Wake Up

**

It used to be that Seto considered night to be the darkest, loneliest time of the day. Sitting awake in the dark, knowing nothing outside of that room was moving, not even awake. He'd never been one to sleep very much. Seto had always said it was because just because the sun had gone down, didn't mean the work went away. Privately, he knew the reason was just because he didn't want to lay awake, staring at the ceiling, and wondering what it would be like if he were anyone else. All his life, Kaiba had been called a genius- but Seto knew geniuses had one fatal flaw to them. They thought too much.

Yugi was what had made the night bearable. With Yugi curled asleep beside him, Seto no longer thought too much in the night; he could just close his eyes, and be content. Nights didn't bother him anymore.

Now, however, he knew there was a darker, lonelier time than the night. It was the morning. He'd woken up that morning and reached for Yugi, and found he wasn't there. Would never be there again. He had to get up; there were things to do today, clients to meet with, a business to be run. But… Yugi's side of the bed was empty. So what was the point of even getting up?

The problem, Seto decided, was that he had come to need Yugi. Somehow, inexplicably, the small boy had become a vital part of his existence. And the problem in that was that Yugi did not need him in return. Yugi had friends, he had a life. Seto hadn't even known he'd been missing those things before he'd gotten involved with Yugi.

No more, Seto decided. He'd sworn when he was a kid to never need anyone again, to rely on no one but himself. Clenching his eyes shut, he swore his vow again. If Yugi wanted to leave, that was just fine. Seto didn't need him.

Still… he couldn't make himself get out of bed. Not while the scent of Yugi still lingered there.

Kaiba was glad Mokuba had left him alone for the morning. Despair and self-disgust was easier to wallow in when you were alone.

**

"So, we have a goal," Bakura said, talking to Marik but keeping an eye on the doorway should anyone come near. "Now we just need a plan of execution."

"Mmm, executions… dead people!" Marik murmured happily. "Those are always fun."

Bakura rolled his eyes. "You're really hopeless, you know? If this is how serious you're going to be about this plan, we might as well quit right now."  

"Okay, alright!" Marik sat up, glowering. "But you haven't said anything worth listening to for ten minutes. Do you HAVE a plan, or are you just pretending to know what you're doing?"

"Well I don't see YOU jumping in with any kind of plan," Bakura shot back.

"I told you my plan." Marik grinned, fondly touching the Millennium Rod he carried with him everywhere. "Mind slave the both of them, toss them in bed, tell them to get to fucking. Problem solved. It'd take me about three minutes."

Bakura wished he had something harder than a pillow close at hand to throw at Marik. "And I told you, Yami would send me to a second afterlife for even considering that. Joey would probably not think your idea to be too clever either."

"Oh right…" Marik frowned, though Bakura could tell he was actually trying not to pout. "Joey hates it when I mind-slave people. He'd kick me out in a heartbeat. I'd have to go back to living with my sister."

"Right. Besides, don't you think it'd be far too suspicious if it happened so fast as all that? As much as we want to get this over with quickly, we have to move carefully." Bakura frowned in thought, his gaze falling to the Millennium Rod. He grinned, slowly. "Hey. Can you be subtle with that thing?"

"Subtle? How so?"

"We can't just enslave their minds like you wanted to. But maybe if we just planted the 'suggestion'… then let them work it out on their own? I know Ryou already somewhat likes Yugi. He just needs a little… persuasion to do something about it."

Marik's wicked grin matched Bakura's. "Just a little push in the proper direction? I'll see what I can do." He grabbed up the Millennium Rod, frowning in concentration, the eye of power on the Item beginning to shimmer and glow.

**

Joey had spent most of the morning over at Ryou's, trying to comfort Yugi. Which left Ryou with pretty much nothing to do. He wandered around the house aimlessly, trying to keep busy by cleaning his already immaculate house. Joey could do a much better job of consoling Yugi than Ryou ever could. Joey had been friends with Yugi longer than Ryou had, so it made sense for Joey to be the one there. Ryou would have only felt he was in the way, hanging around.

Still, he would have liked to feel at least a little needed…  

It was painful to not be able to do anything for a friend in need, especially one as sweet and heartbroken as Yugi. And sure, so maybe he did actually like Yugi… but Ryou had ignored that feeling for a long time now, knowing that it was impossible when Yugi had Kaiba.

But now that Yugi didn't have Kaiba…

What was he thinking? Taking advantage of Yugi's heartbroken state in order to assuage his own loneliness? That would just be cruel…

That's not what I'm doing, Ryou told himself firmly, as he headed for his room. No way would he do that. But still, he did want to do something to help take Yugi's mind off Kaiba. And… aw heck, maybe impress him just a little… what would the harm be in that?

Where to start… well, certainly he couldn't outclass Kaiba looking the way he did. Ryou liked to dress casually, but it wasn't the sort of thing one wore to impress anybody. He went to the boxes in the closet, starting to dig through some of the clothes Bakura had left there. Some of these were more what one would call impressive.

Ryou smiled ruefully to himself as he rooted through the clothing. Where were all these thoughts coming from? It was so unlike him…

**

"A fine job, if I do say so myself," Marik stated proudly, as the light from the Millennium Item died down. "He's got no clue those thoughts are anything but his own."

"Good. It'll be trickier with Yugi; Yami will know the minute something is amiss," Bakura warned. "No screw ups."

"Hey. I did a perfect job on Ryou." Marik glared at him.

"Then do even better on Yugi."

"Whatever. One better-than-perfect thought transplant for the puny one, coming up."