Valkyria : As promised. I bring you Chapter Twenty of Caged -Early- I'm very excited about how this chapter has turned out and I hope you guys enjoyed reading this as much as I had writing it *grin*

Griever : So, we'll let you guys read now, nothing much to say today.

Disclaimer : We claim no rights to the anime/manga Yu-gi-oh!

Current Song : Telepathy - Crystal Kay

Chapter Twenty - Temptations - Part 2.

Vivian stared at him with heated brown eyes over the top of her menu. "I hope you don't mind if I order something first? I'm simply famished."

Atemu gazed with disinterest at the view of the city from the balcony window. "Of course not, be my guest."

"You're such a charmer Atemu." Vivian remarked dryly. "I hope the entire night isn't going to be like this? You wouldn't want to bore the mother of your child would you?"

"Eager to start that conversation are we not Vivian?" Atemu leaned forward and stared directly into the woman's eyes. "Why don't you tell me who the real father of the child you're carrying is? Because we both know I wouldn't touch you with a ten foot pole."

"Touchy aren't we?" Vivian set the menu down and waved the waiter over. "How's Yugi taking the news by the way? Oh! I almost forgotten about your little confession as well. How did he take that one?"

Atemu's lips pulled into a sly smirk. "Yugi is wise enough not fall for you petty tricks. As for the confession, he accepted my feelings for him. I must simply thank you Vivian-darling for pushing us along. If it weren't for you then my beloved little one would have never found out about my feelings."

Much to Atemu's displeasure this did little to deter Vivian, for she only gave him seductive smile. "I was happy to help sweetheart. I want you to enjoy whatever pleasures that boy is giving you. Or has he given you anything at all? He just screams virgin."

Before Atemu could respond, a waiter stopped at the table with pad and pen in hand. Atemu rolled his eyes when the waiter stared at Vivian with love-struck eyes.

"W-Welcome to Eden. I hope the both of you are having a pleasant evening?" when neither of them responded the waiter continued trying to keep the shaking out of his voice. "What would like this evening?"

"I'll have a tall glass of ice-tea along with steak and mashed potatoes and for dessert I'll have a slice of cheesecake with strawberries. What about you darling? What are you going to have?"

"Nothing." Atemu responded coldly, "You seem to have an appetite for the both of us."

Atemu knew he hit a sore spot when Vivian sent him a glare cold enough to freeze blood. He turned to the waiter and gave the younger man a small smile. "That will be all for us. Thank you."

The waiter didn't bother to hide his relief as he scooped up the menu's and quickly made his way to the kitchens with Vivian's order in hand.

Atemu stared at the woman across from him and withheld a impatient sigh. This wasn't going anywhere and he had no intention of staying here the entire night with her. He wanted to go home and have a nice quiet dinner and movie with Yugi, but he need the information. He need to prove that the child wasn't his.

She's a sly woman, but she's not totally immune to manipulation…

"Vivian." Atemu reached across the table and grasped the slender hand in his, causing the woman to meet his eyes. "This dinner has gotten off to a bad start I'm afraid. Will you give me a chance to start over?"

Hook

Atemu gently tightened his grip on Vivian's hand when she tensed. "I have been treating you abysmally and I apologize. Forgive me?"

Line.

Vivian's eyes softened before she pulled his hand out of his and crossed their fingers together. "Of course I'll forgive you Atemu. I am happy that you called me to dinner, despite the circumstances."

Atemu gave her a rogue grin. "So am I Vivian. So am I."

Sinker.

Vivian huffed and pulled her hand way. "Are you really Atemu? What about Yugi? You were defending him a second ago. What's with the sudden change of heart?"

"I am a businessman." Atemu drawled. "Yugi is a wonderful investment and I did promise his grandfather that I would be taking care of him until he was able to do so on his own. I am a man of my word."

As these words were spilling out of his mouth, he made a mental note to himself to beg for Yugi's forgiveness once the recording got out to the magazines.

Better prepare myself for the silent treatment too.

"An investment you say?" Vivian licked her lips and Atemu shivered in disgust. "And how long will this investment take?"

Atemu clenched his fists on the table. "Four years give or take. Will you sate my curiosity about something?"

"Of course Atemu-darling, anything for you…"

"Are you truly pregnant? It would be…disappointing if you weren't."

To his surprise Vivian bit her bottom lip and nodded her head. "…I am pregnant, but not with your child Atemu. I just wanted to get your attention that's all…"

Atemu shook his head at the pathetic excuse. His attention? She nearly ran his business and reputation into the ground simply because he wanted his attention. He reached up and adjusted his shirt collar to make sure that the small microphone was clear of static before continuing. He couldn't afford to miss this next part.

"Then, Vivian, who's child is it?"

"Siegfried von Schroeder."

The nervous waiter appeared again with Vivian's dinner, he set the plates down before turning to Atemu with a curious frown. "Are you sure you don't want anything to drink sir? We have fabulous wine…"

Atemu stared at Vivian a moment longer before slowly moving his gaze to the waiter. "…No, Thank you. I'm fine."

The waiter nodded his head. "Very well sir, if the two of you need anything else, please don't hesitate to ask." giving another polite smile, the waiter turned on his heel and walked away.

"Siegfried von Schroeder is the father of your child?" Atemu asked, just to clarify what he heard and to get over his shock. "The CEO of Schroeder Corp?"

"That's right," a light flush appeared on Vivian's pale cheeks. "We met at a benefit dinner about a couple of weeks ago and we hit it off."

Yeah, you two hit off alright.

"Does he know? If someone was carrying my child, my heir, I would want to know about it."

"But," Vivian blinked at his words. "The media does know already Atemu. You're being silly."

And you're being delusional.

"You can't possibly think that anyone is going to believe that the child is mine once it's born do you? What if it has Siegfried's bright pink hair?"

Vivian shrugged as if the problem didn't matter. "I'll figure something out. Now, enough about-"

If it wasn't publicly disgraceful, Atemu would've jumped to the air in joy when the ringing of his cell phone interrupted the woman's words. He removed the phone from his pocket and saw that it was Bakura's number flashing across the screen.

With an apologetic smile on his lips, Atemu rose from the chair. "If you'll excuse me Vivian. I have to take this."

Without hearing her reply, Atemu walked away and towards the restrooms, walking in and letting door close behind him, he flipped his phone open and pressed it against his ear.

"Did you get everything?"

"Yeah, we got everything. I'll send the tape in to all the magazines before I leave tomorrow. I expected someone famous, but not Siegfried of all people."

Atemu snorted. "I think I went into shock when I heard it."

"What now? You coming out of there anytime soon? Malik is getting irritated and it's pissing me off."

Atemu rolled his eyes when he heard Malik yell in protest in the background. "I'm on my way out right now."

"Good. Yugi is going to kill you when he hears the tape, you know this right?"

Atemu scowled. "Don't remind me. I'll see you later." he hung up and flipped the phone close. Pushing the door to the restroom open, Atemu walked out and waved a wandering waiter over.

"Sir?"

Atemu gave the waiter a disarming grin and pointed to Vivian. "Do you see that woman in the black dress?"

The waiter followed his hand and gasped sharply. "Miss Vivian Wong?"

Atemu smirked at his luck of finding another love-struck fan, it seemed that they were everywhere tonight. "That's right, that's her. I was having dinner with her tonight, but I'm afraid that I got a emergency call and have to leave. Would you mind telling her that Ishigami-san has left for the evening? I would really appreciated it."

The waiter nodded eagerly and Atemu knew that the waiter would instantly forget his name once he was close up to Vivian. "Of course, it would be no problem at all sir."

"Thank you. Have a good night."

Without a backwards glance at his date, Atemu walked out of the quiet restaurant, once he was outside, he touched his collarbone where the microphone lay and smirked.

I'm looking forward to the next several days. Victory doesn't near describe how good I'm feeling right now.

Honda jumped in his seat when a loud screech came from the second floor, he glanced over his shoulder to see a several people quickly running up the stairs. He turned back to Otogi who looked as confused as he felt.

"What do you think that was about?"

Otogi shrugged and reached for his wine glass. "Who knows? Probably a upset celebrity or something. They come here all of the time."

"I'm guessing you do as well." Honda picked at his pasta. "The chef and staff seem familiar with you."

"They should be. A year after I joined Ishigami Corp I used to be in here almost daily."

Daily? I wonder who you brought with you…?

Hearing that from the raven-haired man suddenly made this place feel incredibly cheap to Honda. He didn't like imagining another woman or men in the same seat as he was; talking about where they would go after this.

Brushing the negative thoughts away, Honda twirled his fork and brought the gathered pasta to his mouth. He had agreed to the date with Otogi, but the other man had yet to bring up what he wanted to discuss. Honda knew that this wasn't just a friendly dinner. And waiting for Otogi to start up the matter was nerve wracking.

"Do you like your meal?" Otogi asked politely. "It's one of Eden's specials."

"It's very good." Honda coughed awkwardly. "Otogi? Why did you invite me here tonight?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Otogi leaned back against his seat. "I wanted to spend some time with you. You're acting like I have an hidden agenda."

Do you? Honda wanted to ask, he shook his head and forced his lips into an uneasy smile. "I didn't mean for it to sound like that. We have a lot of problems to talk about. You can expect us to go back to the way things were can you?"

"Can't they? Jou passed the message about me apologizing didn't he? I want this to be water under the bridge already."

Honda frowned deeply at the childish remark. "Otogi. It's not that easy do you understand? It can't be just water under the bridge-"

Otogi chuckled, interrupting him in mid-sentence. "Honda? You're talking as if this is a real relationship."

Honda's stomach twisted into knots at that and he pushed his plate away. "Isn't it? That's why you were calling me non-stop."

Both of Otogi's eyebrows shot up. "I like you Honda, really, that's why I wanted to keep this sexual relationship. You're a wonderful man to be around."

Honda shook his head and felt the food he had just eating steadily making it's way back up. "You can not be serious."

Otogi reached across the table to grab his hands, but Honda quickly pulled away. "All of the phone calls and texts that you gave me was just you trying to make sure you kept this relationship stable?"

"What is wrong with you?" Otogi grabbed his wrists and held it in a tight grip. "I thought that this is what you wanted as well-"

"I love you." Honda wasn't surprised when Otogi pulled his hand away as if he had been burnt, he slowly moved his gaze up to see Otogi had gone pale at his confession.

"Y-You what? Honda, we've only known each other for a couple of months! You can't possibly-"

"A few months is enough time for someone to fall in love." Honda cut in sharply. "You're telling me that you don't feel anything for me? Nothing at all?"

Otogi ran both his hands through his hair. "I won't lie and say that I don't feel anything for you. Something is there, but it's not as strong as what you're feeling. "

"I knew I should have kept my mouth shut." Honda chuckled bitterly. "Now this whole night is shot to hell."

"…Is that why you've been avoiding me lately? Because you fell in love with me?"

"That's not the only reason." Honda swallowed the lump in his throat. "D-Do you remember the day we met? At the clothing store in the mall?"

"Of course I do. It wasn't that long ago."

"I-It wasn't by accident."

"What do you mean?" Otogi asked firmly. "Honda. What do you mean by that?"

Honda hands clenched and unclenched on the table. "Our meeting was set up. Yugi Motou and Jouonchi Katsuya are close friends of mine-"

"Stop." Otogi let out a hollow chuckle. "Just stop. I already know the rest of that story. You were supposed to get me in bed and leave me high and dry weren't you?"

"Yes," Honda felt his eyes stinging but ignored it and continued. "Yes, that's right."

He felt a strong hand grip his chin and he was forced to meet Otogi's blank emerald eyes. "Tell me something. What made you stay after the first night? Was it the sex? I know damn well it wasn't the conversation."

Honda finally let the tears he was holding fall down his face. "You already know the answer to that."

Otogi abruptly released his chin and gave him a dark smirk. "Of course it was the sex. Glad to know that I wasn't just a piece of meat to you after awhile. You did, after all, fall in love with me."

"That's right." Honda whispered softly. "I fell in love with you. I'm still in love with you Otogi."

"Bullshit." Otogi hissed dangerously, rising from his seat and drawing the curious gazes of other restaurant goers "That's a load of bullshit and you know it."

"If I didn't love you then I wouldn't have told you about this. I would've left it alone, but I felt so guilty about it."

"So you did this to clear your own conscious then?"

"I did this for us." Honda countered, not bothering to wipe the tears away. "I love-"

"Stop. Stop saying those fucking words. I hate those words."

"I love you." Honda said with a gentle smile on his face. "I love you Ryuuji Otogi."

Otogi pulled out his wallet and pulled a thick wad of yen and placed it on the table before giving him a withering glare. "Good-bye Hiroto Honda."

Honda didn't bother to chase after the older man who still held his heart. As he reached up and wiped his tears away, he finally realized what Jou was trying to tell him. That this was nothing but a mistake.

A dreadful mistake.

A/N : And the night ends on a bitter note. Never fear though! I promise that this isn't the end of Honda/Otogi! There is still the bet between Atemu and Yugi. Speaking of those two, the next chapter will be dedicated to them, well, almost. We still have to see Jou's reaction to Honda's night.

Next Update : June 10th