Disclaimer: I don't own YGO. Nope, not mine, but I sure wish it was.

WARNING:

Yaoi – Yami/Seto pairing so don't read any further if you don't like that sort of stuff.

Rated R – Some references to sexual activity. Tame in my opinion, so again, I'd read my mother this chapter.

A/U setting – some things are different, but that happens. Sentra, surrounding space stations and sister planets are mine. I'll share with anyone who asks.

DEDICATION:

Chibi-Chan….French Maid Seto (be still my beating heart) was just what I needed to get past the stress induced writer's block I've had for the last week and half. Go check out Living With You if you haven't already. I laughed myself out of the chair last night...and if anyone lives in the DFW area, Tippins has the BEST French Silk Pie, great for when writing under a tight deadline.

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews.

Enjoy,

~Kay

New Games

Chapter 12: Roses and Jewelry

by Kyrenea

Kaiba exited the transport under the Marsten Complex and took the stairs to the building's outside entrance, stopping to soak in the late afternoon sun before proceeding inside. The residents were mostly young singles and newly partnered couples, so children were a rare site in the lobby and common areas. As such, the decorating ran on the luxurious and expensive side. He stopped to admire the manager's latest acquisition of a couple rendered in bronze lounging amongst trees and vines in the center of the lobby's indoor garden.

The designer had managed to incorporate the structure into the existing garden without disrupting the former arrangement of plants. The circular garden had been one of the more attractive aspects of the residential complex in Kaiba's opinion. Several tables and booths had been set up around the garden and were serviced by a small pastry and coffee shop at the back of the main lobby.

He and Yami had taken breakfast and evening dessert many times around the garden, listening to the soft play of the water features as they blended with the piped in string music. Quiet mornings and evenings were few and far between. If Yami had arranged the night off and set-up a dinner date, he was certain the coming weekend would be spent behind closed doors, their bare bodies wrapped about each other.

A soft sigh escaped him. Yami was a terror when pissed, but such a sweet and passionate lover at other times. Thankfully, Yami had superior control over his emotions and nights like the office fiasco were few and far between.

Most of the time, Yami just couldn't keep his hands to himself, and once Kaiba's clothes were gone, it went downhill from there. Or up, depending on how you looked at things.

He entered the main elevator with a couple he recognized as living a few floors below. A polite nod was all they spared him, as they held hands and giggled like schoolgirls. He faced forward, ignoring the soft moans and gasps they made before exiting the elevator in a mad rush for their apartment.

"Newlyweds," he muttered to their dispepearing backs. He exited at his own floor, meeting his hired cleaning lady at his front door.

"Good evening, Mr. Kaiba. You're home early." Elsa smiled, balancing a stack of three boxes as she tried to unlock the door without dropping them.

"I have an early dinner meeting." Kaiba reached out and took the boxes. "You must have a rather smitten admirer." He took the smallest box and turned it in his hands, admiring the fancy paper that only came wrapped about gifts from a particular little shop in Capital City. "A very smitten admirer, Elsa." He winked at the older lady, being rewarded with a blush.

"They're for you, Mr. Kaiba." She giggled, pushing the door open and taking the packages from him to carrying inside.

"Who would be sending me gifts?" Kaiba sat on the couch and put the largest box in his lap, running his fingers over the paper to find the hidden glue seems.

 "You have to wait." Elsa tsked. She pulled an ivory envelope from her pocket and placed it on top of the box. "That lovely little partner of yours dropped this off with the boxes. He also left explicit instructions that you weren't to open them."

Kaiba picked up the note, being sure to balance the box on his knees while he opened the seal. Inside was a note card, written in Yami's neat and perfect script:

Touch under penalty of sheer torture. I'll see you at dinner. Be a good boy. Love, Yami

Laughing, he set the box on the table and arranged the three packages in size from largest to smallest. What they contained was a mystery to him. And if anyone knew how frustrating not knowing something was for him, it was Yami. Running his palms down his pants, he stood from the couch and cocked his head sideways, puzzling over the boxes.

The largest box was from Tori's Apparel, a high dollar, special order, shoe manufacturer. They specialized in women's footwear.

The second was from Lace and Bows, a modestly priced apparel store inside District Nine that many of the employees from the varied clubs kept in business. Yami had made several purchases at the shop over the years, but rarely something for Kaiba.

The smallest box was from Keagan's Reproductions. The store from Sentra's Capital City specialized in historical and off-world cultural reproductions. They claimed to be experts in their field, creating everything from furniture, clothing, musical instruments and culinary delights. Keagan and his kinsmen charged a small fortune for anything they created.

In Kaiba's opinion, the sleek, silver little sports car Yami had talked him into a few years back had been worth the price gouge. It wasn't like he could jump a transport back to Earth. And even if he could have, he was sure a genuine 2002 Corvette would have cost him more going the route Yami had suggested.

The things Yami talked him into or simply brought home on his own.

Women's footwear?

Professional lingerie?

A reproduction of gods only knew what?

He'd go crazy before the night was over.

"Elsa, when did these arrive?"

"They didn't exactly arrive." She fussed around with the furniture, taking the time to rearrange the off center flower arrangement Yami had left a few nights before. "Mr. Yami came in shortly after you left this morning. He left the note and boxes with me before coming upstairs." She giggled, as if in response to a secret joke.

"Elsa." He tried to sound stern, but she giggled again, her eyes twinkling in merriment as she turned and head to the kitchenette.

"He's such a dear," she sighed. "He brought in flowers for all the building's staff, and boxes of chocolate."

"Why the bribes?" Kaiba flopped back down on the couch and went to put his feet on the table, deciding against the move when Elsa glared at him through the pass-through bar.

"I really wish he was here all the time," Elsa pouted. "Mr. Kaiba, do you think our little Yami has a daddy in some other place?"

Kaiba chocked.

Not at the thought. He knew who Yami's sugar daddy was, one Seto Kaiba. Not that he was complaining.

But to come from Elsa? He didn't realize the sweet, little lady knew the concept of a sugar daddy. The term was old Earth slang, and not a positive term from what he'd studied. Elsa must have been spending more time with Yami than he realized.

"No, Elsa." He chuckled. "Yami doesn't have a secret daddy. He does however have to answer family duty, whether or not society recognizes the Counstal's decision to leave the Muto family seat to a half-breed bastard."

"Oh." She sounded genuinely pleased as she cleaned the minimal mess Kaiba had left the night before. She then came back to the living area and rummaged through the canvas bags she'd carried in with the boxes. Finding the one she wanted she went back to the kitchen and began restocking his groceries. "The staff weren't the only people he brought flowers for," she called over her shoulder.

"Huh?" Kaiba took another look around the living area. He didn't see any new flower arrangements. Knowing Yami, he wouldn't put past the fiend to have left fresh flowers in every apartment except his own.

"Up." Elsa came back into the living area, shooing him off the couch. "I can't tidy up with you underfoot."

"Don't you usually do the living area last?" Kaiba snatched his brief case before Elsa had a chance to hide it by putting it away.

"It is last." She giggled to herself again before clearing her throat. "I did the bedroom and bath earlier, at Mr. Yami's request. He was such a dear, he stripped the bed and remade it himself to help me fit the work in between for the morning apartments."

Kaiba's left eyebrow rose. Yami, doing housework? Now there was the shock of the century. Moving around a cleaning Elsa, he went to the bedroom and slid open the door, barely missing his toe with the dropped brief case.

Yami had done more than strip and change the bed.

The bed and surrounding floor space was covered in rose petals, night bloomer blossoms and several smaller flowers he didn't recognize.

Amongst the petals, flowers and leaves was more jewelry, matching the pieces Yami had left earlier.

Jewelry.

Flowers.

Mysterious gifts.

A rose covered bed…what did Yami have planned?

Kaiba about roared in frustration. He had good tear job laugh instead.

He hated surprises.

A/N: I'm so sorry it took this long to get Chapter 12 up…the hubbie and I took an unplanned 3 day trip to Florida for a funeral – which in turn set me back about a week at work (this is not the time of year to be behind). Things are looking better; I found the top of my desk yesterday before leaving the library. But today (3/26/03) is my day off, so hopefully I'll get some writing done between errands and chores…YEAH!!!

I've also decided to keep posting new chapters of Let the Games Begin Yami and Seto were outraged to learn their Academy exploits would only be shown via flash backs and trips down memory lane…so I've got a new installment for that story in the works.

In my defense, what is coming isn't my fault.

Chibi-chan made me do it.

The mental image of Seto in a French Maid outfit just started this wicked train of thought…so while he won't be in the sexy little cleaning outfit, he will end up in feminine clothes for all us fan girls that just can't get enough of his long, sexy legs and cute little back side.