Algol: Yaaaay…well it's something, right!? I have no idea how to write this anymore, it has been so long. So please, if anyone notices any continuity issues, inform me! No matter what it is, I am always willing to edit. I only have myself to read these things, and normally I am just trying to inch this along lol.
Edit: Ok so…it's been a really long time at this point and I just want to apologize to everyone who waited for an update. My life, well, really sucks and that's the only excuse I have. I could go into detail but I can sum it all up by saying I feel like I lived a lifetime in the span of two years.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh
Summary: When it doubt…go for it anyway.
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Chapter 14: Breaking the Seam
Kaiba's heart yammered away in his chest, practically singing from Yami's searing anger. God he loved Yami angry, nothing else was hotter. He wanted to desperately loosen his tie and tear open the buttons on his white collared shirt but looking like some disheveled, hormonal teenager was something he wanted to avoid as he strolled into his morning meeting.
Yes Kaiba was a bad man; he seriously got off on Yami's frustration and anger. He loved the dual emotions that always seemed to run through the man's ruby eyes, that succulent ache in his eyes as he tormented his own self-conscience. Yami was always tormenting himself. He would purposely take handicaps in everything from the duel for the Championship Title to a struggle under moonlight between Kaiba's sprawling silk sheets. It was during those first few weeks that Yami was almost delirious with indecision; he seemed to submit when he was ready to fight tooth and nail. It was that fight that Kaiba loved, not just the one Yami voiced to the world, but the one that went on behind those ancient eyes.
He wasn't willing to admit how much he wanted Yami to kiss him the moment he fisted his small hands in his jacket and snarled at him like a rabid cat with a thorn in its paw. Well…he wasn't willing to admit his desires on paper with his professionally elegant signature sealing the deal, but his own body admitted it far too easily for his liking.
Kaiba sighed quietly as he took his seat at the head of the meeting table on the highest floor of the Kaiba Corp. Headquarters. He drummed his fingers as he watched his associates slip into their respective seats, all of them looking anywhere but at the man they both feared and loathed. Meetings were always dry, overly complicated affairs that quickly degenerated into Kaiba rubbing his temples and expelling his non-negotiable cooperate maneuvers before the squabbling drove him insane. He did however plan to look up anything and everything his compendium of sources knew about the name "Seth" and its Egyptian variations as soon as he retired to his office and made it clear to his personal secretary that any incoming calls would have to wait.
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Yami simply walked aimlessly, not really intent on finding himself in a particular place. He did recognize the area he was in though, and there were still imprints from the temporary tents and stalls left by the carnival. He stood in the center of a grassy field, remembering the ride where Joey almost became sick and the stall where Yugi bought the "World's Biggest Sno Cone." Which really did turn out to be too big and subsequently more than half of it became a sticky wet mess on the ground.
The only remainder of the carnival was Phantom Manor, now simply called Sakai Manor. Yami meandered over to the house, watching the stained-glass window on the upper floor wink colored reflections. The place was still just as cold and unwelcoming as it was several days ago, and Yami didn't have to read the plaque on the steps to know why. He stood in front of the old Victorian, his hands resting in his pockets, and didn't feel the least inclined to ever enter the place again. It was the odd, eccentric neighbor that no one liked to bother more than once.
But that was before Yami noticed the hip-pack with the name "Sugoroku Mutou" stitched messily on the flap sitting fatly on the porch. The door was also slightly ajar. Yami's brow quirked towards his hairline and he wondered what the old man was up to now. Or worse, what sort of trouble he was finding himself in.
For an old man he certainly had an adventurer's zeal.
More importantly, Yami wanted to make sure Yugi's Grandpa was all right, and that the act of breaking and entering was another occurrence of his "senility;" a word Sugoroku said with such a twinkle in his eye that Yami was more than happy to look the other way.
He stepped up to the house and pushed the door wider, practically feeling the creak in the wood through his own hand. He lifted the abandoned pack and secured it under his left arm before moving into the shadowed foyer. He had to slam the door shut to get the latch to line up with the door jam, but he wasn't overly concerned with alerting anyone. The old man could talk his way out of anything.
Yami moved out of the shadows to the base of the staircase, once again confronted with the painted visage of a very disturbed, but thankfully deceased woman. The gilded Egyptian scrawl stood out like lights dancing along the pale frame and Yami tried his best to ignore the feeling of dread settling in his stomach.
"Sugoroku?" Yami called towards the top of the stairs, his eyes searching the house for any signs of life. There was no response. Sighing the Pharaoh slowly ascended the steps to the second floor hallway, calling for the man as he went. Suddenly a sprightly gray-haired head darted out from the corner at the end of the hall and Yami was immediately relieved.
"Yami?" Sugoroku raised a quizzical brow before he grinned sheepishly and stepped out into the open. "Ah…hehe is uh anyone else with you?"
Yami's mouth curved into a sly smile. "No, it's only me. Just what are you up to in here anyway? I thought you had morning walks around this time?"
The old man blew a raspberry and waved away the pesky notion of him actually becoming a model senior citizen. "I dropped that a week ago, pretty much the same time I happened to find this place. Imagine that?" He turned away and waltzed back into the room around the corner, Yami close on his heels.
"Why did you break in here though?" The former spirit asked, though his question was answered when his eyes landed on an open glass display case and its contents spread out on the floor. Yami instantly recognized Akemi's spell books, his throat tightening in response. Yugi's Grandpa didn't seem to notice Yami's discomfort and he settled himself back on the floor, making hand-sketched copies in his worn notebook of the artwork displayed on one of the pages.
"I wanted to inspect these myself." He glanced at Yami, mistaking his silence for shock, and confidently added, "These aren't as valuable as you might think Yami. They are old certainly, and contain knowledge in their own right, but these are not originals."
That snapped Yami from his momentary daze. "They aren't?"
Sugoroku smiled, mostly to himself, and continued his work with a quick and meticulous hand. "From what I know, Akemi's ancestors pieced together old copies of things and bound these books. The ancient hieroglyphs only appear on some of the pages. The rest are not nearly so old. It's a rather compact piece of history really. I believe Akemi herself even added some things to these." He dropped his ink pen and stretched his back out of its hunched position. "I think I know where the oldest spells came from."
Yami dropped to one knee beside the old man, noticing that the picture in his sketchbook was of an altar with winged beasts consuming the dead depicted on each corner. He looked to the open spell book and saw what must have been a continuation of the directions for a love spell. The same one he told Yugi about. "Where do they come from?"
Yami's voice was small, the quietest Yugi's Grandpa had ever noticed from the normally fierce Pharaoh. He watched deep red eyes search the pages before him, almost desperate to find something there besides words and simple pictures. "Ishizu is head of the Department of Egyptian Art at the museum. She lets me take a look at the exhibits after hours, but up until now I had seen everything in her department." He sat on his knees and started to close all of his resource books and pile them into his backpack. "But during one of my walks with Professor Hawkins I found out she has a few new articles that haven't been released for public viewing yet. One of them is a collection of Execration Texts. I'm positive that's where these come from. The nature of the spells, the wording, everything ties in with something that would be on those tablets."
"Why is that?" Yami found himself asking instantly. He wanted to know everything about this book suddenly. Now that it was in front of him and not sheltered behind its glass enclosure, it seemed too real. The words, the pictures, the very aura this room radiated seemed alive, as if they could grow like plants with roots extending far beyond this foundation and canopies that carried leaves into the sun.
"Because it's an unrequited love spell." Sugoroku's voice adopted a more serious undertone, his mouth frowning at the somewhat disturbing fruit of his research. "Most Execration Texts are used to kill enemies, but a very rare few are actually love spells meant to kill the current lover of a person's desire and take them for themselves."
And there it was, that same chord was plucked and the stinging vibrato whipped Yami's insides into quivering mush. He had to catch his own breath, pulling it back into his lungs so he could breathe.
"Are you okay Yami?" The Pharaoh could barely hear the old man's concern over the roaring chaos between his ears. Something was there, lurking in his darkness. Or maybe it was his darkness. His lips parted, cracking open dryly, and he turned to Sugoroku. "Take me there…I want to see the real thing."
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It wasn't hard to convince the old man to call Ishizu and make an appointment. The pair cleaned up as best they could and Grandpa jimmied the lock back into place with some long thin tool Yami was sure was supposed to be used for something other than criminal activity. Sugoroku had mentioned that the alarm never went off anyway so it really wasn't a crime. The old spirit didn't know much about alarms but he was pretty sure justifying the situation was hopeless. Good thing he mostly relied on his own sense of justice, otherwise he might actually feel a twinge of guilt, or at least anger towards the old man's actions.
Yami spent the remainder of the day scouring Yugi's Egyptology books with renewed vigor, and a bit of distress. Yugi came home around 6 o'clock from his study group to find his Grandpa in the living room giggling like a schoolboy. He normally filed that under "don't ask, don't want to know" but his Grandpa cornered him as soon as he dropped his book bag.
"Heeeeeey Yugi guess what? We're headed to the museum tonight for a special viewing of a new exhibit. Oh I haven't been this excited since I dueled Jounouchi in the Kaiba Cup!" He giggled again and Yugi didn't find it quite so out of place now.
"That's great Grandpa. Can I come too? It sounds pretty interesting."
"Ha! Of course Yugi my boy! Ishizu insisted you come too."
Yugi's smile practically touched his ears and his mind immediately searched out Yami. /Hey Yami, Grandpa's going to look at some Egyptian Art tonight. You want to come? I think it would really help you sort of get back in touch with things…umm maybe. Hey it's worth a try right? /
/Yeah I know about it. I found him in Sakai Manor today researching those books. Apparently the original texts are at the museum. /
/Wait…you mean those creepy ones? /
"Yeah…" Yami's voice found body as Yugi opened the door to his bedroom. He scooted over to Yami on the edge of the bed, practically knocking the book out of his hands when he grabbed onto Yami's arm.
"But those were scary Yami!" The younger boy protested, certain that he didn't want to know anything else about spells that required human sacrifices.
"It is a part of my people's history," Yami replied nebulously. He wasn't certain how much he should reveal to Yugi until he actually saw the tablets for himself. "Besides, I want to know what might have gone on during my reign. I know there was darkness Yugi, and maybe this is the kind of darkness that existed." And maybe this is something I knew about in the past, Yami added internally.
Yugi averted his eyes and frowned slightly. "Well if you think it will help you uncover more about your past then I will support you Yami, you know I will." His large eyes perked up as he quickly changed his attitude for the sake of his friend, "And maybe there will be some other things to look at too!"
Yami smiled good-naturedly, "I'm sure there will be Yugi." But his own words did little to quell the dread that was trickling down the back of his throat.
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Seth, Set, Suetekh, Brother of Osiris, blah blah…Kaiba stared at a set of meticulously organized notes, complete with footnotes, endnotes, and his own obsessive compulsive 'just because I want to be thorough' notes. Instead he found nothing that struck him as important.
Kaiba ran his hands over his face and stared through the gap in his fingers at the paper that was surely mocking him in some form or another. He felt stupid for pursuing such fairytales countless times before but this…almost made him feel like a bona fide nut job. The only thing that looked somewhat encouraging was the newest announcement on the Egyptian Art Departments homepage:
"Coming soon: Execration Texts of the Court Magicians. Beginning September 23rd, the exhibit is open from 12pm to 3pm Monday through Friday Do not miss this chance to see some of the most guarded secrets of Ancient Egyptian cults!
Kaiba was certain he didn't give a crap about the cults of Ancient Egypt but the word 'secret' was enough to make it a point of investigation. Besides, he knew Ishizu well enough to make some friendly demands on her department. He never tired of flexing his countless resources. The CEO figured one quick phone call and he would be at the Museum tonight, by limo, with plenty of unlucky night watchmen to harass. He picked up the sleek black receiver and leaned back into his chair.
He loved being influential.
And rich.
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A/N: Argh I finally finished this chapter. It wasn't very long but more than half of it was sitting on my computer and I hated looking at it unfinished. Blah. I stopped writing this story for such an extended period of time I feel like restarting it will change everything. I hope not. But I do plan on wrapping it up VERY soon. I think just 3 chapters left to go or so. Also I hope Kaiba is starting to seem much less bastard-ish, at least in regards to Yami. He WILL become a human being! Well a human being who is still very much Kaiba shaped, I don't plan on changing his 'charming' personality that much.