To paraphrase Louise Rosenblatt, "a story's just ink on a page until a reader comes along to give it life." This in my way of saying, I'd really like to know what you think, and appreciate all reviews.

CHAPTER 11: BALL OF FIRE

BALL OF FIRE: Screwball comedy, circa 1941. It seemed like a simple enough exchange. Gary Cooper's Professor Bertram Potts would give Barbara Stanwyck's night club singer, Sugarpuss O'Shea, a hideout from the police. In return, Sugarpuss (the ball of fire in the title) would teach the professor all about modern slang. The one thing they forgot to work out: who would give the lessons on falling in love.

MORAL: Even the most carefully crafted deals have hidden snags.


Kaiba had been in a coma when Ms. Tamashiro had started to work at Kaiba Corporation. Her friends had said, "Poor boy," when she'd told them she'd taken the job. They'd teased her about working for a teenager after he'd recovered. But sometimes she felt like she and Isono were the only ones at Kaiba Corporation who remembered what her friends had clearly seen – that her boss was still a kid, younger than her own son. And a lonely one at that. She'd always figured Kaiba was too aloof to realize how solitary he was… until he'd somehow made a friend.

She smiled as she saw Yami get off the elevator at the end of the hall. He flashed her a smug grin in return.

"You're in luck. I'm about to put your boss in a better mood," he called out as he approached her desk.

"Oh? The CEO of a corporation never has any bad moods that a loyal employee would notice," she answered with fake demureness.

"You and Isono must get along perfectly," he countered.

"Isono is a pleasant and sensible co-worker," she agreed, still in the same prim voice.

Yami laughed. "Well, I'm about to give Kaiba the king of all chances to point out that he knew best. You can thank me if he lets the everyone go home early in celebration of his victory."

She stifled a chuckle, told Yami that Kaiba was with his brother and buzzed him in. Her friends would never understand, but there was something surprisingly sweet about working for a teenager, especially one who was finally learning how to act his age.

Mokuba was sitting next to Kaiba when Yami entered the room. The brothers were reviewing the scheduling and logistics of their upcoming tournament. Kaiba was writing in the margins of the pages scattered across his desk. He finished his notes and stacked most of the papers in front of his brother. Mokuba glanced at Yami, his gaze searchlight brief. He leaned over and whispered to Kaiba, too quietly for Yami to hear, "See. I told you so."

"We'll see," Kaiba answered, not bothering to lower his voice.

Mokuba scooped up the papers and, with another laser look at Yami, left the room.

Yami watched him exit, then turned to face Kaiba. "I told Yugi. You were right. Go ahead and say, 'I told you so.' That should make you happy."

Kaiba's lips twitched. "Of course I'm right. Did you drop by just to state the obvious?"

Yami grinned back. "No, you oaf. I wanted to thank you." Unexpectedly, Kaiba's face froze into immobility at that pronouncement. Yami stared at him for a moment before asking, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing. Everything's back to normal. You're in sync with your friends again and I can finally get some work done without you needing to drop by every other day."

"You're kicking me out?" Yami asked incredulously.

"I'm anticipating your next move."

"Really? Well, anticipate this, you son of a bitch!" Yami said. He walked over to Kaiba's side of the desk and swiveled Kaiba's chair around until they were facing each other. For once Kaiba was looking up at him. Yami decided he liked viewing Kaiba from this vantage point. He leaned down and crushed his lips against his rival's.

When he raised his head, Yami saw the last thing he expected: uncertainty was crowding out lust in those impossibly deep blue eyes. Yami had been stumbling through this world, hating his own lack of direction. He'd resented Kaiba for pushing him forwards every step of the way, had wanted to see his rival taken down a peg. Now, Yami wasn't sure how he felt seeing the same sense of uncertainty clouding his rival's eyes, before all emotion besides wariness leached out of them.

Kaiba understood human social interactions – the ones relevant to his areas of concern, anyway. If this was a business negotiation, he would have been on familiar ground. He would have been comfortable. He wouldn't have been someone's-going-to-pay-for-this pissed. It had started out simply enough: Yami needed to get his mojo back, Kaiba was going to help so he could wipe the books clean of his obligation. He'd been successful after a fashion. Yami was back with his friends. He was even finally up to Kaiba's weight in a duel… now that Yami had Yugi back to play with.

Kaiba had expected Yami to stop by to thank him. Yami was like that. That task done, Kaiba had figured they'd go their separate ways. Except they'd just ended up kissing, like nothing had changed between yesterday and today.

For an instant Yami could have sworn he saw a hurt expression sheltering behind the blank look on Kaiba's face. Then Kaiba's lips twitched in his familiar predatory grin and the moment was gone.

"I must be an even better kisser than I thought, if it brought you back here for a goodbye one." Despite his best efforts, Kaiba sounded slightly breathless, as if the effort of holding back his emotions had left him with barely enough air to speak.

"That wasn't a goodbye kiss, you jerk. Neither is this one." Yami leaned down again, enjoying how eager Kaiba was to meet him halfway.

"Aaahhh…. So even though everything's fine with your old playmates, you want to continue our game," Kaiba said when Yami raised his head again.

Yami wanted to scream, "No, this isn't a game," but it had all the heat and tension of one, the same excitement of seeing your opponent reveal himself with every move, of being true to yourself with every turn of a card. It might not have been a game, but Yami couldn't have defined what it was, instead.

Then Kaiba reached up to pull Yami back to him; his lips claimed Yami's and the time for saying anything had passed. Yami was left somewhere between relief at not having to answer – and the growing sense that a stall was the worst possible move to make. Yami jerked his head up from Kaiba's. He couldn't let Kaiba's statement stand unchallenged.

"Kaiba…" Yami murmured, before running out of words. He leaned in, more gently this time. But Yami should have known that gentleness couldn't last, that it wasn't what either of them wanted right now. He pulled Kaiba half out of his chair. Kaiba threw his weight forward, pressing his advantage. Now Yami was the one leaning back, half lying on Kaiba's desk. If there was one thing Kaiba understood, it was leverage. He used one hand to hold Yami in place, while the other reached up under Yami's shirt, drifting along the line of his collar-bone. Kaiba rubbed his palm from one pectoral muscle to the next, pausing to trace Yami's nipples with his fingers. There was a studious intensity to Kaiba's movements.

Yami moaned, and thrashed his head from side to side, breaking the seal of their lips. Kaiba reached over to force Yami's face back to his. Yami had been holding onto Kaiba, his palms against Kaiba's back. Now his hands slid inside Kaiba's pants. One hand stopped just below the waistband, pressing their bodies even more tightly together. The other moved further downwards to stroke Kaiba's lean hip, to knead Kaiba's ass, to trace the line where it joined his upper thigh.

And at that intimate touch, that sudden shared awareness of each other's arousal, all semblance of restraint fled. Kaiba groaned aloud, surprised at the raw need the sound revealed. He wondered what the hell he was doing, even as he couldn't stop grinding harder into Yami with each furious motion, even as he came closer to losing control with each thrust of cloth against cloth. He needed air, he needed his head to stop spinning, he needed to lose himself in this, he needed to figure out if losing himself really was losing, or if it was a new, previously unexplored way to win, to finally gain something for himself.

"Kaiba," Yami gasped, when Kaiba lifted his head once more; their bodies were still entwined. "When we do this, I feel alive."

"Good." Kaiba snapped. For an instant, the hint of a smirk flashed across Kaiba's face as he put this encounter firmly in the win column. Then just as quickly, his face darkened with anger.

"What the fuck do you mean by that? You are alive. You should know it without needing to use me or anyone else for proof," he snarled.

"For the second time in two days, you're absolutely right." Yami brushed the hair back from Kaiba's forehead, knowing it would flop down again to cover his eyes the moment Yami dropped his hand. "But… when I'm with you… I feel like I know what it means to be reborn, to experience everything for the first time. Each time we kiss, it gets harder to stop, to walk away from that. One day soon, I won't." Yami had begun his speech quietly; he'd ended it as forcefully as ever. He wasn't about to admit to Kaiba that he was nervous, that he had no idea what this undefined "more" he kept pushing for would look or feel like – and that part of him was afraid of finding out. But Yami's bravado paid off, as his overconfidence so often did.

Kaiba stared at him, eyes dark, pupils dilated. He gave a brief nod, then resumed his study of Yami's face. "I presume that means you're planning on returning," he said as he stepped away.

Yami got up, straightened his clothes and moved towards the door. "You can count on it," he said with a smug grin as he left.

Kaiba bent down, grabbed the crumpled papers that had fallen from his desk onto the floor and smoothed them out. He sat down again and shook his head as if he could shake all thoughts of Yami out of it. But Yami couldn't be dismissed as easily as he'd left. His parting words kept coming back into Kaiba's head, making him lose focus every time, as if Yami had managed to steal a victory simply by being so memorable.

Kaiba stared at the closed door and considered what Yami had said: "When we do this, I feel alive."

Kaiba had been looking for a reason why Yami had come back. Maybe it was that simple. The first time Yami had kissed Kaiba, he'd said that he'd done it to see what it was like… because kissing was what living people did. Yesterday, (had it really been only a day ago?) at the beach, Yami had marveled about how new it had all felt. This was possibly the one thing Yami needed Kaiba for, the one thing he couldn't get from his friends.

It was all new for Kaiba too, although Kaiba had no intention of revealing that fact until his own inexperience gave him away. But he couldn't admit the truth, even if he was playing a losing game. He liked having Yami think of him as the expert. He liked having the upper hand and he intended to keep it as long as possible.

In a way that made it manageable: he and Yami were simply exchanging and facilitating a variety of unprecedented experiences. It was a limited and equal transaction, one where both parties walked away satisfied with their share of the bargain. That was a definition of friendship Kaiba could live with, one that made it easier to ignore his feeling of disappointment in his own logical conclusions.

The door to Mokuba's office was open. Yami paused on his way to the elevator. He looked back to see Ms. Tamashiro nodding at him. For a moment her smile reminded him of Yugi's grandfather.

Yami glanced at the open door again, bothered as he remembered the assessing expression on Mokuba's face. Mokuba hadn't turned that look on him since he'd tried to gauge Yami's sincerity at Duelists Kingdom. And Yami hated the thought of Mokuba being bothered or upset. He was such a loyal little guy.

Yami hesitated for another moment, suddenly remembering that kissing Kaiba had been the one thing he hadn't told Yugi. It was too new, too intimate to share. He didn't consider it Mokuba's business either. He hoped that Kaiba had felt the same. He inhaled and walked into the office.

"You came back," Mokuba said with a smile.

Yami groaned. "Not you too. Yes, I straightened things out with Yugi. Yes, I'm feeling better. Yes, Yugi will always be my partner, my other self in spirit. And no, none of that means Kaiba is any less my friend than he was yesterday." Yami stopped, uneasily aware that he'd failed to say any of this as directly to Kaiba – who probably needed to hear it more.

"Well… okay, then," Mokuba said. He knew that sounded snippy when Yami had just said everything he wanted to hear, but he couldn't help seeing that slight hopeful smile on his brother's face, couldn't help remembering all the times Yami had hurt his brother or pushed him aside for his gang. He wished that his brother had decided to make Anzu or Yugi his first friend instead. They seemed safer, somehow. But Mokuba couldn't think of a way to say all of that especially since his brother would have been furious if he voiced any of it.

Mokuba shook his head, concentrating on all the times Yami had helped them instead, all the times Yami had gotten his brother to slow down and think, all the times Yami had shown how much he cared. Before the silence lasted too long, Mokuba threw in a smile and added, "So you went swimming, huh? We have a pool, but Nisama prefers the ocean."

Yami relaxed slightly, glad that Kaiba also considered some details too private to share. "I'd never swam in the ocean before. It was incredible." Yami shook his head. "Yugi doesn't like to swim. I wonder if there are other ways in which we'll differ."

"Uh… it was always pretty easy to tell you apart," Mokuba said hesitantly. He didn't add that the main difference was that Yami was a ton scarier. He might have been quieter since returning from Egypt, but Mokuba was betting that horror movie Yami wasn't gone for good.

"I'd never thought about it before. There never was a need."

There was another pause. Yami wondered when Mokuba had become this hard to talk to. He made a move towards the door, then stopped and said, "Your brother was surprised I came back. He should have known me better."

"He has his reasons."

"They're in the past. They have nothing to do with me."

Mokuba shrugged. It was true, but it wasn't the whole story. "He trusts you, kind of… even if he was planning on the worst. He isn't used to things working out any other way." The measuring look was back. Mokuba needed to know if Yami understood what a responsibility earning Kaiba's trust was… and if he was up to the challenge of being Seto Kaiba's first friend.

"I know. Friendship is the most precious thing there is. The word makes your brother uncomfortable, but he's been a true one."

This time, Mokuba's grin was wholehearted. "So are you," he said.

Yami returned to the game shop after leaving Mokuba's office. Sugoroku was behind the counter. Yugi and Anzu were stocking a display of newly released duel monsters booster packs in front of it, surrounded by two boys and a girl. All three seemed equally interested in Yugi and the display. Sugoroku was beaming at Anzu with a look that Yami hoped was grandfatherly. It was sometimes hard to tell with Sugoroku.

As Yami approached them, the three kids swiveled their heads from Yugi to Yami, whispering together. They nudged each other, clearly working up the courage to talk, as they made their selections and walked up to the counter.

"Which one of you is the Duel Monsters Champion?" the shortest boy finally asked.

Anzu giggled when Yami and Yugi pointed at each other.

"That's not funny!" the kid protested.

"He is Yugi Mutou," Yami said, pointing for a second time.

"Are you twins?" the girl asked. "I never read anything about twin duel champions."

"Cousins," Yugi said when Yami didn't answer.

"Oh, cousins. That explains it," the oldest boy commented with a superior air.

Yami had to admire Kaiba's audacity. The more coincidences he'd piled on to his story of near-identical cousins who both happened to share a birthday, three years apart, and a love for duel monsters, the more people swallowed the whole package of lies without thinking twice.

"Wow! Identical cousins! Are you a duelist too?" the girl asked Yami.

Yami didn't answer. He was suddenly distracted… Kaiba had never had a problem telling them apart – or deciding which one he wanted to kiss.

"He sure is!" Yugi said proudly, before Yami's silence lasted long enough to be noticeable.

"You both have equal claim to the title," Sugoroku pointed out after the kids and their purchases had left. "You won those matches together."

"No. I refuse to take that from you," Yami said to Yugi.

"Is that why you haven't said anything about Kaiba's upcoming tournament?"

Yami nodded.

"Wait… aren't you going to compete? I assumed that's why Kaiba's throwing this whole tournament… well part of the reason, anyway. I figured that would be your introduction – or reintroduction – to the gaming world!" Yugi exclaimed.

"I couldn't…"

"What? Overshadow me? Take away the title you insist is mine? Don't you think you should have asked me first what I want?" Yugi said.

"I know you can win. But this was supposed to be your moment. It's your life, not mine."

"But you have a life too, now!" Yugi insisted.

"You're not being fair to Yugi," Anzu blurted out.

All three men turned to stare at her.

"I know you don't mean it, Yami," she said earnestly. "But it's like you're saying no one would give Yugi a second look if you were there, like he's not as important or as strong... and that's just not true!" She stopped and put her hand to her mouth.

"You know I would never insult you. If you're sure this is what you want…" Yami began, only to stop when he realized Yugi hadn't heard a word he'd said.

"Anzu…" Yugi said.

"I just remembered… I have to go home…" Anzu turned and rushed out of the shop, stumbling a little in her haste to escape, years of training in moving gracefully, forgotten.

Yugi ran after her. "Wait! I'll walk you!" he called out.

"I guess I'm dueling," Yami said to Sugoroku with a wry smile.

"I think my grandson will give you a run for your money. His sense of timing has definitely improved," Sugoroku said with an answering grin.

Yami was waiting for Yugi when he got home. Now that the ice had broken, he couldn't wait to talk to Yugi again… and to find out what happened with Anzu.

"How did it go, partner?" Yami asked the instant Yugi walked in the door.

Yugi shook his head. "I didn't ask her."

"Yugi!" Yami exclaimed.

Yugi hung his head. "I know. I chickened out again. I got distracted. It's her eyes. They're so blue. When she gets worked up they look just like the blowtorch we use in chemistry lab." Yugi smiled ruefully. "It's a little like getting caught in one too. And her hair… it's not just brown… when the sun hits it, you can see all these red and gold highlights too. I bet it's soft." Yugi caught himself and blushed. "Sorry. I got carried away."

Yami didn't answer. Yugi glanced at him. Yami was staring into space. He swallowed and jerked his attention back to Yugi. For the first time that Yugi could remember since the time he'd set Yami up on a blind date with Anzu back when they'd shared a body, Yami looked embarrassed.

"Are you interested in Anzu, after all? Because if you are..." Yugi said.

"No. Of course not."

"It looked like you were daydreaming about her. And seeing her always makes you feel better."

"I've told you before. Stop trying to give other people the things you want for yourself. I wasn't thinking about Anzu at all," Yami said.

"But you were thinking of someone," Yugi pointed out.

A dozen sentences flashed through Yami's head: "My mind just wandered for a moment…" "It's nothing…" "There's no one on my mind…"

Yugi's voice broke into his thoughts. "I'm sorry. You don't have to answer, unless it's to tell me that it's none of my business."

Yami looked at Yugi's slightly over-bright smile. He couldn't keep any more secrets from Yugi. The last one – and the distance it created – had hurt too much. He wasn't even sure why this was a secret anyway, at least from Yugi, even if he wasn't ready to share it with anyone else. Yugi was his partner. Yami drew in a breath, let it out and said, "It's Kaiba. His eyes are blue, too."

At any other time Yami would have laughed. Yugi's eyes were two perfectly round orbs, matched only by the circle of his opened mouth.

"Does Kaiba feel the same?" Yugi finally managed to gasp out.

Yami paused. Exactly what Kaiba felt was, as usual, a secret he guarded very closely. That he felt something was beyond debate. Yami remembered how Kaiba had braced himself when he thought Yami had come over to thank him and say goodbye… the relief he hadn't quite been able to hide when Yami had kissed him instead.

"Yes," Yami said firmly. After all, Yami wasn't sure how he felt about this whole turn of events; sometimes he half resented the attraction. It was an intrusion, as frustrating as an itch in a spot he couldn't quite reach no matter how hard he tried. His desire seemed to rise up to taunt him, as unpredictable and uncontrollable as life itself, when a few weeks ago he'd been ready to surrender instead to the quiet certainty of the grave.

He'd gained a body only to become uncomfortably, painfully aware of it every time he thought of Kaiba, every time he anticipated the next time he'd have Kaiba in his arms. Each encounter pushed him to go further, even as he tried and failed to sort out how anything had happened at all. Kaiba upset him, angered him… and made him happy. Yami could safely say that Kaiba shared every conflicted feeling, that he was just as confused and resented his own loss of balance just as deeply.

"But you guys fight all the time!" Yugi exclaimed.

Yami nodded. It would be different, he supposed, if Kaiba was his boyfriend, a thought that made him want to roll his eyes. Yami frowned, wondering if his feelings for Kaiba should be more in line with Yugi's for Anzu. Yugi's thoughts were simple and direct, nothing like the confusing tangle of frustration and elation that defined his for Kaiba. Maybe as he grew more accustomed to living, they would fade away, would be replaced by the alien feelings Yugi keep describing.

"So you mean all those times… you've been dating?" Yugi's voice squeaked again.

"Hardly that. It's more like… like dueling." It had the same charge, the same feeling of excitement. He looked forward to each encounter, each verbal exchange, each kiss, each clash as if it was the next turn of a card. Yami paused. He couldn't imagine repeating that to Yugi.

"Dueling?" Yugi asked. His mouth had dropped open again.

"Yeah, dueling. We're just not using cards."

"Yami?"

"I'm not always like you," Yami said. He was glad the words sounded casual, as if he hadn't been avoiding that realization for weeks.

"I know that. But you're not like Kaiba either. You don't have Kaiba's practice at not giving a damn."

Yami didn't reply. He couldn't argue with Yugi, not when he had enough uncertainties of his own, not when there were times when he couldn't help feeling that kissing Kaiba had complicated everything unbearably, even while he couldn't stop doing it.

But that didn't mean he agreed with Yugi unconditionally either. For one thing, Yami was starting to doubt that Kaiba was as adept at not caring as he liked to pretend.


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Thanks to Bnomiko for betaing this chapter.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Okay, I admit it… I love the idea that both Yami and Yugi have a thing for tall, blue-eyed brunettes with tons of attitude. The idea that they share a type is too cute for words.

On a more serious note, Kaiba's jumping from wrong conclusion to wrong conclusion here. But the pattern of his life up until the moment he meets Yugi is one of abandonment and betrayal. He's used to people trying to use him to serve their agendas – and being willing to discard him afterwards. He's starting to trust Yami, but under stress I think he would revert back to what he knows best. Kaiba can come across as being monumentally selfish and obnoxiously insistent on getting his way. But I think that's because, since his parent's death, he's never had anyone make his well-being a priority – particularly his emotional well-being, something he barely acknowledges himself.

I wanted to explore how that would all play out here.

Tumblr Note:I'm on Tumblr as Nenya85, mostly posting manga frames and screen shots and rambling on about them. If you're interested in checking it out, the link is on my biopage.

Review Note: I reply to all signed reviews. I also post a summary of my replies on my Livejournal. The link is on my biopage.

Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I really look forward to hearing from you and your comments help me figure out what's missing, what's working and whether I managed to get the story in my head on the page. I can't express how encouraging it is.