Chapter 35: Almost There
Letting himself into the Mutou's house, Kaiba went upstairs to wait for Yuugi to get back from his errand. Rather than going to Yami's room as he normally did, Kaiba entered Yuugi's room with only a small amount of wrongness plaguing him over the action. However, he wasn't without purpose and that went a long way to alleviating the feeling as he walked over to Yuugi's desk.
Sitting on top of the desk where it had rested for years, the little gold box that the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle had resided in for centuries was now nothing more than an ostentatious decoration out of place amongst the high school textbooks that shared its space. Pulling out the chair and taking a seat at the desk, Kaiba pulled the small box toward him and Seto's sarcastic comment from the flashback immediately came to mind as he studied it. It was well made and would not have seemed out of place as the eighth Millennium Item in some ways, but it was nothing more than a gift—and yet Kaiba knew there was a significance to it.
Taking the lid off, Kaiba almost had to shake his head that such an ancient artifact that had survived through the sands of time for millennia had been reduced to a trading card holder. Taking out Yuugi's deck and carefully setting it aside, Kaiba continued looking at the inside of the box and was surprised to realize there was a blessing inscribed on the inside of it. It gave him a weird feeling inside as he read the pharaoh's words of praise to his bride, but Seto's bitterness had no place in Kaiba. Still, there was an irony in reading the pharaoh's own blessings of an eternal life and knowing what they had been twisted into through his entombment in the pieces of the Millennium Puzzle that had resided inside of it for so long.
Acting purely on instinct, Kaiba picked up the box and found himself stroking the central design as his powers activated. Although there should have been no true power within the object, it responded with the softest of whispers that surprised Kaiba by speaking in Nefersherit's voice rather than the pharaoh's. It was the faintest of chants, her prayer offered through eternity wishing for the broken halves of souls to reunite. He could feel the earnest intensity of her desire and Kaiba felt a hollow pang when her ancient presence faded from an echo across time into the present silence. When he pushed against it again, there was no variation in the experience as it repeated the same incantation, but there was still something about having any part of Nefersherit in the modern day as something other than a memory.
Before Kaiba could reflect further on it, he heard Yuugi bounding up the stairs and entering the room with a cheerful, "Hi, Seto-kun!"
Gently setting the box back on the desk, Kaiba turned in the swivel chair and faced Yuugi, feeling only the slightest margin of guilt over being caught in such a private moment. "Hey," Kaiba returned the greeting, feeling the need to justify what he was doing. "I wasn't going through your deck or anything, I just—"
Interrupting Kaiba with an amused laugh, Yuugi reassured him, "Even if you had, I wouldn't mind. You already know everything in there anyway."
"Well, that's true, but still," Kaiba protested, having more honor than snooping in such a pathetic way for an advantage. "I'd hope you'd have changed it since the last time we fought, though."
It was weird for Yuugi to realize that it had been well over a year since he had dueled against Kaiba. "I still want a rematch from that time," Yuugi told him as he took a seat on his bed and grinned ruefully. "Yami sort of ruined that last game between us, didn't he?"
"Your weak deck build was enough to do that," Kaiba retorted, although he didn't disagree. "Fine, I'll accept your challenge. Let's see you prove your title, Yuugi."
Rather than taking offense to the implication, Yuugi merely laughed and shared his amusement with Yami on the inside through their connection. "You tell me when and where, I'll be there," Yuugi agreed, a little spark of excitement at the idea igniting inside of him at the prospect.
"When Yami's not inside that to interfere," Kaiba stipulated, knowing that time should be sooner rather than later, "and preferably before my next tournament."
"Sounds good," Yuugi confirmed, even though the time frame was nebulous. "But in that case, what were you doing?"
Brought back to the situation at hand, Kaiba tried to explain, "I needed to see the box to…understand some things."
"Do you need to take it back with you?" Yuugi immediately offered. "I have other deck holders."
"I should certainly hope so," Kaiba snidely commented. "A gilded box is hardly the most practical option."
"It's not like he takes it outside," Anzu pointed out as she entered the room, startling Kaiba a little since he hadn't heard her approach. She noticed his expression and giggled a bit at it as she sat down next to Yuugi on the bed. "It's called walking on pointe, which is why you couldn't hear me."
Scowling a little as she laughed again, Kaiba made mental note of what she had accomplished and her instant insight into his disturbance. "And you tried to sneak in because…?" Kaiba questioned, annoyed with himself for having missed her entrance for as long as he had.
"I successfully snuck in," Anzu corrected him with a smug grin, "just to see if I could."
Having done something similar in the past, Kaiba dropped the issue and let the girl have her moment. Yuugi was the first to bring them back to the main conversation as he reoffered, "I really don't mind if you take it with you."
Kaiba physically jerked back when Yami appeared on the desk, sitting next to the lid with a curious look as he probed the lid of the box with spiritual fingers. Anzu was puzzled by the reaction and by the way Yuugi started laughing at where Kaiba was staring. "It's not funny," Kaiba snapped at Yuugi before glancing over at Anzu and realizing she wasn't looking at the spiritual representation of Yami.
"She can't see me," Yami explained, earning him a withering glare from Kaiba.
"You get used to it," Yuugi counseled Kaiba, a hint of his amusement still coloring his voice.
"I refuse to," Kaiba growled, the implication of Yami staying in that form any longer than he had to causing him to react badly.
"Uh, what just happened?" Anzu asked as she looked between Kaiba and Yuugi for a clue.
Ignoring Anzu's confusion, Kaiba avoided looking at Yami as he told Yuugi, "If you're okay with it, I would like to borrow the box at least until the ceremony."
"Why?" Yami wanted to know, wondering what Kaiba's sudden fascination with the object was.
"It's not a problem at all," Yuugi said, although he also wanted to echo Yami's question. However, Yuugi thought that was something Yami was probably going to be more successful at getting an answer to than him. "Do you need anything else?"
"I need to talk to Yami and then I should be able to fill you in," Kaiba replied, hoping that for once everything would go according to plan.
Impishly leaning forward, Yami breathily asked in Kaiba's ear, "And what is it that you want to tell me in private?"
Glaring in annoyance at Yami through a sideways glance, Kaiba resisted the urge to push the spectral form back for some distance. It didn't help that Yuugi was barely managing to suppress his laughter at the situation.
"We'll leave you two alone, then," Yuugi offered as he took off the Millennium Puzzle and set it on his bed before standing up with Anzu. "See you downstairs?"
"Sure," Kaiba agreed, waiting until they both left and shut the door behind them to look back at Yami. "You just couldn't resist, could you?"
"Hey, I resisted plenty," Yami defended himself as he got off the desk and onto his knees in front of Kaiba. "This is what I really wanted to do…"
The sexual implication of the position immediately started to arouse Kaiba as his mind was quick to flash memories of Yami blowing him at his desk, but he quickly stifled his own reaction. "I thought you wanted to know why I was interested in the box," Kaiba said as a reminder to Yami in hopes of dissuading him from further distractions.
Pouting prettily as he stood up and looked at the box on the desk, Yami asked, "So what's so important about this now?"
"Have you ever heard it?" Kaiba questioned, feeling ridiculous for the question.
Raising an eyebrow at the oddity of Kaiba's query, Yami replied, "No, I can't say that I have. I didn't know it had anything to say."
Rolling his eyes as Yami's glib comment, Kaiba continued, "Have you ever really looked at it?"
"It's what Yuugi holds his deck in, so why would I?" Yami retorted. "There's no magical power in it, so I honestly never really paid attention to it."
Even though Kaiba understood Yami's logic, he insisted, "What about now?"
Peering down at the box, Yami noticed the inscription inside, but it wasn't enough to make him understand why Kaiba was suddenly fascinated with it. "What are you trying to get me to see?" Yami finally asked, failing to grasp what Kaiba was driving at about the object.
Figuring a demonstration would be more effective than explaining, Kaiba reached out with his newly cemented powers and triggered the echo of Nefersherit's prayer, still feeling it resonate deep within him, even as he was carefully watching Yami for a reaction.
"Surely that's not Isis," Yami said when the last words had faded away.
"You don't recognize the voice?" Kaiba realized with some surprise. The sudden deluge of memories over the past few days from the Millennium Puzzle and Rod made It confusing to recognize what Yami did and didn't remember from the past; it was all right at the forefront of his own mind.
"Should I?" Yami asked, not understanding Kaiba's sudden fascination with it.
"It's Nefersherit," Kaiba told Yami, watching as the former pharaoh's eyes went wide with surprise. "She must have done it before the Millennium Puzzle's final entombment in the pyramid."
Everything started becoming more confusing for Yami and he knew there were more questions than answers. It just didn't make sense why Kaiba seemed to be okay with it or how he knew so much about the matter. "How do you know?"
"I saw her in the memories of the memories of the Millennium Puzzle, the Millennium Rod, and…from Seto himself," Kaiba confessed, although it still felt strange to say out loud.
"From Seto himself?" Yami repeated, wondering how such a thing was even possible. Gesturing for Kaiba to lean forward, Yami reached his soul out to form their connection and was stunned by what he felt. "What happened?"
Shivering as he felt Yami's soul probing against his for answers, Kaiba forced himself to explain and not get distracted, "I reclaimed the piece from Bakura."
Reeling back in shock, Yami demanded, "You did what?"
"I told you, I would stop at nothing to get you back and if that's what it took, then—"
"What have you done?" Yami whispered, his shock a far cry from the reaction that Kaiba had been expecting. "Now…that means now Bakura can—"
Interrupting Yami to stop his panic from making false assumptions, Kaiba reassured him, "Bakura's still sealed inside of the Millennium Ring with no way out. You don't need to worry about that."
"But how is that possible?" Yami wanted to know, his mind racing at the revelations. "Seto's soul was the only thing keeping the thief…"
"Seto's soul originally sealed the thief in there, but Ryou's is responsible for bonding him permanently," Kaiba explained, still unclear about how that specifically worked. "He can't come after us anymore, Yami."
It almost seemed too good to be true and Yami was still suffering from disbelief as he warned, "That's not going to stop him."
"True," Kaiba agreed, "but now he can't use Seto's idiocy against me. I can defend myself fully against anything he may try."
Yami was about to reply when he found the ancient fragment that was newly bonded and still not completely settled within Kaiba. "How did you…? When did you…?" Yami tried to ask, but he was still too surprised by it.
"He came back after you left," Kaiba explained, feeling Yami's rage hit a new level through their connection, causing him to flinch at the intensity of it as the edges of the room started to blur with shadows. "So I decided to end it."
Yami was too stunned for words and he just stared at Kaiba as he tried to grasp the full implications of his actions. "Meaning…?"
"I say we try the ceremony tomorrow," Kaiba announced, knowing he still needed a little more time to recover and clear his schedule.
"Are you—are you sure?" Yami asked, fearing that it was almost too good to be true. After so many weeks trapped inside of the Millennium Puzzle, it was hard to believe that freedom might be so close after such a disaster.
"Provided Isis can accommodate us," Kaiba replied, his voice dripping with irritation at the mere thought of her being cause for any further delays than a day.
Kaiba was hit with the full barrage of Yami's excited emotions of adoration and hope, distracting him from the fact that the spectral form that suddenly appeared on his lap didn't have any real substance to it. "I'll do this," Kaiba swore, before amending, "we'll do this, Yami."
"Mmhm," Yami quietly agreed, trying and failing to contain his excitement. "Can we tell aibou and Anzu-chan?"
"Considering he has to be present for the ceremony, yes," Kaiba dryly pointed out, assuming that since his body was a vessel, there was a role for him to play as well.
"Let's go then," Yami decided, pressing his lips against Kaiba's in a phantom kiss before retreating back into the Millennium Puzzle.
Taking a deep breath, Kaiba put the lid back on the box before picking it up to take with him. Only then did he pick up the Millennium Puzzle and go downstairs to talk, unable to stop a slight smile when he felt Yami brush against his mind one more time.
A/N: Not a whole lot to add here, so moving right along…
NEXT CHAPTER:
"And so it shall be done," Kaiba swore before throwing open his connection between the Millennium Rod and Puzzle, causing them both to activate.
Next update will be on, Sunday, September 25th, the day before I move to Japan. It's going to be the major chapter you've all been waiting for, so please be sure to check back then and see it as well as an update on my posting schedule.