's the use in pretending otherwise?"

"I'm fine," Kaiba growled, not willing to lose any more face in front of his employee than he already had.

"Am I going to have to pin you down on this bed?" Ogata teased in a sensuous tone of voice that startled Kaiba. "I'm sure Yami would forgive me if I had to tie—"

"Shut the fuck up," Kaiba snapped, interrupting Ogata into silence. "Explain."

Knowing that he was pushing his luck, Ogata continued joking, "I suppose I could be persuaded to give a demonstration, but—"

"Damn it, Ogata! You know what I meant!"

Letting is slide, Ogata told Kaiba, "Fine, fine. Hoshino first. She's on husband number five right now. Her first husband was her high school sweetheart gone wrong, so they legitimately split. Her second husband was somewhat wealthy and she made money in the divorce. Husband number three died under some mysterious circumstances, but she was awarded a large inheritance as a result. She met Gozaburo after him and attempted to make him husband number four, but that never happened. Instead, she married the fourth guy and he died on their honeymoon."

"She would have tried to kill that bastard and taken his money," Kaiba realized with a dark chuckle, having no doubts that she would have attempted such a thing. "Like hell I would've let that happen."

Smirking viciously, Ogata couldn't help but agree. Rather than saying that, he continued, "That brings us to husband number five. She was with him for less than two years before things went sour. He wouldn't divorce her since he was from a traditional background, so he mysteriously started getting sick shortly thereafter. His insurance company ruled it suicide by arsenic and refused to pay out the insurance on him. She then found out that he had never actually written her into his will and all the remaining money went to his kids from his first marriage. Her appeal was rejected because his kids had a mountain of evidence against her."

"So she wanted to kidnap Mokuba and ransom him for the money she didn't get out of her latest husband," Kaiba deduced, not the least bit surprised at her motivation. He had known from the first day he met her that she was only after money. It was one of the reasons he had been so against dating anyone originally; he just assumed that everyone would be like her. He had never been so glad to be wrong.

"That's what I think," Ogata confirmed with a nod, "but Yami was an unknown to her. She knew that his family didn't have enough money to pay her, plus it's not like he's Yuugi, your rival and King of Games, who actually has some worth to her. That's why I don't understand why she mailed that picture to you now."

"Neither do I, but at least we know for sure it's her now," Kaiba said with a heavy sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "It's been two days since she sent this, so what the hell is she waiting for?"

"I don't know, but I would expect another form of contact soon. I've already got the mail guys keeping an eye out for anything else that might come through."

"It's a start," Kaiba decided as he rubbed his eyes and blinked wearily. "Anything else?"

"Want a ride to Yuugi's?"

"You're not coming in," Kaiba immediately refused, knowing that he would rather call Isono.

Standing up and holding his hand out to Kaiba to help him, Ogata waited patiently until his boss begrudgingly accepted the assistance. "I'm just trying to help you and Yami," Ogata reminded Kaiba before letting go.

"Whatever," Kaiba said dismissively before leaving the room to get his cell phone and the rest of his belongings while Ogata did the same.

A/N: Happy New Year to you all! Here's to a whole new year of fics and updates. Let's see if I can't get L&F finished this year, ne?

I know I'm still woefully behind on review replies. I had these grand plans of using the Christmas holiday to get caught up, but then my uncle died on Christmas Eve and I spent Christmas Day traveling in a car to the funeral in a very isolated part of this country. Yeah, 45+ hours of car trips and I'm sick of being in a car. Needless to say, I didn't have a chance to answer replies because of extensive family visits and traveling times.

So I'm hoping to get caught up this week, barring any unforeseen incidents outside of my two appointments and returning to work.

NEXT CHAPTER:

"You have no attachment to Mutou Yami?" Hoshino asked in playful disbelief, not convinced in the least. "Then why does he moan your name so beautifully at night?"

And so the villainess (finally) appears. The next update will go up on Sunday, January 9th andit's going to make a LOT of you happy. There's a scene that some of you have been begging me to include since Catnip Dreams, so I'm looking forward to your reactions to how it gets handled.