Important Author's Note: I re-uploaded the first chapter, because it had an error, but I only changed one sentence, so you don't have to read it again if you don't want. (But it did make a difference. I'm not that neurotic! lol)

Several of you asked if Yami and Seto would have to shower together (snickers), but they won't, since they just have to be in the same room- so there are ways around it. I'll address that in this chapter, but I thought I needed to explain it a little here, too. I hope you guys like this chapter- it doesn't have a lot of action, since I'm still basically setting up for the rest of the story, but I tried to keep it as interesting as I could...

Warnings: Slightly OOC Yami, because of the circumstances, but I'm trying to keep him as in character as possible.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.

Chapter 2: Settling In

"It looks like you'll be staying with me for a while, so let's go get your things," Kaiba said, climbing into the car.

"I don't have any things," I replied.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Well, I have my deck, I suppose. But that's really Yugi's, so no, I don't have anything," I told him.

"How can you not have anything?" he groaned in frustration.

"I was a spirit before. Then I was thrown into the Dream World," I explained, rolling my eyes. "Not much time to shop there."

He muttered something under his breath. "Fine," he eventually muttered, and started the car. We had been speeding along the highway for five minutes before I worked up the courage to ask where we were going. "You have to change clothes sometime," he replied.

"What does that mean?" I asked, confused.

"Don't be stupid. We have to go shopping, you idiot. But this better not take long," he snapped.

"Kaiba, I don't have any money," I protested. He rolled his eyes.

"Whatever. Don't worry about it," he replied, and silenced me with a glare. Grumbling to myself, I stared out the window. How could Kaiba be the one I "depended on" to keep me in reality? He was almost as bad as the Dream World...

Suddenly I remembered the horrible nightmares of that place and shuddered. No, I would prefer Kaiba's rudeness to that any day.

He parked (illegally, again) in front of the Domino City Mall and stalked rapidly away from the car, and I ran to catch up with him. "Kaiba, do we have to go here?" I grumbled.

"Yes," he retorted shortly. I sighed and followed him into a drugstore. He walked quickly through the aisles, pulling out things like toothpaste and deodorant and throwing them at me. When I had my arms full, I followed him to the cash register and dropped the load on the counter with a sigh of relief.

"Will that be all?" the cashier asked pleasantly. I looked at the enormous pile of toiletries and quirked an eyebrow at her. "I hope so," I muttered.

Kaiba ignored us both and merely pulled out his wallet, glaring. The cashier hurriedly rang up the items and bagged them- and Kaiba made me carry the bags, of course.

He repeated the same process in a clothing store, pulling out clothes seemingly at random and tossing them at me. Luckily, I caught them all (some of the clothes landed on my head, but I still counted that.). Then, when I was sufficiently buried, Kaiba shoved me into a dressing room and closed the door behind me.

Here we encountered our first problem.

As soon as the door closed behind me, familiar shadows started creeping in. "K-Kaiba, please come back," I stuttered. At least I didn't scream.

He groaned. "Can you not even go into the dressing room by yourself?" he muttered in annoyance, but opened the door and stepped inside. I just stood there gaping at him. "Well, go ahead," he said, waving his hand, and I reddened.

"Er, I can't change with someone watching me," I mumbled, so he turned around and faced the door, crossing his arms and glaring.

"Well, I don't exactly want to watch you change, either. So hurry up," he spat. I nodded, even though he couldn't see me, and hurriedly tried on all of the outfits. I tried to fight down my blush and concentrate on what I was doing, but every few seconds Kaiba shifted impatiently and grumbled about how ridiculous this situation was.

It was distracting, to say the least.

"Okay, I like that outfit best," I finally told him, pointing at a pair of black pants and a gray long-sleeved shirt.

"Do they all fit?" he asked, turning around.

"Well, yes," I said, "but why does that..."

"Then we'll get them all. You can't wear the same thing every day," he explained impatiently.

"Well, I always did before," I muttered under my breath. He didn't hear me, or he chose to ignore my comment, because he picked up all the clothes and stalked out the door with me running after him like a chick chasing a mother hen. I wondered what Kaiba would think of that comparison.

After the dressing room incident neither of us felt much like shopping anymore (though I really hadn't felt like it in the first place)so we went back to Kaiba's car, which was somehow miraculously missing a parking ticket. When I leaned back against the seat, relieved that we were leaving, my stomach rumbled loudly. Kaiba and I stared at it.

"I guess you're hungry, then," he commented. I blushed.

"Not that hungry," I lied. "I can wait until whenever you want to eat something."

He shook his head. "We should probably go home anyway. Mokuba gets out of school in half an hour." I wondered why Yugi hadn't been at school; I had assumed it was a weekend. That Dream World really made me lose track of time.

"Kaiba, what day is it?" I asked. He gave me a confused glare.

"Thursday, October 28," he replied. "Why?"

"I was in the Dream World for almost three weeks, then! I thought it was just a week. No wonder I almost had a breakdown," I mused.

"Almost?" Kaiba scoffed.

I chose to ignore that.

"Well, here we are," Kaiba said, a few minutes later. I remembered the Kaiba Mansion from my time in Noa's World, but it certainly looked different now. For one thing, it now had a huge, lifelike statue of a Blue Eyes White Dragon overlooking the gate. It also looked a lot less like a haunted house.

"Is that supposed to scare people?" I asked, gesturing toward the statue as he drove through the gate. He shrugged.

"Keeps vandals away at night, at least. Its eyes glow in the dark," he smirked.

I shook my head. Kaiba was crazy.

He parked in the middle of the driveway and jumped out of the car while I still gathered all the bags. Kaiba had made it all the way to the front door before I managed to get out of the car, but he paused at the threshold and I gave him a grateful smile, which he ignored. "Well, come on. I'll show you where my room is," he said impatiently.

"Y-your room?" I stuttered, and he rolled his eyes.

"Yami, if you can't go into the dressing room alone you definitely can't sleep in your own bedroom. Now hurry up. I still have work to do today."

I nodded weakly, cheeks burning, and followed him up the stairs. I hadn't thought about sharing a room with him. And what happened when I needed to use the restroom or take a shower? How humiliating...

I began to consider just going back to the Dream World.

Kaiba's room was mostly blue; blue sheets and curtains, and a comfortable-looking blue sofa in the corner. The room also had a desk with a state-of-the-art computer, and a door in the far right of the room led to an attached bathroom. I dropped my things on his bed and he glared at me. "They were heavy, and I don't know what you want me to do with everything," I told him unrepentantly.

"Put your toothbrush and those sorts of things in the bathroom," he ordered, handing me the bag. I hesitated. "You can leave the door open," he added, rolling his eyes.

I nodded and obeyed. When I came back, he was hanging my new clothes in his closet. "Thanks, Kaiba, you don't have to do that," I said, surprised.

"You were taking too long," he snapped, and I looked at the ground.

"Sorry," I muttered. I hoped Kaiba wouldn't get too annoyed with me; if he refused to let me stay near him I'd have to go back to the Sennen Puzzle- or the Dream World. But everyone seemed to annoy Kaiba, so I'd have to work hard to stay on his good side... I suddenly felt a twinge of nervousness in the pit of my stomach.

"Hn," he grunted indifferently at my apology. "Now let's go get something to eat so I can get back to work."

"Weren't you waiting on Mokuba?" I asked curiously.

"I try to come home before he gets out of school, and I work in my study while he does his homework," Kaiba explained.

"Oh. That's thoughtful of you," I grinned. How cute. Well, maybe I could get tips from Mokuba on how to stay in Kaiba's good graces.

"Hn," he grunted again, looking away. I think I embarrassed him a little.

We sat in the kitchen and ate sandwiches (since it wasn't a regular mealtime and it would take too long for the cook to fix anything) and then I followed Kaiba to his study. It was obvious that the Kaiba brothers spent a lot of time in here; it was like a miniature library, with rows of books stacked on bookshelves along the walls. A desk with an executive chair and a state-of-the-art computer sat in the corner, and two black plush chairs and a matching couch decorated the middle of the room, with a glass coffee table between them.

"You can do whatever you want. Just don't bother me," Kaiba told me briefly and sat down at the computer, immediately typing away at full speed. I watched him for a moment, and then wandered around the room, looking at various book titles. Most were about computers or technology, though there were also novels and other types of reference books. I picked up a promising-looking novel and relaxed on the sofa. After a few minutes, during which I read silently while Kaiba clacked away at his computer, a figure suddenly bounded over the edge of the couch and landed right on top of me.

"Oomph," I grunted in surprise as well as pain. That hurt.

The black-haired object constricting my breathing blinked; obviously startled.

"Yugi? What are you doing here?" Mokuba questioned.

"It's not Yugi, it's the other Yugi, and it's a long story," Kaibareplied drolly.

"Oh... Seto, I'm hungry, will you come to the kitchen with me and fix me a snack?" Mokuba asked meaningfully. I gave a snort of amusement.

Morbid amusement.

The brothers ignored me and Kaiba nodded at Mokuba, thenlet Mokuba run out of the room before giving me a significant look. "Try to stay out of earshot," he said.

What was all this about? I followed them at a distance, but made sure Kaiba didn't get too far ahead. When they went in the kitchen I sat on the hall floor and tried not to listen to their conversation.

Well, I tried.

"Seto, I can't believe you brought him over here!" Mokuba cried. "I heard Yugi-tachi got him out of that Puzzle, but..." Mokuba quieted, and I couldn't hear anything for a minute or so.

"WHAT! He's staying here!" Mokuba shouted.

"Keep your voice down," Kaiba urged.

"Why? He's listening, isn't he?" the younger Kaiba asked shrilly. I heard the kitchen door slam and suddenly I was plunged into the familiar swirling darkness, but this time one of the grotesquely twisted monsters hovered right above my face, just out of reach. It sucked in a husky, rattling breath as if to suck the very life from my body, and I curled into a ball— knees to my chest and arms covering my head. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting for the end.

Suddenly I felt arms wrap around me and I screamed, thinking it was the hideous tentacles of the monster. "Shh, shh, Yami, it's me, it's just me," Kaiba's voice soothed. "K-Kaiba?" I whimpered, opening one eye. He knelt before me, face even with mine, and his arms stretched around my shoulders comfortingly, if slightly awkwardly. I took a deep, shuddering breath and clutched at him, wrapping my arms around his waist and burying my face in his chest. I was shaking all over.

"It was so close," I murmured, still hiding my face. "It tried to... I would have..." Suddenly I realized Kaiba's shirt was wet under my face. I hadn't even realized I was crying.

"Calm down, nothing happened," Kaiba ordered sharply. I jerked my face away and crawled backward so that my back pressed against the wall.

"S-sorry. I'm sorry," I stuttered in fear and embarrassment. Glancing up, I saw Mokuba standing in the kitchen doorway staring at us in disapproval. "I'm sorry, Mokuba. I promise I'll go away as soon as I can, and I'll stay out of your hair."

He frowned deeply, and my heart plummeted. The next month would definitely not be easy.

Kaiba and I made it through our evening routine with minimal humiliation. One of us showered and used the restroom in Kaiba's bathroom, leaving the door open, while the other stayed in the bedroom. We had forgotten to buy pajamas at the mall, so I had to wear some of Kaiba's. The shirt hung mid-calf and the pants extended at least six inches beyond my feet.

When I walked out of the bathroom, tripping slightly over the pants, Kaiba handed me a pillow and thick blanket and pointed to the couch. I nodded and curled up on the sofa, and Kaiba turned off the lights. I heard the sheets rustle as he climbed into bed, and I closed my eyes, gradually drifting off to sleep.

My hallucinations visited my nightmares.

The fake Yugi appeared, smiling widely, and beckoned me to follow him, but when I hesitated, he transformed into the tentacled life-sucking monster. When I tried to run, my legs sank into a murky, swirling pit, trapping me in the mire. The monster slowly approached, its features twisted into a grotesque smirk, and opened its mouth. Its husky, growling breath accompanied sharp yellow teeth twisted into screw-like swirls.

I shrieked in panic, flailing my limbs, but the pit had swallowed me up to my elbows. "Help! Kaiba, where are you?" I shouted desperately.

"Here, I'm right here," his voice answered. Suddenly the monster and the pit disappeared, and I was plunged into darkness. The silhouette of a person hovered over me in the gray world. "Kaiba..." I whimpered again.

"Yami, I'm right here," the figure whispered, shaking my shoulders gently. I clutched at it and clung to it desperately, slowly becoming aware of my surroundings. The darkness... I was in Kaiba's room, and it was nighttime. Then the Dream World had disappeared again. Or had it just been a nightmare? It was hard to tell.

"I'm sorry... Please don't be upset with me; I didn't mean to bother you," I murmured, embarrassed by my weakness.

But I still didn't let go of him.

"It wasn't your fault," he replied impatiently. He peeled my arms away from him but held on to my hand. I latched onto his arm with my other hand. "Well, come on, then," he continued, standing.

"What? Where?" I asked.

He didn't answer; just climbed into bed, tugging on my hand. "You can stay here. If you sleep on the couch you'll probably just have another nightmare."

I crawled after him gratefully, gripping his hand tightly. I couldn't shake the irrational fear that the Dream World would come back if he moved away from me. When I remembered the nightmare, I unconsciously squeezed his hand tighter and he hissed. "Yami, you're cutting off my circulation," he complained, and pried me loose.

I substituted my pillow for Kaiba, squeezing it as I let out an involuntary shudder. Kaiba must have felt it, because he sighed and laid an arm lightly across my back. Slowly, I relaxed under his touch and fell into a dreamless sleep.

A/N: Sorry if the clingy Yami gets on your nerves- he kind of annoys me, too. But I promise there is a reason he's acting this way, and you'll see it a little more with each chapter- and he will get better. Eventually.

Reviewer Responses: There were too many of you to reply to you individually (I got seventeen reviews for the first chapter...wow) but thanks so much to everyone who responded, and I'm really glad you enjoyed it.

One thing a few of you commented on is my idea for this story, so I thought I'd tell you how I came up with it. Actually, I had a dream- I don't remember anything about it, except in it someone made the comment "I can't believe this is the person you chose to ground you in reality." And that's where the idea came from. I'm not sure how I got the Dream World from that, though... Anyway, if any of you like this idea, feel free to rip it off in any way, shape, or form. I'd actually be really flattered.

As always, please review!