Chapter 3
"Bye, Yami, I'm going to school!" Yugi called as he ran out the door, buttoning his coat, snapping me from my doze on the sofa. The television still droned beside me, a pretty red-headed reporter giving an account of the shooting from the night before, and I glued my still-sleep-filled eyes to the screen as an image appeared of the street lamp where Kaiba had found me.
It was riddled with bullet holes.
As the reporter continued speaking, my eyes widened in shock and my hands began to shake; I felt as if all my joints had suddenly turned to jelly. Apparently I had been standing in front of the hideout for one of the most prominent drug traffickers in the city, and one of his rivals had attacked the place mere minutes after Kaiba picked me up.
Kaiba saved my life.
But how did he know?
"I had a vision," he murmured softly.
Not meeting his eyes, I nodded silently and pushed open the door behind him. A deadly sharp knife jutted from the table where my head had rested minutes before. My breath hitched audibly as I slowly glanced around the room- the only thing remaining upright was the heavy wooden table; everything else had been overturned or destroyed. The chairs lay in pieces on the floor; the hand-painted vases ornamenting the walls had been shattered; long knife-marks scratched across every wall; and all my papers lay scattered and shredded along the floor.
Seto strode to the table and pulled out the knife with a slight grunt. "Yami, come look at this," he murmured.
I smiled slightly in spite of my pounding heart, happy that he hadn't regressed to calling me 'Pharaoh' again. Silently I approached Seto, resting a hand on his arm as I leaned over him to inspect the table- and gasped at what I saw. A message had been roughly scratched into its surface.
"The Shadows will consume the King of Egypt."
"Thank you for calling KaibaCorp, how may I help you?"
"Yes, I need to speak to Seto Kaiba, please," I told the perky receptionist.
"I'm sorry, sir. Mr. Kaiba doesn't speak to customers over the phone. If you're having trouble with your duel disk system, I can transfer you to our customer service line," she replied cheerily.
"I'm not a customer!" I retorted sourly. "Kaiba is…a friend of mine. I need to speak with him."
A slight pause.
"Your name, sir?" she asked, sounding slightly more wary.
"Yami Mutou."
I heard the rustling of papers as the receptionist muttered my name under her breath. "Mutou…Mutou… I'm sorry, sir, your name's not on the list. I have callers on other lines that I need to speak with now, but I'll transfer you to customer service. They should be able to fix your problem," she told me, her overly chipper tone returning.
"What list? I don't have a problem," I protested, but all I heard was soft music as she put me on hold.
"KaibaCorp customer service, how may I help you?" a man's voice broke in after a minute or so of 1980's love songs.
"I need to speak with Kaiba," I spat slowly through gritted teeth.
"Hold please, and I'll transfer you to his receptionist," the man replied in a bored tone.
After nearly five full minutes of annoying music, someone finally answered.
"Thank you for calling KaibaCorp, how may I help you?" said the first woman I'd spoken to.
Jiichan didn't sweep the sidewalk that day, because it rained. After several failed attempts to reach Kaiba, I finally gave up in frustration and escaped to my room. I sat by the window for a few minutes, listening to the dreary hiss of water against the pavement and watching the fallen rain curl into thick puddles and slide into the sewer drains on the side of the road. Cars whizzed by, some leaving rainbow-tinted oil stains on the puddles as I silently observed them, feeling my fingers start to twitch.
I hated this.
I hated this so much - this forced inactivity, this inability to do anything. Even when I had a problem to work out, like now, all I did was sit in my room and stare at the rain. And it had been this way ever since I got a body of my own - the days had become so tedious and pointless; and all I ever seemed to do was wait around for Yugi-tachi to come and tell me stories about a life that I never fit into anyway. Until two days ago, that is, when I went out on my own. I finally did something for myself, by myself…and I found Kaiba.
It felt oddly like destiny.
I contemplated this for a moment, watching the swirling gray clouds lazily spit rain onto the grimy streets; until, coming to a decision, I nodded to myself and slipped into my black coat and red scarf. If it had been destiny for me to find Kaiba, I couldn't give up and just sit, staring out the window, after he'd saved my life. I needed to know how; why; even if Kaiba could somehow sense things, like my former priest, he definitely didn't seem like the type to believe his visions. And, even if he did believe them, why would he bother to save me? We weren't exactly friends.
As I called goodbye to Jiichan and hurried out the door, bowing my head against the drizzling rain, I felt a sudden, tiny hope stir in my heart. Could Kaiba possibly… maybe… feel something for me? My hand throbbed in remembrance of his desperate grip and a vision of that anxious line between his startlingly blue eyes flashed through my mind.
He was worried about me, at least.
The thought made a stupid, dreamy grin cross my face as I imagined all the things this might mean - but just when I'd gotten to the part where Kaiba professed his undying love and we started kissing passionately, an engine sputtered to a halt beside me, skidding through a puddle and kicking up spray all over me. Angrily I spit muddy water from my mouth and shoved my drenched bangs from my face as I turned to glare at the offending person (though a part of me hoped it was Kaiba).
Instead, I saw Bakura, dressed from head to toe in black leather, propped lazily on a motorcycle and smirking at me. His long white hair hung down his back, slightly frizzy from the light rain. He didn't wear a helmet. "Out for coffee again, Pharaoh?" Bakura sneered.
I just sighed and decided to ignore him. I needed to see Kaiba, and I didn't want to waste my time talking to a thief who only wanted to make my life more miserable than it already was. So, swiping an arm across my face once more to get rid of all the muddy water, I merely frowned at Bakura and kept walking down the sidewalk. "You'd think you'd learn your lesson, after last night," Bakura called to my back.
My steps faltered. How did he know about last night?
"I mean, people get shot two blocks from your house and you still go walking alone," he continued in his typical drawl.
Oh. So he'd heard the news. For a moment I thought he meant…
"So, are you on your way to talk to the priest?"
I whirled in astonishment as the smirk widened on the thief's pale face. What in the world was going on with Bakura lately? Ever since he'd gotten a body of his own he'd been acting strangely - first he starts a relationship with Ryou just hours after he escaped the Sennen Ring, and now…
Now he seemed to know everything.
Bakura snickered mockingly at my wide-eyed expression and made a vague gesture toward his motorcycle. "I can give you a ride," he offered neutrally.
I stared at him for a moment longer, but he didn't seem to be joking, so I hesitantly approached the motorbike and climbed on behind him, trying to touch him as little as possible. The tomb robber snickered menacingly once again and revved up the engine as noisily as possible; then took off at top speed, causing me to clutch desperately at his jacket. I squeezed my eyelids tightly shut as the buildings whizzed past us at full speed and tried to ignore Bakura's obvious vindictive glee at my discomfort. After a moment, determined not to let the thief get the better of me, I sat up straighter and stared directly ahead at the whizzing buildings, feeling a buzz of anticipation begin to grow from somewhere in the pit of my stomach.
This was the quickest way to Kaiba, after all.
"Shimon, I am not a child!" I snapped. "I don't need someone with me at ALL times! I think I'll go insane! Surely the guards I have now will be fine."
My advisor hung his head, beaten but obviously not pacified. Ever since the attack almost a week before, the palace guards had combed the area in search of the attacker, while my priests attempted to use their magic to locate him and decipher the meaning of his message. Nothing had worked; though Seto, especially, wore himself to the point of exhaustion trying to solve the riddle. I eventually had to order him to stop.
Now, however, since they had stopped focusing on the riddle, they began wasting all my hours in court petitioning for me to have more 'protection.' Shimon, my advisor, as well as Mahado, the priest of the Sennen Ring, were both especially adamant about appointing more people to keep me safe. But I couldn't bear the thought of having three or four bodyguards trail me every second of the day - the few moments of private time I had now were too precious.
Plus, I was a little afraid that with the guards around Seto wouldn't want to come see me anymore.
As Shimon reluctantly stepped back into his position near the throne, Seto stepped forward, his head bowed slightly in respect- though that was the only sign of submission in his proud, confident stance. "My Pharaoh, might I suggest something?" he murmured, glancing up to meet my eyes, though he kept his head bowed.
"Yes, Seto? What is it?" I replied, giving him a friendly smile. The edges of his lips quirked upward as he almost gave me a brief smile in return - but Shimon made a disapproving noise, mumbling something about disrespect, and Seto's face quickly returned to its passivity.
"Well, I think that merely increasing security on the grounds should suffice. After all, the attacker had to scale the palace wall to break in your window. If we have more guards patrolling the area, he shouldn't be able to get past them again."
I beamed proudly (though Shimon made another clucking noise at my expression). Seto was brilliant! "That sounds absolutely perfect, Seto. Mahado, you're in charge of appointing more guards," I said as Seto retreated to his position standing with the other priests. With that, I clapped my hands and rose, signaling the end of the court session, and hurried to my rooms to hopefully take a nap and end my pounding headache.
Shimon had really gotten on my nerves today.
When I made it to my rooms, however, an enticing breeze floated in through the sheer curtains leading to my veranda, so I stepped out onto the balcony to take in a few breaths of fresh air. I leaned casually against the intricately carved stone terrace, soaking in the sight of my lush courtyards, blooming with desert flowers, as I reviewed the day's court session in my mind. Shimon could really be meddlesome- he seemed to think that just because I was sitting on my throne I couldn't even smile at my friend! And I had barely begun to convince Seto to relax around me, too.
I sighed and buried my face in the palms of my hands. Maybe Shimon was right to disapprove, since I wasn't really 'smiling at a friend.' I wanted Seto. I wanted to kiss him; to taste that soft, tanned skin and run my fingers through his wonderful dark hair. Every night since he saved me I dreamed of those arms wrapped around me, holding me close to a warm chest and a frantically pounding heart…
A knock sounded at the door to my chamber. "Come in," I muttered, not moving my hands from my face. The person stepped into the room and shut the door before silently approaching the veranda - I heard footsteps advance and stop directly beside me before I finally dropped my hands.
Seto stared at me with a quirked eyebrow, a grin tugging at the corners of his lips.
"You should really be more careful. I could have been anyone, and you didn't even look up," he chastised teasingly.
"Well, it's your job to protect me anyway," I replied with a smile.
He gave me a funny look and was about to reply when a thick lock of hair slipped from under his headdress and fell in his eyes. Seto frowned and pushed it back under the purple garment, but the lock of hair just slid back into his face. I snickered. Seto rolled his eyes at me and finally just pulled off his headdress, resting it on the balcony rail as he ran his fingers through his thick brown hair. "I need to have it trimmed," he shrugged.
I watched admiringly as Seto absentmindedly raked long, slender fingers through those thick brown locks while he told me something about the reports we'd gone through the day before. After a moment he paused in his speech, obviously expecting a reply, but I hadn't been listening. A loud buzzing sound filled my ears I blatantly stared at the brunet. Seto was just so perfect - so tall and slim, yet still muscular. His long, white robes clung to his lean form, outlining long, muscular legs, and his purple sash accentuated his narrow waist. How I would love to wrap my arms around that waist, just once more. I could still recall perfectly how it felt to hold him…
Seto glanced at me curiously, still waiting for an answer to whatever he'd said.
"Yami?"
The buzzing stopped.
"Seto, did I ever thank you for saving my life the other day?" I asked abruptly. Seto blinked slowly, clearly surprised by my sudden question, but he gave me a sarcastic grin.
"Of course. Several times. But you really don't need to…"
I lifted a hand to silence him and stepped closer, staring into his bright cerulean eyes. I tilted my chin upward, almost near enough to feel the gusts of air from his breath, and smiled softly as I shook my head. "I do. Thank you so much, Seto. I don't know what I'd do without you," I murmured.
He was so close… Ra, I wanted to kiss him so badly… and it would be so simple just to stand on my tiptoes and close that last, painful bit of space between our lips. So simple. So easy. I could do it.
But, just as I summoned my courage and began to lean closer, Seto shifted awkwardly and turned his head. "I should go," he murmured; and, grabbing his headdress, he shoved aside the sheer curtains and stalked rapidly away.
I gaped after him for a long moment before I sighed and trudged to my bed, deciding to take that nap after all.
"We're here. Now get off," Bakura snapped, jerking me from my reverie. The memories of my past were coming quicker and more detailed every day- and all of them involved Kaiba somehow.
Or, more specifically, my obsession with Kaiba.
I climbed off the back of the motorcycle as I wonderingly observed the structure before me. The KaibaCorp office stretched high in the sky, towering over all the other buildings on the street, and the few rays of sunlight that escaped from the heavy gray clouds glinted on the thousands of plates of glass making up the sides of the building. Kaiba's office would be on the very top floor, no doubt.
The sound of a revving engine made me turn in surprise; and I gaped, shocked, as Bakura sped away on his motorcycle, leaving me standing alone in the middle of the sidewalk. "That jerk," I muttered, though I supposed I shouldn't really be surprised. He'd already done more for me than I ever thought he would by bringing me here in the first place.
Gulping, I pushed angry thoughts of the thief's abandonment from my mind and turned back toward the KaibaCorp building. I strode through the plate glass doors with every ounce of my usual pride and determination, though my heart pounded wildly at the thought of seeing Kaiba - not to mention confronting him. But I had to know why he saved me; I had to know how he felt about me…
If I could ever summon the courage to ask, anyway.
My boots clicked against the white tile floor as I strode across the spacious, echoing lobby, but a burly, uniformed guard stopped me before I could reach the elevators at the back of the room. "All visitors must check in at the front desk," he told me in a bored monotone.
I nodded politely and retreated to the circular desk in the center of the room, where a young, redheaded woman sat lazily filing her nails. I prayed it wasn't the same woman I'd talked to on the phone. "How may I help you, sir?" she asked, not looking up from her inspection of her fingernails.
"I need to speak with Kaiba."
"Do you have an appointment?" she asked, turning to her computer.
"No, but I…"
"I'm sorry, sir, but you have to have an appointment in order to see Mr. Kaiba. He's a very busy man."
"I…I'm on the list," I lied, remembering what the woman had said on the phone earlier.
She reached for a clipboard. "Name?"
"Yami Mutou," I replied, my heart sinking. This would never work.
"No, I'm sorry, I don't see you," she said slowly, scanning the list.
I blinked as a thought suddenly occurred to me. Maybe…
"It might be under Yugi Mutou," I muttered, scowling.
She beamed. "Oh, yes, there you are, sir! Go right up," she chirped.
The elevator chimed as it reached the top floor of the KaibaCorp building and I slowly stepped out its doors. My legs shook dangerously as I took the last few steps toward the door to Kaiba's office, but I took a deep breath and forced my pounding heart to calm. I was just talking to Kaiba, and I'd done that thousands of times. This was nothing new.
Slightly reassured by this bald-faced lie, I lifted a hand and knocked soundly on the thick oak door.
"Come in," Kaiba said.