(AN: I apologize in advance for the massive amounts of fluff and sap in this chapter. I swear, it's lethal. I'd tell you to skip this chapter, but parts of it are important, so...... yea. Oh, by the way. I've never actually written a lemon before, so I'm not going to even try. But should any of you wish to, I will accept them and post them in the story-giving credit to the author of course.)

WARNING: THERE IS NOW YAOI IN THIS!!! Take it or leave it.

Chapter 3: Kan ch'ai lieh huo

Opening the door quietly, Seto slipped into the apartment and gently closed the door behind him.

"Seto? Is that you?" A voice called and Seto looked up to see Tea standing on the landing wearing one of Seto's shirts, a pair of shorts and a sweater was tied around her waist.

"Yea. It's me." Seto shrugged, as if to say 'I suppose'.

"Is everything all right? Were there any problems? You are home a bit later than I thought you would be."

"No, there was no trouble; there was only a lot of legal issues and red tape, which slowed us down a whole lot. I really just signed a couple papers and it was all over. Simply put, I'm the owner of Kaiba Corp, by inheritance, and CEO, by regulations, unless one or both of my parents returns to take over." Seto told Tea, as he walked towards the stairs and Tea slowly made her way down to him. Finally, he was standing in front of the stairs and she stood on the bottom stair. Reaching out, Seto took her hands gently in his and looked Tea in the eye.

"Seto? Are you sure everything is all right?" Tea asked, dropping her gaze to look at her hands. Loosening his grip on her right hand, Seto reached up and cupped her chin. "Seto?"

Swiftly Seto drew Tea's mouth closer and kissed her. Pulling her body closer, Seto wrapped his arm around her waist and his other hand slipped behind her neck. Sliding his tongue along her bottom lip, Seto silently tried to deepen the kiss, but Tea pulled away.

"Seto, what's going on?" Tea asked, her eyes searching Seto's face.

"Please Tea. I need to know that something will always stay the same." Seto whispered, his voice desperate and almost pleading with her.

"My love for you will never change, Seto. You know that." Tea sighed. A small voice in the back of Tea's mind told her that she should be insulted by Seto's lack of faith in her love, but Tea quickly reminded herself that Seto's world had completely changed in less than twenty-four hours. It was the least she could do to be more understanding.

"Please, Tea. I need to know that there is some thing stable in my life right now. I need you." Seto begged, his eyes wide and expressive. Leaning forward, Tea's lips quickly captured Seto's.

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"You've got my attention. Make it quick."

"He's signed the papers."

"Ah, excellent. Perfect. This, of course, will leave him free to resign and give control to his brother."

"May I ask why we wish his brother to be in control?"

"Because his brother is younger and can be manipulated. His brother is simply a stepping stone."

"Oh."

"Now, these friends of his......."

"Yes, he himself only has one close friends but his girlfriend three close friends."

"I see. Where are these friends located?"

"Two of the girl's friends are located in Hawaii and another is still in New York. There is also another friend of hers in California, but we don't think she will ask him for any assistance, since they have lost contact."

"Good. Send a few agents to monitor the two in Hawaii. The one in New York is already under our control."

"Very well. Consider it done."

"Now, tell me about the boy's friend."

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"Joey?" Mai asked as she placed her hand on the top of her fiancé's menu and pulled it down so she could look him in the eye.

"Yea, Mai?" Joey asked, as he tried to tune out the news report that was blaring out of the radio behind the bar. Evidently a private jet had crashed in France. Returning his attention to Mai, he noticed she seemed a bit worried. "Wha' is id?"

"I think we're being followed."

"Ya mean da lady in da corner?"

"Yes. You've noticed?"

"Yea. She's been trailing' us since da beach."

"Oh. What'll we do?"

"I'll tell ya what we can do......." Joey trailed off, his voice suggestive. Mai grinned a little and Joey wiggled his eyebrows, before grabbing Mai hand and leading her back to their hotel room.

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"Hey! What time....... the bar close?" Ryou called to the bartender in horrible, broken Italian. The bartender replied, but the club was too noisy and Ryou's Italian was too poor for him to understand the answer. "Shit, I can't even understand the news program! All I'm getting is a smoldering pile of metal, and that's because it's a picture! Why is it I can ask for a hotel room in Italian and get exactly what I want, but I can't get anything else, like the time?"

"It's a bit after one."

"Huh?" Ryou asked, turning around to find the voice.

A man around Ryou's age was standing behind him. He wore a thin, white, sleeveless, top with a white hood. Two small gold chains were attached to the chest area of the hoodie and hung there as decoration. He was also wearing tight blue jeans and gold cuffs around his wrists, upper arms and neck. As if laughing at Ryou's stare, the man pushed his medium-length, blonde hair behind his ears to show a pair of dangling, gold earrings. Pulling up a stool next to Ryou, the man shouted for the bartender and, in Italian as broken as Ryou's, ordered a beer. Ryou unconsciously felt his eyes travel down the man's back and blushed as he realized he was so openly admiring the others man behind.

'Oh....... he is so fine.' Ryou thought, mentally licking his lips.

'Dear lord, Ryou! You don't know the guy's name and you're hitting on him!'

'Well, he is in a gay bar.'

'So? All he did was give you the time! You are such a whore.' Ryou scolded himself. Ripping his eyes away, Ryou looked up to find the other man stifling a laugh.

"Like what you see?" The man smiled, his violet eyes sparkling.

"Do you always steal your earrings from your sister?" Ryou snapped. He didn't enjoy being made fun of.

"Come on, don't be like that. Would you shun the only other English speaker in this bar?"

"Whatever. Look, do you want something?"

"That depends on you." The man grinned, before extending his hand. "My name's Marik."

"Ryou." Ryou nodded, taking the offered hand.

"Nice name. Where are you from?"

"I'm a US citizen, if that's what you're asking. Where are you from?"

"I'm a citizen of the world." Marik sighed. "But I currently live in Egypt."

"So what are you doing here?"

"Looking for a good time." Marik shrugged, before turning back to face the bar and taking a sip of his beer.

"No ones ever complained before." Ryou blurted out, without thinking.

"I've got a hotel room." Marik grinned, turning his attention back to Ryou.

"You've got a date." Ryou laughed.

AN: Wahahahaha! So, who are the mysterious callers? And what is their deal with those other people. (I dunno, it's all rather obvious to me, but that could be because I'm the author ^_^)

Note about title: all titles in this story will be a saying/idiom or part of one. Kan ch'ai lieh huo is a Chinese idiom which means 'dried firewood (together with) roaring fire'. This is used to refer to two young lovers. (Or so I'm told)