Chapter 21

Emotions, Admissions, Surprises

When the sun rose, Katsuya slowly opened his eyes. He quickly realized that he was in Kaiba's bed with Serenity sitting in a chair next to the bed. She expressed relief when the blond woke up. "Oh, thank goodness. I was worried that we would have to call a doctor for you."

Katsuya sat up and rubbed his eyes. "No need…I just need to get that dream out of my head."

"What dream is that?"

The blond chuckled. "That you and Seto were engaged and—"

Serenity quickly interrupted him. "That wasn't a dream…it's true."

Kaiba's voice rang out. "It's not like I care either way."

Katsuya glared at the brunette who was leaning in the doorway. "How could you do this to me?"

Kaiba shrugged. "One, you didn't ask. Two, it's arranged."

Serenity sniffled a little. "But Seto…I love you."

Kaiba rolled her eyes. "But I don't. I don't love anyone."

Katsuya leaned against the pillow. "How could you lead me on like this?"

Kaiba scoffed. "I don't. You're the one who's always coming after me."

Serenity looked at the brunette. "Seto, who is this man?"

Katsuya froze a little. How would he be able to tell her that he's been sleeping with her fiancé? That would lead to a very awkward talk. But before the blond could answer, Kaiba spoke up in an unusually calm voice. "He's a guy I bang every now and then."

Katsuya blushed deeply and Serenity grew pale. "Seto, how could you? You and I are supposed to marry next month!"

Kaiba started to clean his fingernails with a nail file. His face showed that he did not care that he was hurting both of them. Katsuya and Serenity's eyes brimmed with tears. Serenity started to sob and covered her face in her sorrow. Katsuya spoke up first. "Seto, what the hell is wrong with you? Don't you care that you're breaking both our hearts?"

Seto shook his head, looking at his now clean nails. "No…I only care about myself. You two should know that by now."

Serenity looked at him. "Why? Why did you change?"

Seto growled. "Bitch, shut your mouth."

"You were never like this! You used to be kind; you used to smile!"

Kaiba hit the wall with the side of his fist. "You damn well why I'm like this! Now get out!"

Katsuya knew that he and Serenity were walking on very thin ice at the moment. But he could not help what slipped out of his mouth. "Does this have to do with Kyoto and Mokuba?"

Hearing those two names, Seto snapped. He stomped towards them and grabbed the back of their necks. He then led them to the front door and threw them out of his apartment. After he slammed the door in their faces, Serenity started to pound on the door. "Seto! Please! You can't do this to me!"

Katsuya did not know what to say. He wanted to comfort the girl but his heart saw her as a rival for Kaiba's love. A bit nervous, the blond straightened his clothes and looked at her. "Well…I guess I'll be seeing you."

Serenity glared at the blond through teary eyes. "You stay away from Seto! He was mine before you even heard of him!"

Katsuya was surprised to hear this but he was not about to give up right away. "Hey…you can't tell me what I can or can't do! I will continue to see Seto because I love him!

Serenity wiped her eyes. "It's because of your statement that Seto threw us out! You hurt him!"

The blond's heart broke at hearing that statement. The last thing that the blond wanted to do was hurt the man he loved. Feeling his eyes brim with tears, he shook his head slowly. "I…I don't hurt him…I don't…"

Serenity pushed him against the railing. "You did hurt him! When you mentioned Kyoto, he flew into a rage! If you truly care about him, you need to stay away from him! I can help him whereas you only piss him off!"

Katsuya gritted his teeth. He was hurt but he was not about to lie down and give the brunette to this girl. "At least I've been there for him all this time! You just showed up out of the blue and demanded to be with Seto!"

Serenity slapped him across the face. "That's not true! I've known him since the foster home, longer than you! You had no right to steal him from me!"

Katsuya would have verbally attacked back but was interrupted by Kaiba's door opening. Kaiba then peeked out and threw his shoe that hit the blond's face. He then growled, "You two get out of my sight, get out of my life!" With that, he slammed his door once again.

Serenity started to cry again and ran off. Rubbing the wound on his face, Katsuya sadly walked down to the road. Along the way, he passed Kevin, who waved. "Hey there, kid."

Katsuya did not respond; he just kept on walking. Tilting his head, he headed up to Kaiba's apartment and knocked on the door. Kaiba hissed from the other side, "Go away, bitch!"

Kevin laughed. "Kaiba, how did you know it was me?"

Kaiba did not respond; instead, he opened the door and peeked out. "What the hell do you want, fairy?"

Kevin looked in the direction where Katsuya left. "I just saw Katsuya leaving…he looked hurt."

Blinking in response, Kaiba slammed the door once again. Kevin rolled his eyes. "When will this guy ever learn to let people in?"

Two days before Drowning Heaven was supposed to perform the concert, Riku was knocking on Katsuya's door. "Katsuya, get out of there! You haven't left in over a week! Now come out right now!"

The blond yelled out from behind the door, "Go away! I'm never coming out again!"

Riku sighed with frustration and went to the kitchen to join Naoki and Tetsuya. The bassist looked up at her. "Still no luck, huh?"

Riku shook her head. "No. He still won't come out."

Naoki groaned and hit the counter with his fist. "This is pathetic. We're supposed to be rehearsing for our concert. Maybe I should call Leiona and cancel."

Riku shook her head. "That's not smart to do. The band needs all the exposure that it can get. We just need to convince my brother to cheer up."

Tetsuya scoffed. "I don't know how long that will take. After all, it was Kaiba that hurt him."

Riku scowled. "Well, someone needs to talk to Kaiba and talk some reason into that asshole."

Just then, Katsuya's voice sounded. "Don't bother." The three looked up and saw the singer standing there. He was wearing a loose pair of blue pajama pants. There were black circles under his eyes and his hair was worse than bed head. Riku went and hugged his brother. "Katsuya, we were so worried."

Katsuya wiped his right eye. "I'm sorry…I just…couldn't leave until…it was done."

The three were confused about what the blond was talking about. The singer held up a piece of paper. It was covered with writings and written in large print on top were the words 'Immortal Mortality.' Tetsuya looked at the paper. "Is that…a song?"

Naoki smirked. "Good, now we're on the right track for our CD. Tetsuya wrote 'True to Yourself.' Kaiyuki is working on a song called 'Dark World.' Toya is almost done with his masterpiece 'Clean and Jerk.'"

Riku looked at Naoki with a blank look. "I know I'm going to regret this but…did you write a song?"

Naoki grinned. "It's called 'A Devoted Girl.'"

Riku rolled her eyes. She was only half-surprised with the title. But she did not want to deal with the sex-crazed guitarist. She turned back to her brother. "Are you okay now?"

Katsuya nodded. "Yeah. I was really depressed for the first two days. But then I realized something. I wasn't depressed because Seto threw me out; I'm actually getting used to it. I was depressed because…I want Seto with all my heart and I can't stand the fact that that girl is trying to muscle in on my man."

Tetsuya cleared his throat. "Um, Katsuya…what makes you think that he's your man?"

Katsuya blushed. "Well…you know my belief: don't have sex with someone unless you love that person. Because he's always initiated our sessions, I think that's proof that Seto's interested in me. Because of that, I will do any and everything to win Seto from that girl."

Riku smiled. "It's good to have that kind of determination…but your concert is in two days and I think you should concentrate on that first."

The blond's eyes grew wide. "We have that little time left? Oh crap, I need to get dressed!" With that, he raced back into his room to find a good outfit to wear. His friends just laughed at his reaction.

On the night of the concert, Katsuya was nervous. While this was a concert with many newcomers, he felt like all the pressure was on him. Wearing an all-white outfit and a long, brown leather coat, he was running over all the things that he and Drowning Heaven had practiced. He was exhausted and was trying not to fall asleep on his feet. To prepare for their performance, the band practiced non-stop for thirty-six hours straight. While his friends may have taken a short break and rested, Katsuya refused to rest because he wanted to make sure his performance was perfect. He had hoped that Kaiba would come since he asked Noah to invite the brunette but he was not holding his breath.

Gathering his nerve, the singer looked at his friends. Kaiyuki was practicing his drumming on his leg. He was wearing an all-gray outfit with a white scarf around his neck. He was also sporting his new haircut. His blond hair now had brown streaks. The left side of his face was still hidden by his bangs, which were now primarily brown. Standing near the drummer was Toya, dressed in black pants, a dress shirt, and black vest. Despite being dressed like a proper gentleman, Toya still stuck out with his lace gloves and vampire-like makeup.

Off to the side, Naoki was strumming his strings. Once again, he was wearing an outfit that portrayed him as the embodiment of rock and roll. His choices of clothing were a pair of black jeans and a tight red and black shirt. Once his guitar was ready, he looked at the bassist in his lucky white outfit. Tetsuya was a little nervous but he was calmer than before since he knew what it was like to perform in front of a large group. He looked at the singer and smiled softly. "Are you ready?"

Katsuya shrugged. "I guess so…but…"

Kaiyuki shook his head. "He's not coming."

Katsuya gave a little whine. Toya stepped up just as the announcer started getting the crowd ready for the band. "Just imagine that Kaiba is here."

Katsuya nodded. He took a deep breath and led his band onto the stage. Even though the stage was pitch black, the audience was lit up and Katsuya could see all. Katie was standing in the front row, looking proud and a little nervous. Kyoto and Numora were on the second floor. Numora was drinking a martini and nuzzling his brother, who was giving the blond singer death glares. Unfazed, Katsuya gripped the microphone and lifted the tip of his middle finger. Only Kyoto could see the gesture and he scowled even more. Katsuya smirked and was about to say the name of the song they were premiering when he looked towards the back of the club and got the shock of his life.

Kaiba and Serenity were there. Serenity was looking the band over, seemingly taking a good look for the first time. Kaiba looked bored with his blank face and his arms crossed. Katsuya's shoulders dropped in pleased surprise. He never expected that the man he loved would come to one of his concerts…especially when this concert was for the premier of their new song. Feeling Naoki's guitar poke him, Katsuya snapped back to reality and made the introduction. "My loyal fans…Drowning Heaven is proud to present our newest song…dedicated to the love of my life, SK…Freedom."

Serenity giggled at what Katsuya just called Kaiba. "Can you believe that man?"

Seto glared at her, making her be quiet, and looked at the band as Toya started to play an otherworldly tune on his keyboard. After a few notes, the rest of the band started up. Combined, they created a sound that was a mix of modern rock and unearthly tunes. Katsuya immediately got into his performing-zone and gripped the microphone. He then started to pour his soul out to Kaiba. The song spoke of Katsuya, wanting to be himself, taking Kaiba to a faraway place where they could be in love without any judgment.

During the duration of the song, there was a mix of emotions from everyone. Toya was being himself with acting beyond the normal measure and singing backup when he was needed. Kaiyuki was focused on his drums with his new hair style adding more enthusiasm to his playing. Naoki looked around every now and then with a monotone look on his face. Tetsuya could not keep his eyes off of the guitarist. Katie grinned with pride, proud of the new song by the new band. Kyoto was furious and stormed off with Numora close behind. Serenity was impressed with the song and was smiling for she understood the hidden meaning behind the lyrics.

As soon as the song was over, the lights went off and the crowd went wild. Katsuya smiled warmly, enjoying the fact that he got to sing the song to both fans of Drowning Heaven and to Kaiba. As the band left, Serenity looked at Kaiba, intending on asking him a question, but stopped and stared with a surprised look. Kaiba had a small but heart-warming smile on his face. However, it disappeared just as soon as it appeared and he led Serenity out of the club.

Backstage, Naoki and Tetsuya were putting away their instruments. The guitarist was grinning. "Well, I think that's another hit."

Tetsuya just nodded, not looking at his friend. Sensing that something was amiss, Naoki put his hand on the bassist's shoulder. "Hey, what's up, dude? You haven't spoken a word the while day."

Tetsuya looked at the guitarist with sad eyes. Naoki was about to ask again what was wrong when Katsuya whined at the text message he got. Tetsuya immediately went to the singer. "What is it?"

Katsuya read, "Good song…knew what it meant. Look forward to our battle for Seto's heart."

Toya smiled, realizing who sent the text message. "Looks like she's giving you permission to be around Kaiba again."

The singer glared at the keyboardist. "Shut up. I wasn't going to let her dictate whether I could see Seto or not."

Kaiyuki looked up from his music player. "Then why did you cringe whenever we mentioned either of them?"

Katsuya just blushed in response. Naoki laughed and got his friends in a chokehold. The singer laughed and played around until he heard a familiar laugh. Drowning Heaven turned around to see Kyoto standing there with his advanced cell phone. "So…you didn't heed my warning. Well…now you know the punishment."

Only Katsuya knew what his rival was talking about since the blond kept what happened a secret. "Oh, really? You think I care? After all, I have Austen's testimony that it was a fake."

Kyoto smirked evilly. "Yes…but until he says so…a certain someone…will think otherwise."

Half hour later, Seto pushed Serenity out of his apartment and opened his laptop. He was about to start on making new lyrics when he saw that he had a new email with attachments on it. He opened it and read the message that said 'Does this look familiar?' Curious, the brunette opened the attachments and saw the pictures Kyoto took of Austen "taking advantage" of Katsuya. The normally-unemotional singer's eyes slowly grew wide and his hands clenched into fists.