Tittle: Dark Eyes
Author: Andro
Rating: Rsh
Pairings: Yami x Yugi, Seto x Jou
Warnings: AU, yaoi, a lil' violence.
Author Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! *hugs* ^-^ I wanted to write a reply to some of the reviews, but it's just too many. x_x; Uhm, I'll try to answer the basics and such in general.
1.I've watched pretty much an episode and a half of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Sad, ne?
2.Yes, I did some research for this fic. It was fun. I hope that it got the sort of Japanese-ethnic feel to it.
3. No lemon, obviously. =x Sorry. *patpat*
4. I give a cookie to Nozomi, Leila, Starsong, Princess Kielasandera, st*r, Mayhem's BrainChylde, Hioki(Half a cookie for you. ^.~) for guessing that the Go players were Hikaru and Touya from Hikaru No Go. I highly recommend this series.
5. This piece is also available at Cerulean.Illuminati-X.net, my fanfiction site. (Yes, I finally got one. ^^;)
I meant to post this before, but my birthday came along, and my first job interview(I got the job, yay! ^_^;) and now I've got a new cat who is having more than just a *little* trouble fitting in with my other two... *kaff* But anyway, sorry for the horrendously long delay, here it is!
Oh. There is an epilogue, hopefully to be posted soon.
Not beta'ed because all my beta readers seem to have run away. .-.; Sadness.
*~*~*~
"Uhm, don't worry, I'm sure you'll like her just fine." Yugi assured him, somehow reaching behind in an amazing display of flexibility to pat Jou's knee. Obviously, he hadn't been as deeply asleep as Jou had thought. Or had he simply been immersed for too long in his grim thoughts and he'd woken up meanwhile? //Ah, it doesn't matter, he's awake anyway.\\
"Mn, okay, if you say so." Jou nodded, trusting his best friend to be right. Even though Yugi tended to think that everyone would get along with everyone. He glanced outside the window, and the girl's figure was becoming clearer as the car slowed down and carefully approached, and then they were there.
Yugi was the first one out of the car, mostly because Sayeka had pulled him out completely as soon as he had managed to escape the seat belt's troublesome grasp, and opened the door. She looked the same as always, just as tall as Yugi, dressed impeccably in a blue kimono with her black hair swept back into a bun. She squealed and hugged her friend, and Jou swore that she was actually jumping up and down. He raised an eyebrow, and popped the lock, and with that, opened the door, pulling himself out of the car.
The chilly air of December, struck him sharply, but not enough to cut his face, that he was thankful for. A little lost on what to do, Jou shut the door and leaned slightly against it, grinning briefly as the blue eyed girl left Yugi long enough to wrap Yami, who had gotten out of the car through his door, into an energetic hug as well.
"It's nice to see you too Sayeka, but calm down." While Yami was trying to make the girl let go of him and reminding her to breathe, Jou directed his gaze off them and to his best friend, looking at him with a questioning expression.
Yugi giggled, half nervously and turned away, tapping Sayeka's shoulder to get her attention. Off to the side, Yami and his grandfather were having a reunion of their own, obviously used to being excluded from the teenagers' exuberant, focused universe.
"Sayeka? I would like you to meet my best friend, Jounochi Katsuya. Jou, this is Yami's best friend, Sayeka Onori."
Turning, Sayeka looked much more relaxed, though a happy glow suffused her cheeks despite the biting cold. She smoothed out her kimono and bowed politely to the new teenager, a friendly smile on her face.
"It is a great pleasure to meet you, like Yugi said, I'm Sayeka Onori. I live right over there." Straightening up, she gestured behind her to where the Onori house's great roof could be seen.
"I'm just your average girl next door."
"Heh... nice to meet you too." Jou nodded, trying to imitate the bow that she made. Not succeeding very well, he gave up on that before he made an utter ass of himself and straightened up, giving her a quirky grin of his own.
"Just call me Jou."
"Aa, thank you I will." Sayeka nodded swiftly, then seemed to hesitate, as if in pause. She frowned the slightest bit, and crossed one arm across her chest to support the other's elbow as she pressed the free hand against her chin.
"Wait... hold on a sec." A hard expression crossed her face, as if she were trying to grasp something that her fingers just barely brushed against.
"Oh! You're the idiot's boyfriend! Er. I mean. Kaiba's." Quickly correcting herself, seeing as perhaps not everyone shared her views on one Seto Kaiba, Sayeka dropped her position, smiling sheepishly.
"Oh... yes." Jou's own smile faltered, turning weak. Just for a few minutes, he had forgotten about his resolution to confront Kaiba, no matter how messy the ending might be. Taking a deep breath, and almost feeling Yugi's gaze on him, he grinned.
"That's me! No worries, he is an idiot. Absolute stubborn ass." He added casually, raising his hands and rubbing them together quickly.
"Anyway, can we move it? I'm about to freeze my sorry behind. And believe me, no one will be happy if Jounochi turns into a popsicle." He boasted grandly, noticing that very thin, delicate snowflakes were beginning to glide down around them.
"Awww, a little cold never hurt anyone!" Sayeka remarked cheerfully, catching a green bag that Yami tossed her way. She 'oofed' softly as the weight sank into her arms.
"Bloody hell Yami, what the heck is in here?"
Looking up from the trunk of the car, Yami looked amused.
"Yugi's stuffed animals."
"Really?" Sayeka's eyes widened slightly, and she glanced at Yugi, who was about to protest to the accusation, and shook her head.
"How horrible, stuffed animals should be much lighter!"
*~*~*~*~
Three hours were spent in the process of figuring out what bag belonged to who, and then unpacking everything. Yami and Yugi shared a room, since it wasn't anything out of the normal. Jou got his own room, and he'd half begun to ask Sayeka where hers was, when he remembered she didn't actually live there. Or he was pretty sure she didn't anyway.
Truthfully, Jou couldn't quite say that he particularly liked his room, it wasn't his style at all, but he could appreciate the beauty in simplicity. Everything was a soft, tawny shade, down to the covers covering his futon. At catching first sight of it, he'd frozen and made a face. City bred through and through, he'd always had a Western bed for as long as he could remember. //Oh, well. I'll get used to it.\\ He thought, in resignation, dropping his bags.
After initial introductions were done, and everyone settled in comfortably. Sayeka dragged all three out to walk over the land, despite the thickening fall of snow. At times, she and Yami sank into quick, rapid conversations about how Yami's students were, and Jou lost interest. Occasionally, he heard Seto's name be mentioned, and he would tense, but relax before Yugi noticed it. He didn't want to think of Kaiba. As much as Jou wanted to refuse it, he wanted to be a wimp and not think about his problems at all. At least, not until he had to go back to the city.
Finally, it was too cold and snowing too harshly to remain outside, so they began the trek back to the house. Occasionally, Jou noticed that Yami would lift his head from the current conversation and glance over his shoulder, towards the road. He figured Yami just kept hearing things and thought it might be a car nearby, which would be odd, considering they were in the middle of nowhere. That, too, Jou dismissed in favor of joining Sayeka in aYugi-tease-a-thon.
"You never told me you started taking classes!"
"Ooh, he did, and I think he's promising." Sayeka added, waving away Yugi's half uttered words of protest.
"Except, there was that time that they were practicing falling correctly and Yugi rolled out of the veranda, but that's besides the point..."
"I wish I had been there." Jou sighed out, meaning it. The whole thing sounded like fun, like P.E with no bull faced stocky man blowing a whistle and screaming every two minutes.
"It doesn't matter, you're here now." Yami pointed out, slipping besides Yugi and Jou, laying a light hand on his boyfriend's shoulder.
"Yep. He can see how well I fall." Yugi groaned, then a little grin played with his mouth.
"Hey! I know! We can teach Jou how to fall!"
"Eh...heh. No thanks, I already know how to that." Golden eyes shifted nervously from the three other teens looking at him thoughtfully.
"Er... err... I'm... allergic to falling too!" Jou defended himself, taking a step back.
"It's not good for my health you know? Pain. Bad. Pain is bad." Jou knew he was sunk as soon as he noticed that during his half nonsensical babbling, Sayeka had disappeared.
That was when something wet and bitingly icy was shattered to pieces as it struck the back of his neck.
"Fuck!" Hearing laughter, Jou ignored it and tried to wipe the cold bits of snow away from his sensitive neck, shivering. // Cold, cold, cold, cold, COLD!\\ He whirled and glared at the Japanese girl, noticing she was holding up her hands.
"You never said you were allergic to snow!'
"I'm not!" Yelling that back, Jou bent over and swept his hand across the ground, scooping up the white substance. Since the cover of snow was very light still, most of what came up in his hand were bits of frozen grass and dirt. Still enough to make a decent projectile object. With a grin, he began pushing the dirty snow into a properly round shape, a tiny part of him wondering how Sayeka had managed to find enough snow to make a full snowball. //Oh, well... doesn't matter... now... \\
Jou gave the girl a critical look, and shifted to the right. Sayeka ducked. He shifted to the left slightly, and threw.
It burst like a bubble when it struck Sayeka's thigh. Damn. He'd been aiming for her stomach.
"Not fair! There's dirt in this one!" Sayeka shouted back, waving her arms energetically up and down before brushing as much of the snow as she could.
"Revenge is a dish best served cold!" Not sure that come back even made sense, Jou grinned. He didn't care, he was having a nice time. No, not even that, he was having a great time.
"Hey, Jou?" Still grinning, Jou turned around at the sound of Yugi's voice.
"Yeah, Yug?"
"Have some snow!"
Splat.
Needless to say, they didn't quite manage it indoors for a while.
*~*~*~
"Who cooked?"
"Yami."
"Really?" Startled, Jou glanced up from the rice bowl he was cradling with one hand. Delicate wisps of steam rose from the white bits, becoming clearer with the cold temperature. He directed his gaze to the aforementioned teenager, and cocked an eyebrow.
"I didn't know you cooked."
"He's really good with American food too." Yugi pitched in proudly, smiling a little when Yami almost seemed embarrassed.
"It's nothing... I just learned because I used to travel so much, and someone had to cook." The swordsman shrugged casually, and stared off momentarily past Jou's shoulder.
"Mn." Sayeka hummed, picking up on the silence and trying to banish it before it got uncomfortable.
"Where are the grandfathers?"
"Playing Go, I think." Yugi remarked slowly, figuring that was what they'd do.
"Probably." Yami agreed, reaching over and picking up a slice of fish meat. With a neat flip, he laid it on top of his rice and searched for the bottle with seaweed dust.
"They're happy just being with each other. What did you do all this time alone?" He abruptly changed the subject, raising an eyebrow inquiringly at his best friend. For her part, Sayeka looked a tiny bit sheepish.
"Uhm. Was lazy?" She shrugged.
"Studied, practiced a bit, went online most of the time..." She laid her cheek against her hand.
"Like I've probably mentioned, there's really not a lot to do here. Especially when you're the only one under thirty and over ten within a fifty mile radius."
Tossing a tiny rice ball back, and chewing on it thoroughly to enjoy the light taste, Jou reached for a glass of water.
"I can see how that'd be a bitch. Why don't you just move to the city?"
"Eh." Sayeka shrugged and opened her mouth to reply to that when the sound of footsteps and movement reached her ears. Since she was pretty sure that everyone else was inside, she frowned slightly in confusion. It was snowing heavily outside, not hard enough to be properly called snow blind, but... still... who was stupid enough to be out there?
"Did you invite anyone else?"
"What?" Yami turned his head to look at her, and understanding dawned on his eyes before the gong of the bell sounded. Without another word, he pulled himself to his feet and left the room in a great hurry.
Yugi muttered something darkly under his breath, and made to follow when Jou stopped him.
"What just happened?"
"I'd like to know too, actually." Sayeka added.
With two pairs of eyes looking questioningly at him, Yugi shifted a little nervously and smiled brightly.
"I, er. Umn, we decided that the more the merrier right? So we invited another friend."
"Anzu? I thought she was spending Christmas with her family." Jou frowned slightly, and set his bowl down, settling the chopsticks neatly by it.
"Heh... not Anzu." Yugi tried to look cheerful and innocent, however his mask was betrayed by his actions-he nervously shifted towards the door. Jou frowned slightly, not immediately getting the worst implications as to who it could be.
"Bakura?" He paused.
"Nah, he's been too busy with dating. Uhm, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't invite Ahel-"
Yugi snorted quietly, despite himself.
"Yeah, figured that. So that leaves-"
"Oh, for god's sake, it had to be you, didn't it?" Sayeka moaned, dropping her face between her hands and shaking her head slowly.
"I'm so glad that my presence here is such a joy to you Onori." Seto drawled duly, having appeared at the doorway. His clothes were lightly sprinkled with bits of ice, slowly melting to water drops and sinking into his thick black turtle neck sweater. He looked faintly uncomfortable, but Jou couldn't tell if it was the state he was in, or the reception he was receiving. He was sure his own face had gone as pale as the moon, color drained away.
// What the fuck is he doing here?\\ Desperately, golden eyes swept off the tall teenager and sought out Yugi's, his heart sinking in dread when he saw the apologetic glint in the violet gaze.
//Fuck, fuck, fuck!\\
Jou was aware that the situation had to be resolved one way or another. He was even vaguely aware of the fact that he was being stupid and irresponsible to avoid talking with Seto. He was terrified that what that man had said was true. For all he knew, it could be complete and utter bullshit, but at the same time, there was always that little voice that kept saying it was possible...
"Mou. I suppose it's too cruel to send you out to drive back to Domino in this snow, isn't it?" Sayeka asked, her tone lighter since no one else was speaking. Seto was staring at Jou, Jou was doing his best to ignore the world around him and stare at his apparently fascinating chopsticks, and Yugi and Yami seemed to be having a silent conversation with only looks.
At her words however, Jou glanced up sharply, and looked dismayed. She tilted her head at him and gave him a puzzled glance, wondering why he hadn't even greeted his boyfriend yet. In fact, he looked sick.
Drawing her eyebrows together firmly, Sayeka pushed his half full glass of water towards him.
"Drink, you look like you're about to keel over." She ordered firmly. What she couldn't have known was that Jou too had realized that he was stuck with Seto. Possibly for the whole time he was supposed to stay. Or, at least, until the snow let out.
//... No, stop being such a stupid moron. Running away won't solve anything. It'll just drag things out. And I'm sure I've hurt him with acting like such a freak.\\ Jou shook his head, trying to bat away at the thoughts and picked up the glass, following her orders dutifully for the moment. His throat felt painfully dry anyway.
So, he wasn't going to get the respite that he had hoped for. No days away from Seto Kaiba in peace to just be happy. Well, he'd dealt with tougher things before-though at the moment, he couldn't quite recall any-so it wasn't a problem. Not at all.
He managed a very thin, weak nod in Seto's direction.
*~*~*~
"Snowblind." Sayeka murmured, rubbing her hands together. She was no longer wearing a traditional kimono-that had gotten ruined in the impromptu snowball fight from earlier-but a mismatched outfit of a white and red stripped sweater and a long red skirt. She stood a few feet away from the fireplace, occasionally glancing at the walls when violent winds howled.
The fire crackled somberly, occasionally giving a silvery hiss and vicious pop. The flames flickered in a swaying dance, sending golden waves and shadows over the occupied room.
Sitting down at the low table, Yami and Yugi were working together to pierce together a two thousand piece puzzle, attaching piece by piece and slowly forming the over-all picture. Jou sat somewhat near them, occasionally looking on to their progress, but often his gaze would go dull and it was apparent that he wasn't there. His legs had been pulled up to his chest, and arms were slung around them, occasionally hugging them tightly and then relaxing.
The farthest person in the room, sitting only where the light ended, was Kaiba, trying to use his laptop computer. Obviously, the raging snow outside was not being kind on the technology. His face was set on a firm frown, that had never left his face since arriving. Not a word had been exchanged between him and Jou. It was a far different atmosphere around the room than she would have normally imagined. A tense, depressing air hung over the five like an impending doom. It was enough to make Sayeka want to stomp her foot and shout at someone. Preferably Kaiba, but she was biased so it didn't count.
Apparently, no had heard her speak. //Oh, well. It wasn't like I was declaring I knew what the meaning of life is anyway.\\ Giving a quiet shrug, Sayeka covered a yawn with her hand and joined her friends in the puzzle fixing. Or at least watching anyway, she was horrible at them.
Yugi glanced up momentarily, enough time to give her a slight, awkward smile and then returned to the game. Yami never even blinked out of rhythm, he was that completely absorbed in the pastime, even though it was relatively simple despite the mass amount of different pieces. So far, he had managed to build an impressive base in the bottom, and had gotten all the corners and borders fixed. Yugi was working mostly on the top, and eventually they'd meet at the center and finish it, but not for a while yet.
Absently, Yami glanced at the picture, studying the delicate curve of the dolphin's beak. It was a jigsaw of an ocean scenery, starting from a dark abyss at the bottom, up through different levels and creatures of water, rocks and the surface and finally ended in a dark, cloudy night sky. Their version was far from looking the same, but they were slowly getting there.
The silence, if stifling, eventually settled into a peaceful, if quietly resigned moment. Hours passed by, the only sounds being those of the vibrant, thrashing weather outside, and the stubborn click of fingers sliding across a keyboard. Kaiba had apparently managed to fix his computer somehow.
Deeper the night sank in that eerie quiet, until Yugi found himself dozing off, a piece with gray stone clutched in his hand. He blinked drowsily, and dropped the piece on the table, yawning widely and forgetting to cover his mouth. Feeling pleasantly out of it, Yugi glanced around the room and then lifted his wrist, staring at his watch. The numbers made no sense to him, even when they finally stopped blurring.
Irritated, Yugi blinked several times more and tried to bite a second yawn, with no results. Still, it seemed that he was more awake after that, since he managed to figure out that it was well after four in the morning.
//Woah... Surprised Grampa didn't stop by to tell us to go to bed...\\ The young teen thought, and then shrugged off the errant notion, instead clumsily trying to get up.
"It's late... I'm going to bed."
Yami looked up for the first time in hours, and seemed to break out of a spell binding daze. He blinked once, and then nodded, turning his attention back to the game, placing the pieces in an easier position.
After Yugi left, Sayeka silently drew herself to her feet as well and left the room, figuring that everyone else was too involved in their own personal worlds to care if she left or not. Shaking her head slightly, Sayeka made her way to the room reserved for her when she slept in the dojo, and felt disappointed at how things at turned out. It wasn't exactly bad, but the easy, cheerful atmosphere she would have expected wasn't there at all.
*~*~*~
Eventually, Jou realized that he wasn't tired. He was drop dead, bone weary exhausted.
With a quiet protest, he finally shifted out of the shape he had twisted himself into for the past six hours. Looking down, and noticing that rapid clicking of keys had suddenly disappeared, he stared at the ground and crossed his arms, not stretching though his muscles cried pitifully for a good, long stretch.
"G'night." He murmured to Yami and Seto, hurrying out of the room. It was a small sacrifice to go out of the only room with a fireplace in such bitter cold, but some nice thick blankets and sleep were beckoning him with a siren call. He never noticed Seto glance up and stare at his retreating back with a dark expression.
"You know, it's called communication." Yami commented coolly, ruby eyes shifting briefly to meet Seto's irritated gaze before sliding down to the scattered puzzle pieces.
"You might want to try it sometime."
*~*~*~
By the second day, Sayeka had to resist the urge to start either slamming heads together, or locking people into rooms until whatever was broken was fixed. It seemed to her that every time the mood was finally beginning to lift up, and troubles were forgotten, something would happen and all her efforts would go down the drain. Well, not all her efforts, Yugi was trying hard to keep everyone in good spirits as well. Optimistic little bugger didn't realize that what Jou and Seto needed was a good smack.
At four in the afternoon, Yugi and Yami were back on the puzzle that seemed to never finish, and Sayeka found herself talking with Jou about movies. She was far removed from civilization in general, but she enjoyed old films. Surprisingly enough, Jou did too. The only one who did not join in conversation was Seto.
Big surprise.
It had snowed all night, practically left them snow blind. A little over a foot of snow coated the ground in all directions, and all animals had the good sense to hide somewhere until the temperature rose at least a few degrees. That was part of why they were so startled at realizing they were hearing a car approaching the main house.
Confused, Yami directed a look at Sayeka.
"Did you invite someone?"
"No..." She raised an eyebrow, glanced at Seto and shrugged, standing up.
"Let's go see who it is, then. You might want to wake up Yugi though, he looks like he's gotten hypnotized by the game." The black haired girl recommended as she swept by, followed by Jou. Yami smiled fondly at his boyfriend. Yugi did indeed look completely taken in by the game. As much as he understood, Yami lightly shook his shoulder and directed him outside. Kaiba was the last one to follow. He didn't feel the need to hurry until he stood at the open doorway, and recognized the black limo.
//What the hell is he doing here?\\
The door slid open, and Tatsuha Wakamiya stepped outside, almost immediately sinking heavily into the snow. A thinly veiled look of annoyance crossed his face, but it was hard to tell with the chic sunglasses he wore. Why he wore them inside a car when he wasn't driving was anyone's guess.
Opening his mouth to demand what his worker was doing there, Jou beat him to it.
"You!"
Dimly, Seto realized that Tatsuha had grown pale.
Interesting.
Jou marched up to the tall man, mindless of how deep he sank into the white slush, and brutally poked his chest. Obviously not noticing the large difference in size either.
"You! Why the hell did you have to go and tell me that? You know, I could have been so much happier NOT KNOWING." Jou was rambling, and he knew it, and he wasn't making any sense, and it was stupid but he couldn't help himself. He didn't want to confront Seto and know that Seto wasn't his, maybe never had been. Irrational as it was, he blamed Tatsuha. Hell, by all he knew, the guy had just been trying to help him. It was a great way to pay him back, really.
"I-" Tatsuha stiffened, and automatically brushed strands of hair away from his forehead, preparing to launch into an indignant reply. Catching a glimpse of the man behind Jou, he fell silent, dread crawling unpleasantly over his skin.
"What are you going on about puppy?" Laying a warm hand on Jou's shoulder, Seto wasn't too surprised, or impressed when it was tossed and the younger teen whirled around, and then gestured vividly towards Tatsuha. He fumbled for a way to speak, while still making random hand gestures until a breath finally exploded out of him.
"Look, I know about the engagement, but why didn't you tell me? Why did you lead me on? Jesus Kaiba, I thought you were good!" Jou clutched his fists in anger, and ignored that tiny, hesitant voice that was trying to remind him he was blowing the cover on an extremely personal matter in front of several people. Two of them that he barely even knew at all.
If the situation hadn't hurt him so much, he would have almost laughed at the stunned stare Seto gave him.
"What, speechless?" Jou spit out bitterly, and lowered his gaze to the ground briefly, before raising it again. He was taken back at the odd look on his boyfriend's face.
"What..." Seto began slowly, trying to make sense of a puzzle that wasn't complete. "What in the world are you going on about? What engagement? I'm not engaged to anyone, and as far as I know, none of us present here are."
"But... but..."
Kaiba's eyebrows rose, perilously high and he gave a growl of irritation.
"But what, you damn mutt? Is that why you've been avoiding me for practically a month? Who the hell told you I was engaged?" Before the words even left his mouth, he had a good idea of just who had.
Growing still, he tore his gaze off Jou's confused and hurt eyes, and stared at the man he entrusted with mundial business with growing coldness.
Jou's head felt swollen and pounding, a sure sign that he was going to have the mother of all migraines in a few minutes. He too, turned to look at Tatsuha.
"You told me he was engaged." He voiced out loud slowly, not sure whether to collapse in relief that Seto was obviously not engaged to marry anyone, or to let his fury free and give the tall man a black eye curtsey of his right fist.
Seto however, was simply faster.
A vibrantly pissed off pair of blue eyes were the last thing that Tatsuha saw before the darkness claimed him.
If Seto had gone on ahead, Yami felt that he would have had to intervene again, like he had done with Ahel. But he found he did not have to worry about that, since Seto had turned his mind off his fallen Vice-President in favor of having a long over due conversation with Jou.
Nodding slightly, Yami gently lead Yugi away, who looked just as stunned as Jou himself.
"Shhh, this is not for our eyes." The older teen murmured softly into his ear, drawing him into the house.
Sayeka was more than confused, that was for sure, but she also had a very practical mind. While Jou and Seto began their conversation, she simply snagged the arm of the fallen business man and slowly dragged him inside as well.
She'd take care of him. At least until he woke up.
And then there'd be hell to pay.
*~*~*~
"Why didn't you just talk to me?"
Jou looked away, then glanced back at Seto and stared down at the ground. He didn't want to back down, but he didn't want to charge stupidly ahead like he so often did.
While Seto's warm hands on his shoulders felt nice-increadibly so, actually, he also wanted to shrug them off. He didn't really want to be having this conversation, he felt ashamed that he'd acted so foolishly, believing what Tatsuha had told him.
"I...."
"Why?" Seto demanded, tightening his grip slightly.
"I was scared you asshole, okay? I was terrified that it'd be true!" Jou snapped, using his anger to glare into the sapphire gaze in front of him.
"Why wouldn't it? I mean... it made sense. You'd marry some rich girl and become even more rich, if that's even possible." He spit out bitterly, not allowing himself to lower his head.
"And... and it's not like our relationship is that sound you know. Probably isn't even healthy according to a lot of people's definitions."
Seto softened, just the slightest bit and shook Jou lightly.
'What do you mean by that?"
He was briefly upset to realize that this was one of the few times that they had actually gotten to talk to each other without trying to bite each other. Playful bites, or ones meant to draw blood when they were really ticked off at each other, they were hardly serious.
"I'm just a brief distraction to you, right? A stupid mutt who doesn't know when to shut up, and annoys you all the time. So I'm easy to brush off. I'm like... a possession to you."
"No. You're not." Seto replied, a hint of steel threading through his voice.
"You're Jou. Jounochi Katsuya, and you're mine because you want to be, and because I love you. It's obvious to anyone that what we have isn't normal in comparison with other couples... and this whole fiasco has pointed out that we do need to work on trusting each other more, but how can you doubt that? I wouldn't put up with you if I didn't..." Seto trailed off, finding that he'd been about to confess about his feelings twice in less than a minute.
Damn, he was crumbling like an ill stacked house of cards.
Then he realized, that they'd been dating for almost two years, and he'd never even mentioned the word 'love'.
No wonder Jou didn't feel secure in their relationship.
Sighing, Seto opened his arms, watching the array of emotions on the sophomore's face. Relief tinged with worry, stunned shock and more than a little anger.
"We have a long way to go, that's fairly obvious. But if you feel that you really can't bring yourself to trust me, then we might as well stop now."
"I don't want to." Jou answered truthfully, and stood in a heavily awkward position, not even noticing the snow that had begun to fall down from the clouded sky once more. He felt shaken and incredibly stupid and immature to top it all off, but strangely happy as well.
They had a lot to talk about. Or maybe not. Who knew?
Letting out a long breath that formed a long white cloud in the freezing air, Jou allowed himself to step between the spread arms, resting his head gingerly against the comfortable black sweater. He allowed himself to relax when Seto's arms curled loosely around his waist.
A few minutes passed in the snow, until Jou raised his face and squinted up.
"Kaiba? It's like, fifty degrees below zero. If I don't get inside now, I'm going to freeze my ass off."
*~*~*~
"You think they've resolved anything?"
"Maybe, maybe not. But at least they're talking now." Yami murmured in soft reply to the inquiry, lifting the black pot from the fire stove. Using a kitchen cloth, the tea was poured into twin dark brown cups, filling them to the brim.
Turning away Yami set the steaming pot down on a wooden pot holder while Yugi made himself busy searching for the sugar. Yami might have liked his tea bitter, but he was a completely different story.
"Yeah... I suppose that's true." The younger teen acknowledged with a slight nod, even though he was pretty sure Yami wasn't even looking at him at that moment. Flipping open the cupboard, he glanced at the selection, then stood up on his tiptoes, hand stretched high above his head as he tried to reach the bottle of sugar.
"They've been out there for an awfully long time."
"They're fine." Reaching over his boyfriend's head, Yami picked the sugar and handed it to him casually, closing the door to the cabinet afterwards.
"Thanks. And the man?"
"Sayeka dragged him into one of the rooms. He'll be... relatively fine." Yami allowed, cradling one of the two coups between his hands and sitting down at the small kitchen table.
Yugi glanced over his shoulder, cocking an eyebrow.
"Relatively?" He echoed, twisting the bottle cap off.
"Yes." Yami confirmed with a peaceful look.
"Mmkay..." Humming a doubtful acceptance, Yugi dumped a good amount of sugar into his tea before closing the bottle and joining the Kendo master at the table.
"When do you think it'll stop snowing?"
"It's hard to tell... I think it'll snow all day, on and off." Yami allowed, taking a tranquil sip of the steaming tea. Yugi wasn't sure what kind of tea it was, and he was half afraid of asking and finding out just what it was made of.
"But we'll be okay, right?"
"Of course. Tomorrow you'll be able to make all the snow men and snow angels that you want."
Yugi smiled softly.
"I'd like that. But only if you'll make them with me."
"Of course."
*~*~*~
The dim, but insistent throbbing ache over the left side of his face was what eventually drew Tatsuha out of the blackness.
Where ever he was, it was pleasantly warm, and he was laying down on a futon. He could tell, since Western beds were nowhere as uncomfortable as the damn things. The floor was hard underneath the thin cover, and his shoulder blades felt sore as well.
Cautiously opening the right eye, since his other was swollen and it would be too much of a pain to try to open it, the tall man looked around, and found some strange girl sitting next to him on the floor, a book on her lap, gnawing absently on the end of a gray pen.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
Blue eyes were raised and met his squarely, and Tatsuha got the distinct impression that though he'd survived Kaiba's initial anger, he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"I'm Sayeka Onori. Kaiba gave you a pretty nice black eye, and you were out like a light. I couldn't exactly leave you out there in snow, so you're inside the Nagasaki dojo." She informed him curtly, pulling the mutated end of the pen out of her mouth and closing the book with a resolute snap.
"Don't say anything, just yet." Sayeka warned him, holding up her hand.
"What did you do?"
Staring at her in faint disbelief, Tatsuha eventually shrugged and turned his face away, glancing at the room. There was nothing special about it, except he felt as if he'd been set back two hundred years into the past. Obviously, modern decor was not their stronghold.
"Would you like the short version, or the long version?" He inquired coolly, sweeping back strands of black hair.
"Long version."
"As you wish." Agreeing, the twenty two year old sank back into the futon. As uncomfortable as it was, it was better than trying to sit up. At least, it was warm.
"My name is Tatsuha Wakamiya. I'm in charge of Kaiba Corp's international affairs-pretty much anything that deals with other countries that Kaiba can't over see personally, I deal with," he paused, and risked a glance at Sayeka. Her expression didn't change, so he continued on.
"For the past two years or so, I've been settling the Kaiba HeadQuarters in the West, most specifically, in North America. Recently, as in just a few weeks back, I finished my job and came back here to Japan to help Kaiba with some new deals. However, upon arriving here, I noticed that while the Kaiba Corporation seem to be running relatively normal, the head himself was often missing." Feigning disinterest in his words, Tatsuha studied his nails, dutifully flicking nonexistent traces of dirt away.
"It turned out that Mr.Kaiba had been spending much of his time with that boy, Jounochi. It was not profiting towards the company, and obviously, Mr.Kaiba was not going to stop doing things to his pleasure because I suggested that to him. "
"So you turned to Jou?" Sayeka interrupted, tilting her head to the side, face creased in grim thought.
"You said something to upset him. Something about a fiancee. Kaiba having a fiancee. Am I right?"
"On the mark." Tatsuha replied dryly, not without some sense of amusement.
"Oh. Okay." Sayeka nodded slightly, acknowledging the truth before she slapped him. Hard. She wasn't as strong as Yami or Seto in any way, but his skin burned viciously where her hand had made contact.
"You're disgusting. Get up and get out, I'm sure Kaiba will want to deal with you. After Christmas." Slipping to her feet, the Japanese girl sent him an icy look and shuffled out of the room, softening a little at being greeted with Yami's face.
"Hey."
"That bad?" Yam inquired, taking the look on her face.
She shrugged slightly.
"People really suck, you know?" She glanced out a half open window, spying on Jou and Seto sitting down on the engawa.
"They okay?"
"As can be expected."
"Fair enough." Sayeka conceded with a sigh.
"Where's Yugi?"
"Puzzle." Amusement glimmered in Yami's dark eyes.
"Oh. Well." Sayeka paused, and smiled.
"Let's go help him then."
*~*~*~
Like I said, there is an epilogue, but it can be skipped. ^^ There was a tiiiiiny bit of symbolism thrown into this chapter, not sure if anyone would actually get it though... then again... who knows, really? ^^ Uhm. Anyway. Off to check for mistakes and post this.
-Andro
Author: Andro
Rating: Rsh
Pairings: Yami x Yugi, Seto x Jou
Warnings: AU, yaoi, a lil' violence.
Author Notes: Thank you to everyone who reviewed! *hugs* ^-^ I wanted to write a reply to some of the reviews, but it's just too many. x_x; Uhm, I'll try to answer the basics and such in general.
1.I've watched pretty much an episode and a half of Yu-Gi-Oh!. Sad, ne?
2.Yes, I did some research for this fic. It was fun. I hope that it got the sort of Japanese-ethnic feel to it.
3. No lemon, obviously. =x Sorry. *patpat*
4. I give a cookie to Nozomi, Leila, Starsong, Princess Kielasandera, st*r, Mayhem's BrainChylde, Hioki(Half a cookie for you. ^.~) for guessing that the Go players were Hikaru and Touya from Hikaru No Go. I highly recommend this series.
5. This piece is also available at Cerulean.Illuminati-X.net, my fanfiction site. (Yes, I finally got one. ^^;)
I meant to post this before, but my birthday came along, and my first job interview(I got the job, yay! ^_^;) and now I've got a new cat who is having more than just a *little* trouble fitting in with my other two... *kaff* But anyway, sorry for the horrendously long delay, here it is!
Oh. There is an epilogue, hopefully to be posted soon.
Not beta'ed because all my beta readers seem to have run away. .-.; Sadness.
*~*~*~
"Uhm, don't worry, I'm sure you'll like her just fine." Yugi assured him, somehow reaching behind in an amazing display of flexibility to pat Jou's knee. Obviously, he hadn't been as deeply asleep as Jou had thought. Or had he simply been immersed for too long in his grim thoughts and he'd woken up meanwhile? //Ah, it doesn't matter, he's awake anyway.\\
"Mn, okay, if you say so." Jou nodded, trusting his best friend to be right. Even though Yugi tended to think that everyone would get along with everyone. He glanced outside the window, and the girl's figure was becoming clearer as the car slowed down and carefully approached, and then they were there.
Yugi was the first one out of the car, mostly because Sayeka had pulled him out completely as soon as he had managed to escape the seat belt's troublesome grasp, and opened the door. She looked the same as always, just as tall as Yugi, dressed impeccably in a blue kimono with her black hair swept back into a bun. She squealed and hugged her friend, and Jou swore that she was actually jumping up and down. He raised an eyebrow, and popped the lock, and with that, opened the door, pulling himself out of the car.
The chilly air of December, struck him sharply, but not enough to cut his face, that he was thankful for. A little lost on what to do, Jou shut the door and leaned slightly against it, grinning briefly as the blue eyed girl left Yugi long enough to wrap Yami, who had gotten out of the car through his door, into an energetic hug as well.
"It's nice to see you too Sayeka, but calm down." While Yami was trying to make the girl let go of him and reminding her to breathe, Jou directed his gaze off them and to his best friend, looking at him with a questioning expression.
Yugi giggled, half nervously and turned away, tapping Sayeka's shoulder to get her attention. Off to the side, Yami and his grandfather were having a reunion of their own, obviously used to being excluded from the teenagers' exuberant, focused universe.
"Sayeka? I would like you to meet my best friend, Jounochi Katsuya. Jou, this is Yami's best friend, Sayeka Onori."
Turning, Sayeka looked much more relaxed, though a happy glow suffused her cheeks despite the biting cold. She smoothed out her kimono and bowed politely to the new teenager, a friendly smile on her face.
"It is a great pleasure to meet you, like Yugi said, I'm Sayeka Onori. I live right over there." Straightening up, she gestured behind her to where the Onori house's great roof could be seen.
"I'm just your average girl next door."
"Heh... nice to meet you too." Jou nodded, trying to imitate the bow that she made. Not succeeding very well, he gave up on that before he made an utter ass of himself and straightened up, giving her a quirky grin of his own.
"Just call me Jou."
"Aa, thank you I will." Sayeka nodded swiftly, then seemed to hesitate, as if in pause. She frowned the slightest bit, and crossed one arm across her chest to support the other's elbow as she pressed the free hand against her chin.
"Wait... hold on a sec." A hard expression crossed her face, as if she were trying to grasp something that her fingers just barely brushed against.
"Oh! You're the idiot's boyfriend! Er. I mean. Kaiba's." Quickly correcting herself, seeing as perhaps not everyone shared her views on one Seto Kaiba, Sayeka dropped her position, smiling sheepishly.
"Oh... yes." Jou's own smile faltered, turning weak. Just for a few minutes, he had forgotten about his resolution to confront Kaiba, no matter how messy the ending might be. Taking a deep breath, and almost feeling Yugi's gaze on him, he grinned.
"That's me! No worries, he is an idiot. Absolute stubborn ass." He added casually, raising his hands and rubbing them together quickly.
"Anyway, can we move it? I'm about to freeze my sorry behind. And believe me, no one will be happy if Jounochi turns into a popsicle." He boasted grandly, noticing that very thin, delicate snowflakes were beginning to glide down around them.
"Awww, a little cold never hurt anyone!" Sayeka remarked cheerfully, catching a green bag that Yami tossed her way. She 'oofed' softly as the weight sank into her arms.
"Bloody hell Yami, what the heck is in here?"
Looking up from the trunk of the car, Yami looked amused.
"Yugi's stuffed animals."
"Really?" Sayeka's eyes widened slightly, and she glanced at Yugi, who was about to protest to the accusation, and shook her head.
"How horrible, stuffed animals should be much lighter!"
*~*~*~*~
Three hours were spent in the process of figuring out what bag belonged to who, and then unpacking everything. Yami and Yugi shared a room, since it wasn't anything out of the normal. Jou got his own room, and he'd half begun to ask Sayeka where hers was, when he remembered she didn't actually live there. Or he was pretty sure she didn't anyway.
Truthfully, Jou couldn't quite say that he particularly liked his room, it wasn't his style at all, but he could appreciate the beauty in simplicity. Everything was a soft, tawny shade, down to the covers covering his futon. At catching first sight of it, he'd frozen and made a face. City bred through and through, he'd always had a Western bed for as long as he could remember. //Oh, well. I'll get used to it.\\ He thought, in resignation, dropping his bags.
After initial introductions were done, and everyone settled in comfortably. Sayeka dragged all three out to walk over the land, despite the thickening fall of snow. At times, she and Yami sank into quick, rapid conversations about how Yami's students were, and Jou lost interest. Occasionally, he heard Seto's name be mentioned, and he would tense, but relax before Yugi noticed it. He didn't want to think of Kaiba. As much as Jou wanted to refuse it, he wanted to be a wimp and not think about his problems at all. At least, not until he had to go back to the city.
Finally, it was too cold and snowing too harshly to remain outside, so they began the trek back to the house. Occasionally, Jou noticed that Yami would lift his head from the current conversation and glance over his shoulder, towards the road. He figured Yami just kept hearing things and thought it might be a car nearby, which would be odd, considering they were in the middle of nowhere. That, too, Jou dismissed in favor of joining Sayeka in aYugi-tease-a-thon.
"You never told me you started taking classes!"
"Ooh, he did, and I think he's promising." Sayeka added, waving away Yugi's half uttered words of protest.
"Except, there was that time that they were practicing falling correctly and Yugi rolled out of the veranda, but that's besides the point..."
"I wish I had been there." Jou sighed out, meaning it. The whole thing sounded like fun, like P.E with no bull faced stocky man blowing a whistle and screaming every two minutes.
"It doesn't matter, you're here now." Yami pointed out, slipping besides Yugi and Jou, laying a light hand on his boyfriend's shoulder.
"Yep. He can see how well I fall." Yugi groaned, then a little grin played with his mouth.
"Hey! I know! We can teach Jou how to fall!"
"Eh...heh. No thanks, I already know how to that." Golden eyes shifted nervously from the three other teens looking at him thoughtfully.
"Er... err... I'm... allergic to falling too!" Jou defended himself, taking a step back.
"It's not good for my health you know? Pain. Bad. Pain is bad." Jou knew he was sunk as soon as he noticed that during his half nonsensical babbling, Sayeka had disappeared.
That was when something wet and bitingly icy was shattered to pieces as it struck the back of his neck.
"Fuck!" Hearing laughter, Jou ignored it and tried to wipe the cold bits of snow away from his sensitive neck, shivering. // Cold, cold, cold, cold, COLD!\\ He whirled and glared at the Japanese girl, noticing she was holding up her hands.
"You never said you were allergic to snow!'
"I'm not!" Yelling that back, Jou bent over and swept his hand across the ground, scooping up the white substance. Since the cover of snow was very light still, most of what came up in his hand were bits of frozen grass and dirt. Still enough to make a decent projectile object. With a grin, he began pushing the dirty snow into a properly round shape, a tiny part of him wondering how Sayeka had managed to find enough snow to make a full snowball. //Oh, well... doesn't matter... now... \\
Jou gave the girl a critical look, and shifted to the right. Sayeka ducked. He shifted to the left slightly, and threw.
It burst like a bubble when it struck Sayeka's thigh. Damn. He'd been aiming for her stomach.
"Not fair! There's dirt in this one!" Sayeka shouted back, waving her arms energetically up and down before brushing as much of the snow as she could.
"Revenge is a dish best served cold!" Not sure that come back even made sense, Jou grinned. He didn't care, he was having a nice time. No, not even that, he was having a great time.
"Hey, Jou?" Still grinning, Jou turned around at the sound of Yugi's voice.
"Yeah, Yug?"
"Have some snow!"
Splat.
Needless to say, they didn't quite manage it indoors for a while.
*~*~*~
"Who cooked?"
"Yami."
"Really?" Startled, Jou glanced up from the rice bowl he was cradling with one hand. Delicate wisps of steam rose from the white bits, becoming clearer with the cold temperature. He directed his gaze to the aforementioned teenager, and cocked an eyebrow.
"I didn't know you cooked."
"He's really good with American food too." Yugi pitched in proudly, smiling a little when Yami almost seemed embarrassed.
"It's nothing... I just learned because I used to travel so much, and someone had to cook." The swordsman shrugged casually, and stared off momentarily past Jou's shoulder.
"Mn." Sayeka hummed, picking up on the silence and trying to banish it before it got uncomfortable.
"Where are the grandfathers?"
"Playing Go, I think." Yugi remarked slowly, figuring that was what they'd do.
"Probably." Yami agreed, reaching over and picking up a slice of fish meat. With a neat flip, he laid it on top of his rice and searched for the bottle with seaweed dust.
"They're happy just being with each other. What did you do all this time alone?" He abruptly changed the subject, raising an eyebrow inquiringly at his best friend. For her part, Sayeka looked a tiny bit sheepish.
"Uhm. Was lazy?" She shrugged.
"Studied, practiced a bit, went online most of the time..." She laid her cheek against her hand.
"Like I've probably mentioned, there's really not a lot to do here. Especially when you're the only one under thirty and over ten within a fifty mile radius."
Tossing a tiny rice ball back, and chewing on it thoroughly to enjoy the light taste, Jou reached for a glass of water.
"I can see how that'd be a bitch. Why don't you just move to the city?"
"Eh." Sayeka shrugged and opened her mouth to reply to that when the sound of footsteps and movement reached her ears. Since she was pretty sure that everyone else was inside, she frowned slightly in confusion. It was snowing heavily outside, not hard enough to be properly called snow blind, but... still... who was stupid enough to be out there?
"Did you invite anyone else?"
"What?" Yami turned his head to look at her, and understanding dawned on his eyes before the gong of the bell sounded. Without another word, he pulled himself to his feet and left the room in a great hurry.
Yugi muttered something darkly under his breath, and made to follow when Jou stopped him.
"What just happened?"
"I'd like to know too, actually." Sayeka added.
With two pairs of eyes looking questioningly at him, Yugi shifted a little nervously and smiled brightly.
"I, er. Umn, we decided that the more the merrier right? So we invited another friend."
"Anzu? I thought she was spending Christmas with her family." Jou frowned slightly, and set his bowl down, settling the chopsticks neatly by it.
"Heh... not Anzu." Yugi tried to look cheerful and innocent, however his mask was betrayed by his actions-he nervously shifted towards the door. Jou frowned slightly, not immediately getting the worst implications as to who it could be.
"Bakura?" He paused.
"Nah, he's been too busy with dating. Uhm, I'm pretty sure you wouldn't invite Ahel-"
Yugi snorted quietly, despite himself.
"Yeah, figured that. So that leaves-"
"Oh, for god's sake, it had to be you, didn't it?" Sayeka moaned, dropping her face between her hands and shaking her head slowly.
"I'm so glad that my presence here is such a joy to you Onori." Seto drawled duly, having appeared at the doorway. His clothes were lightly sprinkled with bits of ice, slowly melting to water drops and sinking into his thick black turtle neck sweater. He looked faintly uncomfortable, but Jou couldn't tell if it was the state he was in, or the reception he was receiving. He was sure his own face had gone as pale as the moon, color drained away.
// What the fuck is he doing here?\\ Desperately, golden eyes swept off the tall teenager and sought out Yugi's, his heart sinking in dread when he saw the apologetic glint in the violet gaze.
//Fuck, fuck, fuck!\\
Jou was aware that the situation had to be resolved one way or another. He was even vaguely aware of the fact that he was being stupid and irresponsible to avoid talking with Seto. He was terrified that what that man had said was true. For all he knew, it could be complete and utter bullshit, but at the same time, there was always that little voice that kept saying it was possible...
"Mou. I suppose it's too cruel to send you out to drive back to Domino in this snow, isn't it?" Sayeka asked, her tone lighter since no one else was speaking. Seto was staring at Jou, Jou was doing his best to ignore the world around him and stare at his apparently fascinating chopsticks, and Yugi and Yami seemed to be having a silent conversation with only looks.
At her words however, Jou glanced up sharply, and looked dismayed. She tilted her head at him and gave him a puzzled glance, wondering why he hadn't even greeted his boyfriend yet. In fact, he looked sick.
Drawing her eyebrows together firmly, Sayeka pushed his half full glass of water towards him.
"Drink, you look like you're about to keel over." She ordered firmly. What she couldn't have known was that Jou too had realized that he was stuck with Seto. Possibly for the whole time he was supposed to stay. Or, at least, until the snow let out.
//... No, stop being such a stupid moron. Running away won't solve anything. It'll just drag things out. And I'm sure I've hurt him with acting like such a freak.\\ Jou shook his head, trying to bat away at the thoughts and picked up the glass, following her orders dutifully for the moment. His throat felt painfully dry anyway.
So, he wasn't going to get the respite that he had hoped for. No days away from Seto Kaiba in peace to just be happy. Well, he'd dealt with tougher things before-though at the moment, he couldn't quite recall any-so it wasn't a problem. Not at all.
He managed a very thin, weak nod in Seto's direction.
*~*~*~
"Snowblind." Sayeka murmured, rubbing her hands together. She was no longer wearing a traditional kimono-that had gotten ruined in the impromptu snowball fight from earlier-but a mismatched outfit of a white and red stripped sweater and a long red skirt. She stood a few feet away from the fireplace, occasionally glancing at the walls when violent winds howled.
The fire crackled somberly, occasionally giving a silvery hiss and vicious pop. The flames flickered in a swaying dance, sending golden waves and shadows over the occupied room.
Sitting down at the low table, Yami and Yugi were working together to pierce together a two thousand piece puzzle, attaching piece by piece and slowly forming the over-all picture. Jou sat somewhat near them, occasionally looking on to their progress, but often his gaze would go dull and it was apparent that he wasn't there. His legs had been pulled up to his chest, and arms were slung around them, occasionally hugging them tightly and then relaxing.
The farthest person in the room, sitting only where the light ended, was Kaiba, trying to use his laptop computer. Obviously, the raging snow outside was not being kind on the technology. His face was set on a firm frown, that had never left his face since arriving. Not a word had been exchanged between him and Jou. It was a far different atmosphere around the room than she would have normally imagined. A tense, depressing air hung over the five like an impending doom. It was enough to make Sayeka want to stomp her foot and shout at someone. Preferably Kaiba, but she was biased so it didn't count.
Apparently, no had heard her speak. //Oh, well. It wasn't like I was declaring I knew what the meaning of life is anyway.\\ Giving a quiet shrug, Sayeka covered a yawn with her hand and joined her friends in the puzzle fixing. Or at least watching anyway, she was horrible at them.
Yugi glanced up momentarily, enough time to give her a slight, awkward smile and then returned to the game. Yami never even blinked out of rhythm, he was that completely absorbed in the pastime, even though it was relatively simple despite the mass amount of different pieces. So far, he had managed to build an impressive base in the bottom, and had gotten all the corners and borders fixed. Yugi was working mostly on the top, and eventually they'd meet at the center and finish it, but not for a while yet.
Absently, Yami glanced at the picture, studying the delicate curve of the dolphin's beak. It was a jigsaw of an ocean scenery, starting from a dark abyss at the bottom, up through different levels and creatures of water, rocks and the surface and finally ended in a dark, cloudy night sky. Their version was far from looking the same, but they were slowly getting there.
The silence, if stifling, eventually settled into a peaceful, if quietly resigned moment. Hours passed by, the only sounds being those of the vibrant, thrashing weather outside, and the stubborn click of fingers sliding across a keyboard. Kaiba had apparently managed to fix his computer somehow.
Deeper the night sank in that eerie quiet, until Yugi found himself dozing off, a piece with gray stone clutched in his hand. He blinked drowsily, and dropped the piece on the table, yawning widely and forgetting to cover his mouth. Feeling pleasantly out of it, Yugi glanced around the room and then lifted his wrist, staring at his watch. The numbers made no sense to him, even when they finally stopped blurring.
Irritated, Yugi blinked several times more and tried to bite a second yawn, with no results. Still, it seemed that he was more awake after that, since he managed to figure out that it was well after four in the morning.
//Woah... Surprised Grampa didn't stop by to tell us to go to bed...\\ The young teen thought, and then shrugged off the errant notion, instead clumsily trying to get up.
"It's late... I'm going to bed."
Yami looked up for the first time in hours, and seemed to break out of a spell binding daze. He blinked once, and then nodded, turning his attention back to the game, placing the pieces in an easier position.
After Yugi left, Sayeka silently drew herself to her feet as well and left the room, figuring that everyone else was too involved in their own personal worlds to care if she left or not. Shaking her head slightly, Sayeka made her way to the room reserved for her when she slept in the dojo, and felt disappointed at how things at turned out. It wasn't exactly bad, but the easy, cheerful atmosphere she would have expected wasn't there at all.
*~*~*~
Eventually, Jou realized that he wasn't tired. He was drop dead, bone weary exhausted.
With a quiet protest, he finally shifted out of the shape he had twisted himself into for the past six hours. Looking down, and noticing that rapid clicking of keys had suddenly disappeared, he stared at the ground and crossed his arms, not stretching though his muscles cried pitifully for a good, long stretch.
"G'night." He murmured to Yami and Seto, hurrying out of the room. It was a small sacrifice to go out of the only room with a fireplace in such bitter cold, but some nice thick blankets and sleep were beckoning him with a siren call. He never noticed Seto glance up and stare at his retreating back with a dark expression.
"You know, it's called communication." Yami commented coolly, ruby eyes shifting briefly to meet Seto's irritated gaze before sliding down to the scattered puzzle pieces.
"You might want to try it sometime."
*~*~*~
By the second day, Sayeka had to resist the urge to start either slamming heads together, or locking people into rooms until whatever was broken was fixed. It seemed to her that every time the mood was finally beginning to lift up, and troubles were forgotten, something would happen and all her efforts would go down the drain. Well, not all her efforts, Yugi was trying hard to keep everyone in good spirits as well. Optimistic little bugger didn't realize that what Jou and Seto needed was a good smack.
At four in the afternoon, Yugi and Yami were back on the puzzle that seemed to never finish, and Sayeka found herself talking with Jou about movies. She was far removed from civilization in general, but she enjoyed old films. Surprisingly enough, Jou did too. The only one who did not join in conversation was Seto.
Big surprise.
It had snowed all night, practically left them snow blind. A little over a foot of snow coated the ground in all directions, and all animals had the good sense to hide somewhere until the temperature rose at least a few degrees. That was part of why they were so startled at realizing they were hearing a car approaching the main house.
Confused, Yami directed a look at Sayeka.
"Did you invite someone?"
"No..." She raised an eyebrow, glanced at Seto and shrugged, standing up.
"Let's go see who it is, then. You might want to wake up Yugi though, he looks like he's gotten hypnotized by the game." The black haired girl recommended as she swept by, followed by Jou. Yami smiled fondly at his boyfriend. Yugi did indeed look completely taken in by the game. As much as he understood, Yami lightly shook his shoulder and directed him outside. Kaiba was the last one to follow. He didn't feel the need to hurry until he stood at the open doorway, and recognized the black limo.
//What the hell is he doing here?\\
The door slid open, and Tatsuha Wakamiya stepped outside, almost immediately sinking heavily into the snow. A thinly veiled look of annoyance crossed his face, but it was hard to tell with the chic sunglasses he wore. Why he wore them inside a car when he wasn't driving was anyone's guess.
Opening his mouth to demand what his worker was doing there, Jou beat him to it.
"You!"
Dimly, Seto realized that Tatsuha had grown pale.
Interesting.
Jou marched up to the tall man, mindless of how deep he sank into the white slush, and brutally poked his chest. Obviously not noticing the large difference in size either.
"You! Why the hell did you have to go and tell me that? You know, I could have been so much happier NOT KNOWING." Jou was rambling, and he knew it, and he wasn't making any sense, and it was stupid but he couldn't help himself. He didn't want to confront Seto and know that Seto wasn't his, maybe never had been. Irrational as it was, he blamed Tatsuha. Hell, by all he knew, the guy had just been trying to help him. It was a great way to pay him back, really.
"I-" Tatsuha stiffened, and automatically brushed strands of hair away from his forehead, preparing to launch into an indignant reply. Catching a glimpse of the man behind Jou, he fell silent, dread crawling unpleasantly over his skin.
"What are you going on about puppy?" Laying a warm hand on Jou's shoulder, Seto wasn't too surprised, or impressed when it was tossed and the younger teen whirled around, and then gestured vividly towards Tatsuha. He fumbled for a way to speak, while still making random hand gestures until a breath finally exploded out of him.
"Look, I know about the engagement, but why didn't you tell me? Why did you lead me on? Jesus Kaiba, I thought you were good!" Jou clutched his fists in anger, and ignored that tiny, hesitant voice that was trying to remind him he was blowing the cover on an extremely personal matter in front of several people. Two of them that he barely even knew at all.
If the situation hadn't hurt him so much, he would have almost laughed at the stunned stare Seto gave him.
"What, speechless?" Jou spit out bitterly, and lowered his gaze to the ground briefly, before raising it again. He was taken back at the odd look on his boyfriend's face.
"What..." Seto began slowly, trying to make sense of a puzzle that wasn't complete. "What in the world are you going on about? What engagement? I'm not engaged to anyone, and as far as I know, none of us present here are."
"But... but..."
Kaiba's eyebrows rose, perilously high and he gave a growl of irritation.
"But what, you damn mutt? Is that why you've been avoiding me for practically a month? Who the hell told you I was engaged?" Before the words even left his mouth, he had a good idea of just who had.
Growing still, he tore his gaze off Jou's confused and hurt eyes, and stared at the man he entrusted with mundial business with growing coldness.
Jou's head felt swollen and pounding, a sure sign that he was going to have the mother of all migraines in a few minutes. He too, turned to look at Tatsuha.
"You told me he was engaged." He voiced out loud slowly, not sure whether to collapse in relief that Seto was obviously not engaged to marry anyone, or to let his fury free and give the tall man a black eye curtsey of his right fist.
Seto however, was simply faster.
A vibrantly pissed off pair of blue eyes were the last thing that Tatsuha saw before the darkness claimed him.
If Seto had gone on ahead, Yami felt that he would have had to intervene again, like he had done with Ahel. But he found he did not have to worry about that, since Seto had turned his mind off his fallen Vice-President in favor of having a long over due conversation with Jou.
Nodding slightly, Yami gently lead Yugi away, who looked just as stunned as Jou himself.
"Shhh, this is not for our eyes." The older teen murmured softly into his ear, drawing him into the house.
Sayeka was more than confused, that was for sure, but she also had a very practical mind. While Jou and Seto began their conversation, she simply snagged the arm of the fallen business man and slowly dragged him inside as well.
She'd take care of him. At least until he woke up.
And then there'd be hell to pay.
*~*~*~
"Why didn't you just talk to me?"
Jou looked away, then glanced back at Seto and stared down at the ground. He didn't want to back down, but he didn't want to charge stupidly ahead like he so often did.
While Seto's warm hands on his shoulders felt nice-increadibly so, actually, he also wanted to shrug them off. He didn't really want to be having this conversation, he felt ashamed that he'd acted so foolishly, believing what Tatsuha had told him.
"I...."
"Why?" Seto demanded, tightening his grip slightly.
"I was scared you asshole, okay? I was terrified that it'd be true!" Jou snapped, using his anger to glare into the sapphire gaze in front of him.
"Why wouldn't it? I mean... it made sense. You'd marry some rich girl and become even more rich, if that's even possible." He spit out bitterly, not allowing himself to lower his head.
"And... and it's not like our relationship is that sound you know. Probably isn't even healthy according to a lot of people's definitions."
Seto softened, just the slightest bit and shook Jou lightly.
'What do you mean by that?"
He was briefly upset to realize that this was one of the few times that they had actually gotten to talk to each other without trying to bite each other. Playful bites, or ones meant to draw blood when they were really ticked off at each other, they were hardly serious.
"I'm just a brief distraction to you, right? A stupid mutt who doesn't know when to shut up, and annoys you all the time. So I'm easy to brush off. I'm like... a possession to you."
"No. You're not." Seto replied, a hint of steel threading through his voice.
"You're Jou. Jounochi Katsuya, and you're mine because you want to be, and because I love you. It's obvious to anyone that what we have isn't normal in comparison with other couples... and this whole fiasco has pointed out that we do need to work on trusting each other more, but how can you doubt that? I wouldn't put up with you if I didn't..." Seto trailed off, finding that he'd been about to confess about his feelings twice in less than a minute.
Damn, he was crumbling like an ill stacked house of cards.
Then he realized, that they'd been dating for almost two years, and he'd never even mentioned the word 'love'.
No wonder Jou didn't feel secure in their relationship.
Sighing, Seto opened his arms, watching the array of emotions on the sophomore's face. Relief tinged with worry, stunned shock and more than a little anger.
"We have a long way to go, that's fairly obvious. But if you feel that you really can't bring yourself to trust me, then we might as well stop now."
"I don't want to." Jou answered truthfully, and stood in a heavily awkward position, not even noticing the snow that had begun to fall down from the clouded sky once more. He felt shaken and incredibly stupid and immature to top it all off, but strangely happy as well.
They had a lot to talk about. Or maybe not. Who knew?
Letting out a long breath that formed a long white cloud in the freezing air, Jou allowed himself to step between the spread arms, resting his head gingerly against the comfortable black sweater. He allowed himself to relax when Seto's arms curled loosely around his waist.
A few minutes passed in the snow, until Jou raised his face and squinted up.
"Kaiba? It's like, fifty degrees below zero. If I don't get inside now, I'm going to freeze my ass off."
*~*~*~
"You think they've resolved anything?"
"Maybe, maybe not. But at least they're talking now." Yami murmured in soft reply to the inquiry, lifting the black pot from the fire stove. Using a kitchen cloth, the tea was poured into twin dark brown cups, filling them to the brim.
Turning away Yami set the steaming pot down on a wooden pot holder while Yugi made himself busy searching for the sugar. Yami might have liked his tea bitter, but he was a completely different story.
"Yeah... I suppose that's true." The younger teen acknowledged with a slight nod, even though he was pretty sure Yami wasn't even looking at him at that moment. Flipping open the cupboard, he glanced at the selection, then stood up on his tiptoes, hand stretched high above his head as he tried to reach the bottle of sugar.
"They've been out there for an awfully long time."
"They're fine." Reaching over his boyfriend's head, Yami picked the sugar and handed it to him casually, closing the door to the cabinet afterwards.
"Thanks. And the man?"
"Sayeka dragged him into one of the rooms. He'll be... relatively fine." Yami allowed, cradling one of the two coups between his hands and sitting down at the small kitchen table.
Yugi glanced over his shoulder, cocking an eyebrow.
"Relatively?" He echoed, twisting the bottle cap off.
"Yes." Yami confirmed with a peaceful look.
"Mmkay..." Humming a doubtful acceptance, Yugi dumped a good amount of sugar into his tea before closing the bottle and joining the Kendo master at the table.
"When do you think it'll stop snowing?"
"It's hard to tell... I think it'll snow all day, on and off." Yami allowed, taking a tranquil sip of the steaming tea. Yugi wasn't sure what kind of tea it was, and he was half afraid of asking and finding out just what it was made of.
"But we'll be okay, right?"
"Of course. Tomorrow you'll be able to make all the snow men and snow angels that you want."
Yugi smiled softly.
"I'd like that. But only if you'll make them with me."
"Of course."
*~*~*~
The dim, but insistent throbbing ache over the left side of his face was what eventually drew Tatsuha out of the blackness.
Where ever he was, it was pleasantly warm, and he was laying down on a futon. He could tell, since Western beds were nowhere as uncomfortable as the damn things. The floor was hard underneath the thin cover, and his shoulder blades felt sore as well.
Cautiously opening the right eye, since his other was swollen and it would be too much of a pain to try to open it, the tall man looked around, and found some strange girl sitting next to him on the floor, a book on her lap, gnawing absently on the end of a gray pen.
"Who are you? Where am I?"
Blue eyes were raised and met his squarely, and Tatsuha got the distinct impression that though he'd survived Kaiba's initial anger, he wasn't out of the woods yet.
"I'm Sayeka Onori. Kaiba gave you a pretty nice black eye, and you were out like a light. I couldn't exactly leave you out there in snow, so you're inside the Nagasaki dojo." She informed him curtly, pulling the mutated end of the pen out of her mouth and closing the book with a resolute snap.
"Don't say anything, just yet." Sayeka warned him, holding up her hand.
"What did you do?"
Staring at her in faint disbelief, Tatsuha eventually shrugged and turned his face away, glancing at the room. There was nothing special about it, except he felt as if he'd been set back two hundred years into the past. Obviously, modern decor was not their stronghold.
"Would you like the short version, or the long version?" He inquired coolly, sweeping back strands of black hair.
"Long version."
"As you wish." Agreeing, the twenty two year old sank back into the futon. As uncomfortable as it was, it was better than trying to sit up. At least, it was warm.
"My name is Tatsuha Wakamiya. I'm in charge of Kaiba Corp's international affairs-pretty much anything that deals with other countries that Kaiba can't over see personally, I deal with," he paused, and risked a glance at Sayeka. Her expression didn't change, so he continued on.
"For the past two years or so, I've been settling the Kaiba HeadQuarters in the West, most specifically, in North America. Recently, as in just a few weeks back, I finished my job and came back here to Japan to help Kaiba with some new deals. However, upon arriving here, I noticed that while the Kaiba Corporation seem to be running relatively normal, the head himself was often missing." Feigning disinterest in his words, Tatsuha studied his nails, dutifully flicking nonexistent traces of dirt away.
"It turned out that Mr.Kaiba had been spending much of his time with that boy, Jounochi. It was not profiting towards the company, and obviously, Mr.Kaiba was not going to stop doing things to his pleasure because I suggested that to him. "
"So you turned to Jou?" Sayeka interrupted, tilting her head to the side, face creased in grim thought.
"You said something to upset him. Something about a fiancee. Kaiba having a fiancee. Am I right?"
"On the mark." Tatsuha replied dryly, not without some sense of amusement.
"Oh. Okay." Sayeka nodded slightly, acknowledging the truth before she slapped him. Hard. She wasn't as strong as Yami or Seto in any way, but his skin burned viciously where her hand had made contact.
"You're disgusting. Get up and get out, I'm sure Kaiba will want to deal with you. After Christmas." Slipping to her feet, the Japanese girl sent him an icy look and shuffled out of the room, softening a little at being greeted with Yami's face.
"Hey."
"That bad?" Yam inquired, taking the look on her face.
She shrugged slightly.
"People really suck, you know?" She glanced out a half open window, spying on Jou and Seto sitting down on the engawa.
"They okay?"
"As can be expected."
"Fair enough." Sayeka conceded with a sigh.
"Where's Yugi?"
"Puzzle." Amusement glimmered in Yami's dark eyes.
"Oh. Well." Sayeka paused, and smiled.
"Let's go help him then."
*~*~*~
Like I said, there is an epilogue, but it can be skipped. ^^ There was a tiiiiiny bit of symbolism thrown into this chapter, not sure if anyone would actually get it though... then again... who knows, really? ^^ Uhm. Anyway. Off to check for mistakes and post this.
-Andro