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

Chapter 3

Around ten o'clock the next morning, I pulled up in front of Yami's dilapidated apartment building, smiling slightly to myself. I'd brought him another book to read, since he didn't seem to like the other one very much, judging from the late-night phone call. As I chuckled, remembering Yami's overreaction to the novel, I suddenly realized that I might have sounded harsh on the phone…

"I hope he's not upset," I murmured to myself, "but I'm never polite when someone wakes me up; not that I'm that polite anyway…."

I knocked on Yami's apartment door as I mused, but no one answered, so I knocked again, louder. Still, no one came to the door, and I began to worry a little. "Yami, it's Kaiba," I called. "Are you there?" No response.

A door creaked open on the other end of the hallway and one of the street punks emerged, wearing a spotted bandana and jeans with a waist that sagged nearly to his knees. He slipped on a white undershirt as he stepped into the hallway, and when he noticed me he grinned amiably. "Hey, it's you!" he greeted.

I responded with my trademark glare.

"Back to see Yami again, huh? Man, that guy is strange. He's clean, but he's skinnier and sicker-looking than some of the worst addicts I know," the teenager informed me as he readjusted his bandana.

I tried not to let the concern show in my eyes as I finally deigned to speak with him. "Have you seen him today?" I asked neutrally.

"Whoa! You actually spoke!" the punk teased, grinning. "I saw him walking down the street last night just after two, but I haven't seen him since."

My stomach lurched horribly and I dropped the book on the stained wooden floor before I turned and rushed down the stairs at full speed. What had I done? Yami went wandering out on the streets in this neighborhood, late at night, by himself! He could very well be hurt, or…dead…

And it would be all my fault if he were.

I shoved open the door to the apartment building, make it shake violently and rattle in its rusty hinges, and hastily climbed behind the wheel of my silver BMW, ignoring the shouts of the punk that echoed through the stairwell. "Hey! Rude guy! You forgot your book!"

The tires skidded and squealed across the pavement as I sped from my parking spot, unsure of where I was headed. All I knew was that I had to find Yami. He had to be alright. If something had happened to him, especially because of me…

I tried to fight down the growing knot of guilt that twisted harshly in my stomach.

After driving aimlessly for an hour, examining the particularly crime-ridden city streets, I finally decided to swallow my pride and ask Yami's Jiichan for help. I parked on the curb directly in front of the Kame Game Shop (incidentally, in a no parking zone, not that I cared) and stalked angrily into the quiet store as the happy little bell chimed my entrance.

I really wanted to rip that thing off the wall.

"Mutou!" I snapped. "Yami's disappeared- the last anyone saw of him, he was wandering the streets at 2:00 A.M. I went to his apartment, but he was gone."

The old man raised an eyebrow. "Kaiba, are you sure? Do you know he's been out of the house ever since then? Maybe Yami just went on an errand and you missed him," he replied.

Suddenly I felt rather stupid.

"Well…his neighbor said…he said that…" I stuttered, and he eyed me curiously.

"You really like him, don't you?" he asked in wonder. "I've never seen you this worried about anyone, although Yami did mention how upset you were when your brother was missing…"

"No," I snapped immediately, but after a moment curiosity got the best of me and I asked hopefully, "Yami talks about me?"

The old man grinned. I wanted to kick myself. "Well, he did quite a bit just after Battle City, but then you two drifted apart, I suppose. That's when he started…" he paused mid-sentence, shaking his head.

"Started what?" I growled suspiciously.

"Nothing," he sighed. "But Yami did call me the other day to tell me you came by. He seemed excited to see you again."

My heart lifted briefly, but dropped again when I suddenly remembered that Yami was still missing. "Jiichan," I said, as politely as I could, even using Yami's name for the man, "Do you have any idea where he might be? I'm… I need to talk to him."

His eyebrows lifted again and he observed me for a long moment before he finally answered me. "Well, you could always ask Bakura, I suppose, since Yami probably sees more of him than anyone else."

I nodded curtly and swept out the door, gritting my teeth at the tinkling of the annoying bell. Bakura and I needed to talk, anyway.

I threw open the glass doors and stalked into the crowded bank. The chattering people froze in unison at the sight of my angry countenance and long, sweeping trench coat as I strode quickly past them all and demanded the first bank teller I saw to show me Bakura's office.

"M-Mr. Bakura doesn't let anyone see him without an appointment," she stuttered.

"I don't care. Just tell me which one is his office," I snarled, and gave her my most terrifying icy glare.

"That one, in the back," she squeaked, pointing at an elaborately carved oak door guarded by two uniformed guards. I stomped across the bank's thick blue carpet and pounded on Bakura's office door, ignoring the guards.

"Sir, you'll have to step away from there," one warned menacingly, just as Bakura snarled, "WHAT?" from inside the office.

"BAKURA! Get out here. This is Seto Kaiba, and we have a few things to discuss," I snapped. One of the guards reached for me, but I dodged him expertly and continued glaring at the door.

I suppose I could have been more polite, but since I was already here I figured I might as well bully Bakura into giving Yami a raise. That is, if I ever found him…

"Kaiba?" Bakura asked curiously, and pulled open the door. I narrowed my eyes at the white-haired thief. He actually wore a business suit- all black, however, and tighter than necessary. It made his snow-white hair and dark eyes stand out strikingly. "What do you want?" the thief continued.

"Like I said, we need to talk. Privately," I added, glancing at the two guards who openly stared at us.

Bakura nodded and motioned me into his office. He closed the door behind him and moved to the leather executive's chair behind his desk; then gestured for me to sit across from him. I merely crossed my arms and scowled at him. "Well? What do you want, Kaiba?" Bakura asked again, with a hint of impatience.

"You hired Yami, right?" I began.

"The Pharaoh? Yes, and it was rather amusing to have him work for me, I must say," Bakura snickered.

"Whatever," I drawled. "However 'amusing' it may be for you to make him suffer, I don't think it would be in your best interests to make him starve to death."

"What are you talking about, fool?" Bakura sneered. "Don't you have better things to do with your time than to annoy me about the Pharaoh?"

I ignored that last comment and continued, "Just give him a raise, Bakura. He's living in the slums, and he looks like he's starving."

Bakura stared at me incredulously. "Why do you even care? I thought you hadn't seen him in two years! Besides, I pay Yami more than any of my other employees- certainly enough for him to live in a decent house. I may hate the jerk, but he's still a good worker. He's the best guard I have."

I blinked at this surprising information. "But he told me he didn't make much…" I breathed. Yami lied to me?

"He's probably on drugs," Bakura shrugged indifferently. "That would explain why he's so skinny." The white-haired thief drummed his fingers on the table and glanced at me impatiently. "Is that all you wanted? Because if it is, you can LEAVE, you know."

"No, Yami isn't on drugs…" I mused slowly. For some reason, I believed that punk neighbor of his- maybe because he would know who was on drugs and who wasn't, since he probably sold the drugs in the first place.

"Whatever. Did you want anything ELSE?" Bakura asked in annoyance. I blinked, coming out of my reverie, and nodded.

"Er… Yes; have you seen Yami today? Because I can't find him."

Bakura groaned loudly.

Finally, at around five in the afternoon, I decided to check Yami's apartment again, praying that he had gone home. When I parked on the curb, however, Yami's thug neighbor waved me down before I could enter the musty stairwell. "Hey! Rude guy! Come here, I need to talk to you!" he cried.

Assuming he wanted to return my book, I merely continued walking, not even bothering to glare at him, until he continued, "It's about Yami!"

I froze in my tracks and glared sharply at the punk. "What about him?" I drawled coldly. "Did he come home?"

The boy nodded and pointed to the window of Yami's apartment. I could make out the outline of a wild-haired figure silhouetted against the light from inside, and I glared at the boy beside me. "Thanks, but I could have figured that out for myself in about two seconds," I quipped dryly.

He shook his head slowly. "No, I wanted to warn you. When Yami came back this afternoon I gave him that book you dropped, because I figured it was for him…" He glanced at me questioningly and I nodded briefly, encouraging him to continue. "Well, when I told him you brought it by, his face turned this weird yellow color and he started acting all strange. He's been sitting by the window ever since, just staring at the road. What did you do to him, anyway?" the boy asked curiously.

I just whirled on my heel and stomped up the staircase, not bothering to answer, though my heart thudded painfully in my chest. Yami was alright- but what good would that do me if he hated me? I gulped nervously as I knocked on the door, inwardly marveling at how quickly Yami had become so important to me; when I knew him two years ago he had earned my respect, but he had never had this kind of effect on me.

I must be going soft.

"Yami? It's Kaiba," I called softly, just loud enough for him to hear, and I heard a shuffling sound from inside before a sullen voice finally answered me.

"What do you want, Kaiba?" he sighed tiredly.

"I just want to talk to you," I answered, shifting awkwardly. In a way, I was grateful for the thick wooden door between us, since that meant he couldn't see my embarrassment. "What's wrong?" I added hesitantly. "Are you upset that I snapped at you? I just… You just woke me in the middle of the night…" I trailed off.

Good Lord, I sounded like a complete idiot. I wonder what my employees would say if they saw me now.

The door creaked open slowly and Yami's wan face appeared around its edge as he scrutinized me intently. "Why did you come back? You said…said that I…" Yami mumbled softly under his breath.

"Mokuba would nag me for weeks if I drove away my first real friend," I shrugged casually, in a morbid attempt to lighten the situation.

It must have worked, because a relieved grin spread across Yami's face and he opened the door all the way. "Do you want to come in?" he asked eagerly.

I smiled.

Late that night, my phone rang again. This time, however, I answered politely (although that was most likely because I hadn't fallen asleep yet anyway). It didn't make any difference.

I had already screwed things up anyway.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Kaiba, what did you do?" Yami's voice growled angrily.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Yami?" I asked in confusion.

"Bakura… When I got to work tonight, Bakura was waiting for me. He said that you came by his office and made a scene, and he lost a bunch of customers…they said the bank was unprofessional, or something…" Yami said. He sounded like he was in shock.

"Oh, that. I'm sorry, Yami, I was trying to get Bakura to…" I began, but he cut me off with an angry shout.

"He FIRED me, Kaiba! What am I supposed to do now?" Yami cried.

"What?" I breathed. "But he said you were the best worker he had…"

"Bakura said that he couldn't afford to keep me around if my friends were going to come by and harass everyone. I just thought you might like to know," Yami snapped.

"But…"

"And by the way, Kaiba, I'm not the only one you hurt by what you did. Just keep that in mind," he finished angrily and slammed the phone into the receiver.

I winced at the sound and gently hung up the phone on my end. I stared at the machine for a long time afterwards, mulling over what I'd just heard.

A/N: ::dodges rotten fruit:: Two cliffies in a row! And they're fighting again... Sorry. But they'll make up, I promise. Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! I feel like I'm neglecting you; but there's really not room to respond to everyone in the chapter. Should I email you with responses? I don't mind- but I don't want to annoy anyone either...

To KCY and justareviewer: Yeah, Kaiba is a little OOC in this; but he's got a big soft spot for Yami. ::grins:: I think he's pretty much in character as far as everyone else is concerned, though.

To amy johnson: I like the idea of a Seto/Yami Little Mermaid fic; but for now I can't really do it. I have another fic I'm working on that will go up after this one, and I don't want to attempt too much at once. However, I would recommend that you ask Seto's Darkness to try it. There's an author with tons of stories and no end of creative energy.

Update schedule: The next chapter is ready to go up, and I was planning on posting Friday or Saturday. However, since that's Christmas Eve and Christmas, do you think I should wait? I don't mind posting then, but if no one will be able to read I might as well wait until Sunday. Let me know what you all think! (and if you want me to email you.)