Authors' Note:  Yes, due to ff.net-related complications (i.e. it was down), the update waited until this weekend.  At the least, this chapter is longer than usual.  And sweeter than usual, too, I think.  Hope you enjoy!  Thanks to all who reviewed! --Neph

Disclaimer:  Nope, we still don't own anything, except Yuki and Skunkzilla and they're not in this chapter. 

MarmaladeGirl:  Ah, we do so enjoy the Honda/Ryuuji interaction!  So glad you liked it!  And I'd have to agree that Ryou had a hard time figuring anything out.  *grins*  I'm sure more confusion awaits him after this chapter.

Shamanic Guardian Lena:  Aww… thank you!  We both really are glad to know that you like it.  Oh, and Honda and Ryuuji aren't quite done suffering just yet.  Just taking a little break.  Lol…

Mikazuki Kagaya:  Hee!  I shudder to think of all of the wild animals that are currently being mailed to Yami no Malik.  We will definitely keep this up (though not until PM returns), because we enjoy writing this story very much!

The Evil Laugh:  Yes, we recognize you!  No cliffy here, either, I fear.  We enjoy hearing your thoughts on our chapter endings!  And poor Honda will have to figure out how to handle this situation… though given his personality, it might not be such a good idea…  *blush*  Thank you so much!  We will definitely keep writing this as soon as PM returns.  The good news is that we have enough written for one more PM-less update at the least.  Hope you get your DVDs.  PM can sympathize… she's always threatening to steal mine. 

AnimeFan13:  Thank you!  We will!

Chapter 8

Aftermath

Ryuuji had walked out of the restaurant and was about to use his cell phone in order to call for a taxi when he suddenly stopped and sighed. He couldn't tell whether or not he was still annoyed enough to be walking away like this… he knew he was angry, of course. That was obvious. But did he really want to express his anger this way?

For a moment, he just stood there, motionless, as he glared furiously at everything around him. It was almost as if each person walking by was actually a certain idiotic brunette who needed to have his head beat in. Or at least that spike on his head done away with. Needless to say, it didn't make him feel any better about the whole incident, although he wouldn't go as far as to say that it made him feel worse.

"Honda no bakayarou," he mumbled darkly to himself as he continued to stand there. He wondered if Honda had even noticed his departure, or if he was still too busy staring at Ryou to do anything. Sure, he knew that Ryou needed more taking care of than most people usually did. But that didn't mean that he understood Honda's need to coddle the other teen. He couldn't tell if it was a sense of misplaced guilt or… jealousy.

He really, really hoped that it was the first one. But Ryuuji was a realist and he knew that even if it was mostly the first emotion, the second one would have some bearing as well. And although he really couldn't blame Honda for feeling that way… it still annoyed him to no end.

After all, what happened to Ryou wasn't really Honda's problem, was it? There was no need to be worrying so much. Despite what everyone said about Seto, Ryuuji was sure that the white-haired teen would be fine with him. It wasn't as if Seto would do anything to harm Ryou… he doubted that Seto would even harbor such intentions. Anything that could harm his company was a definite no, so there really was no reason why Seto would put everything in jeopardy just to… to do what? What reason would Seto have to hurt Ryou?

There wasn't one, really. But then again, he didn't really know why Seto would have been out with Ryou. So he shouldn't be that surprised that Honda should be so shocked.

Meanwhile, back in the restaurant, Honda Hiroto was, at the moment, feeling something other than shocked. He was slowly beginning to realize just exactly how much of an idiot he'd been acting like when Ryuuji had walked out on him. Naturally, what he felt more than anything at the present was regret. And still, he kept glancing over at Ryou and Seto, feeling unable to keep his eyes completely off of them, even though he knew he was only asking for trouble by watching.

Honda winced a bit as he saw Seto put his arm around Ryou, and at the moment, he could feel the urge to go over and try to talk some sense into Ryou rise up again. That or try and knock some sense into Seto and get him away from Ryou in one fell swoop.

As that urge was gnawing at him, though, another thought stopped Honda in his tracks. Ryuuji. I was ignoring him like an idiot... and he was so angry when he walked out... demo, I drove us here. What if he's waiting for me outside and feeling miserable? What if he hasn't left? I couldn't just leave him out there like that... not when I know that I owe him an apology... not when I know that I've hurt him...

Honda drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes, reminding himself that there would be other occasions for talking to Ryou and other chances to try force Seto to leave him alone if it came to that. He did feel guilty over the way he'd ended things with Ryou... and worried that he'd driven Ryou into the arms of someone who would hurt him or take advantage of him, for when was Kaiba Seto ever anything but cold and calculating? Still, for now, there was something more important.

It took some willpower not to look over at the two of them again, but Honda managed it, paying for the drinks he and Ryuuji had ordered and walking out quickly. From the moment he walked into the parking lot, Honda saw Ryuuji standing there. His back was turned and he was mumbling something to himself.

Honda caught the mention of his name and something about an idiot... it didn't take a genius to put two and two together. So, the brunette silently drew closer until he stood right behind Ryuuji. "Un. I am an idiot..." he said softly, gazing at Ryuuji with apologetic hazel eyes.

Ryuuji whirled around, his thoughts having been interrupted by that familiar voice with a most welcome note of apology in it. Still, it wasn't as if Honda would simply sound apologetic and it would all be forgotten. Ryuuji's forgiveness wasn't won quite that easily. "And here I was wondering if you'd even noticed that I was gone..." Ryuuji replied, a note of sarcasm in his voice in spite of the truth to his words.

"Ryuuji..." Honda murmured, walking around the other to face him so that he could draw the raven-haired male into his arms. "Gomen nasai... I was acting like a complete idiot. Demo, of course I noticed. I noticed you walking out, and I felt like such a fool. I didn't even realize how riduculously wrapped up I was getting in watching Ryou until it was too late. I was out with you... and I should have been focusing on you..." Honda added apologetically.

"Well, at least you can admit it when you were wrong. That's more than one can hope for with most people..." Ryuuji replied, grinning a bit. It was really all but impossible for him to stay mad at Honda when he gazed at him with such a geniune look of apology in his hazel eyes and the warmth of their bodies was drawn together. "Why did you have to be such a baka? It was going to be such a nice date, too," Ryuuji added, his lips drawing into a slight pout.

"I suppose I just felt like the whole thing was my fault," Honda said, his features sobering. "I felt bad enough for ending things with Ryou, and when I saw him out with Kaiba, I worried about sorts of mistakes he might make because he was feeling hurt. I guess I felt like I would be to blame, because I was the one who hurt Ryou in the first place. If I had never been involved with him, I doubt that he ever would have gone out with Kaiba." Honda sighed regretfully at the thought.

"Hiroto..." Ryuuji said, his features softening. He gazed up at the brunette with emerald eyes filled with warmth. "You can't blame yourself for that. Bakura can take care of himself. He makes his own choices. You don't have to worry about taking care of him now. You've got to stop feeling guilty and get that through your head somehow. I know that it's hard. I don't feel good about doing what we did to him either. Demo, the only one you really need to take care of now... is me..." With those words, Ryuuji closed the space between them and drew Honda into a kiss.

Honda accepted the kiss eagerly, leaning into it and returning it fully. It had been just what he'd needed. Somehow, Ryuuji had known that. A little reminder of everything that was right. A little reminder that he'd made the right decision. The passion that rose in the kiss, the feeling of the other's lips against his own, left Honda with little room for doubt. Kissing Ryuuji felt so very nice...

Even if deep down inside, Honda did still feel guilty over having hurt Ryou, this helped. It helped make him realize that making any decision other than the one he'd made would have been worse. He would have hurt Ryuuji in the process and cast aside something that he truly wanted. "Ryuuji..." Honda murmured, when the lack of oxygen had momentarily parted the kiss. "I'm sorry that I was acting like such an idiot. I chose to be with you, because you're the one that I want to be with."

Honda's gentle reassurance was exactly what Ryuuji needed to hear at the moment, too. It had felt so wonderful when Honda had chosen to be with him. Deep down inside, it had seemed to Ryuuji like almost too good of a thing to last for long. Perhaps that was why he might be a little less understanding or a little bit more jealous than usual. Regardless, it was just especially nice to hear Honda say such a thing at this moment. "Well, I suppose that it would be only right for me to overlook a brief bout of idiocy on your part. I know that you care about Ryou still, at least as a friend. I do, too. Let's just forget what happened, and focus on the rest of the evening."

Honda nodded, grinning a bit roguishly at Ryuuji. "We should do that. Eating is highly overrated. After all, we still have the best part of the evening left."

"Oh?" Ryuuji replied, quirking a brow suggestively.

"That's right. I still have to take you home." With that, Honda leaned in for another kiss, deciding that taking Ryuuji home could be put off for another minute, since he didn't quite feel inclined to wait that long before kissing him again.

*****

Things hadn't begun to get truly awkward until Seto had climbed into the driver's seat and pulled the closed the door behind him. Sure, there had been the uncomfortable silence that followed Ryou's admission, but that had been cleared away with the arrival of the waiter. Dinner had passed calmly enough. True, Seto wasn't much for making frivolous conversation just for the sake of hearing his own voice, and true, Ryou had been in a rather distressed state at the beginning of the meal, but between the welcome distraction of food and Seto's attempts to speak more than he usually would in response to Ryou's polite conversation, it hadn't been bad at all.

It hadn't been exactly comfortable, which was oddly fitting, in a way, because, after all, when are first dates ever comfortable? And even the as the air in the car thickened with tension as Seto drove along in silence, one couldn't help but note that this, too, would be typical of a first date. The tense silence of the trip home, often filled with thoughts on both sides about who might attempt to kiss whom and how far things would go... Of course, this tense silence was filled with thoughts other than those.

For his part, Seto had let his mind wander over to business easily enough. It was so common for him to ride along in a car in silence, which would typically be the case save when it was punctuated by business calls, that his mind could easily drift over to thoughts of a nagging distribution problem and linger there to fill up the uncomfortable silence.

None of this helped Ryou in the least, of course. It seemed to make things all the worse, because as the silence grew deeper and thicker, it somehow got harder and harder to break. He'd awkardly shifted in his seat, tried to brush through his hair, and cleared his throat repeatedly, trying to pierce the heavy air, but it was all to no avail. Really, the last thing the silver-haired teen wanted was to be left in silence with his thoughts. He'd been able to mostly keep his mind off of Honda and Ryuuji through the course of dinner, but now, all of those guilty little pricks of conscience seemed to be welling up again. Ryou couldn't help but wonder if he'd done the right thing. Did he really want to see them miserable? Did he really want to be responsible for causing them problems? Then again, did he really like the alternative? How can it be that my choices are either to sit back and just take this or cause them suffering? I just want all of this to be resolved. I do still want answers...

"We're here."

Seto's quiet voice broke through Ryou's thoughts, once again startling him somewhat. He'd been so caught up in his thoughts that he'd hardly noticed that the car was no longer moving and was, in fact, sitting in his driveway. Ryou turned towards Seto, blinking a few times and wearing an uncomfortable expression. "Anou... Kai--Seto...a--" The words seemed quite determined to die in Ryou's throat,
and he simply stared at the other, desperately trying to form some sentence, though Ryou really had no idea what one was supposed to say or do to bid one's fictional date a good evening. Somewhere inside, Ryou sarcastically thought that he probably was supposed to end a fictional date with a made-up kiss, though he hardly knew what that would entail. Possibly lying to someone about it the next day? Or maybe planting a stage kiss on Seto...? Ryou considered the latter possibility to be absurdly unlikely and distractedly pondered Seto's probable reaction to such inappropriate behavior. Of course, all of these thoughts were expressly designed to keep Ryou from thinking about the awkwardness at hand.

"You know, you can still call the whole thing off. If this is making you unhappy, we don't have to do this. It's still entirely up to you," Seto said gently after having exhausted his patience waiting for Ryou to form comprehensible words.

Ryou didn't know how to reply to that. He couldn't help but cringe slightly though, as he noticed the obvious lack of patience in Seto's voice. It was nice, really, that Seto was making an effort to hide his annoyance... but Ryou had become pretty good at hearing the underlying emotions. After all, he did live 24-7 with the somewhat psychopathic spirit of the Sennen Ring, and Yami no Bakura was the type of person who could speak with absolutely no emotion in his voice and still expect the victim to figure out that he was annoyed. Victim usually meaning Ryou.

Of course, none of this had anything to do with what was happening now. Ryou just had this wonderful ability of rambling endlessly to himself while ignoring everybody around him. It worked out pretty well as long as the before-mentioned 'everybody' wasn't getting rabidly annoyed with the ignoring part.  But the question... it wasn't the first time that Seto had asked him this. It wasn't even the second. It was simply the most recent of a long string of questions that kept asking... begging for the same thing.

End this.

End this now, before they got into it any further. He had gotten what he wanted, hadn't he? He had seen Honda's reaction, and he didn't have any doubt that there was more to the situation than Honda had been able to tell him. But was that enough? Was that everything he wanted, or did he need more?  And did he need this 'more' enough to put Seto through this mess any longer?

The intelligent part of him... the part of him that was usually ignored, unfortunately, said that he had enough and he could end this. What was the point of continuing? All it did was hurt him, and it hurt the people he trusted... used to trust, at least. Did he trust them anymore? He didn't really know... and he cared very much for that answer.

But... why was he thinking about this?! Seto was starting to stare at him as if he had turned into stone... and considering the rate his mouth was moving, Seto was pretty much right. He hadn't said anything intelligent or worth noting in the past couple of hours, it seemed. His brain was working, but the messages weren't translating to his mouth. And if it wasn't translating to his mouth, then there really was no point in saying anything because it wouldn't be said! And... oh Kami-sama what on earth was he talking about? He had just lost complete track of his thoughts... although that probably wasn't saying much because it happened to be a fairly common occurance. Look at him! He was such a scatter-brain... it was no wonder Honda wanted to break up with him! He probably got tired of this... this... oh-so-wonderful ability to get completely off-track and forget that there happened to be a rest of the world waiting for him to get his ass in gear and start talking like a normal human being.

Which, by the way, he still wasn't doing! Ryou's mind was a mess, and it almost looked like he was going to have a complete nervous breakdown if somebody didn't do something... fast. And while Ryou knew this very well, he couldn't think of any way to send this message to Seto, who was now staring at him as if something had just gone very wrong with the white-haired boy. Which it had, true enough, but there was no reason to make him feel that way. Even though it was true. Even though....

He nearly jumped out of his skin when Seto took his hand. The sudden warmth was enough to jolt him awake, as if somebody had thrown a bucket of ice cold water on him. Except... it wasn't that it was cold. It worked because it was warm... comforting. He might have even called it 'loving', but he wasn't that delusional anymore so there was really no reason to go that far.

Seto looked at him, and he stared back. He needed to give an answer, didn't he? Unfortunately, despite the fact that his mind was starting to function a bit more properly, his mouth still refused to create coherent words. So unless he was going to learn sign language in the next couple of seconds (also providing that Seto already knew sign language), he was going to have to figure something else out to convey his answer.

Ryou looked at Seto, and he bit nervously on his lip. And before anybody could blink, he leaned over and kissed Seto very quickly on the cheek.

If anybody had asked him, at that exact moment, why he had done such a thing... Ryou wouldn't have been able to give an answer. If anybody asked him later why he had done such a thing, he still wouldn't have been able to give an answer. He probably never would be able to figure out why he had done that, and that knowledge couldn't help but depress him slightly.

He could see that Seto was surprised, and surprised people usually asked questions. And since Ryou wasn't in any place to be giving answers, he turned and quickly ran into the apartment, slamming the door on his way in.

Seto most certainly had a few questions in mind... As Ryou had leaned towards him, for a moment, all thoughts had left Seto's mind and he had just sat there, somehow unable to fathom what the person beside him was trying to do. Naturally, when the leaning in had given rise to a soft brush of lips against his cheek, Seto was more than surprised.

Really, he was just about as close to flummoxed as Kaiba Seto could be under normal circumstances. The only thing that might've shocked him more at the present moment was if Ryou had pounced on him and proceeded to act even more out of character. And maybe then Honda and Ryuuji would pop up out of the back seat and proceed to resume bickering. Yes, that would shock him more. Other than that, the possibilities were things that were even less probable.

As it was, Seto was suddenly left surprised and alone in his car with a mind filled with questions. Questions that he just knew were going to run through his mind constantly and keep him awake. Foremost among them, one thought kept cropping up again and again.

Why did Ryou kiss me like that?

Seto put the car into gear, pausing before driving off to put his fingertips lightly to his cheek for just a moment, brushing the spot where Ryou's lips had been almost a moment ago absently. Then he drove on, holding that rare feeling inside of not understanding why something had happened at all. The kiss was gentle and sweet... almost a friendly gesture... but then, a kiss... a kiss given to him of all people... could hardly be assumed to be something that was merely friendly.

And yet, the whole reason this situation even existed was because of the way Ryou felt about Honda. So, why kiss me? Gratitude? Loneliness? Desperation? Confusion? Or was it something else...? Just the way he looked at me, just for that split second...

Why the hell am I overanalyzing this anyway? It doesn't matter, does it? Ryou kissed me and ran off into his house. Ryou's behavior did not make sense. Ryou's behavior never makes sense. Truthfully, deep down, Seto considered Ryou's approach to the world to be quite wrong. To be so easily trodden upon... so soft and fragile... someone who seemed to always hover on the verge of being broken, one way or another, who couldn't take advantage of someone like that. Ryou was just a sweet, trusting fool... a true innocent.

So, then why does a part of me want to protect that innocence? Why is it that what Honda and Otogi did to him makes me a bit angry? A bit more angry than I should
be, to say the least...

Seto chose to let those questions slip from his mind as he drove off into the night, rolling down the window and inhaling the cool night air. And still his mind thrummed with other questions that he would find no answers to.