Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh.
Chapter 3
It took three weeks for my next commercial to air, twenty-one long, wearying days of seeing Seto's face everywhere I went – on the television at home, on billboards and fliers throughout the city – and when I didn't see him, I saw myself, in the exact same obnoxious, insufferable ads. I was beginning to hate them.
What was worse, Jou had been right – to a point, anyway – and giggling girls followed me everywhere I went, shadowing me and squealing whenever I looked at them. This would have annoyed me in itself, but after the second day or so of such treatment I realized that girls were most likely following Seto like this, too.
My fangirls received many black looks after that.
Still torn between fury and longing for Kaiba, I had filmed the third and final commercial for my current contract days after the second had aired. The ads' producer and RAGE's president had both asked me to sign a new contract, and had even encouraged me to consult a lawyer, but I had held on the papers since then, unsure what to do with them. I hadn't contacted a lawyer, or even spoken to my employers, though they had called me several times.
To be honest, I really wanted to quit. My reasons for doing the commercials had disappeared along with my anger at Seto, and I hated myself for provoking him – even though he certainly deserved it. But that wasn't the only reason I wanted out; the lifestyle that went with it felt degrading to me. I didn't mind being in the spotlight for my achievements, such as winning duels, but to have girls rubbing up against me and people fawning over me just because of the way I looked… it was unnerving, to say the least.
So, as I sat at the desk in my room, reading over the new contract for the thousandth time while Crackers swam happily in his bowl beside me, I decided to give up the ads once and for all. "I'm quitting," I informed the fish.
Crackers flapped his fins in a questioning sort of way.
"I don't care what Seto does," I continued. "He can keep making commercials if he wants to, but I don't really care about competing with him anymore. I never did."
Crackers did an impressive flip, tail streaming skillfully behind him as he turned over headfirst in the water.
"Well, at least I can say I got his attention now," I sighed.
This time, the fish's only reply was to stare at me blankly through its wide, lidless eyes.
I sighed softly once again.
There were no girls this time, thank goodness. But I was shirtless once again, wearing only the familiar black pants that clung tightly to my legs and a few silver chains threaded loosely through the belt loops. For this commercial, I sprawled casually on a spotless white floor, one knee pulled up to my chest and an arm resting lazily across it, cushioning my cheek as I smiled seductively at the camera. A light breeze from an off-screen fan fluttered my long bangs, sending the thick locks flying across my cheeks and tickling my arm.
Like the previous commercials, this one didn't require me to speak much, simply murmur a few company slogans as soothing piano music played in the background. After a few seconds of this, the familiar catch phrase – Play the game. Live the life – flashed across the screen, and the commercial ended with a long, slow shot of my face. I smiled softly at the camera.
"Hmm… That commercial wasn't as impressive as the last one," Jou mused.
"Yeah right! You just miss those girls!"
"Shut up Honda!"
"Yami, you look soooo great in that!" Anzu sighed wistfully.
"Why weren't there any girls in that one?"
"Jounouchi!"
"You're the one drooling over Yami!"
"So what? You can't deny he looks good in those ads!"
"Well then you have to admit those girls look good!"
"I will not…"
Yugi stared in amused incredulity at his friends as they argued over the commercial, which, incidentally, we'd seen about fifty times already. It, along with Seto's ads, continued to dominate the airwaves, images of his face and mine appearing at least every hour or so to torment me. Finally Yugi turned away from the others and regarded me curiously.
"So, when are you going to make another commercial?" he asked.
"…I'm not," I answered lowly.
He blinked in surprise, but then a knowing smile crept over his face. "Because of Seto?"
I didn't answer – and didn't look at him either.
"You know," Yugi murmured after a minute or so, "You didn't have to be on TV to get Seto to notice you. He already did."
I whipped my head around in shock, my eyes narrowing at the knowing twinkle in Yugi's violet gaze. "He did NOT!" I cried. Yugi-tachi fell silent in an instant, turning to regard me with wide eyes.
"Kaiba again," Jou muttered under his breath.
I glared at him. Then, looking away once more, I let my voice fall to barely more than a whisper as I answered Yugi's unasked question. "I wanted him to notice… to see me as something besides a rival; I hoped that if I could just be around him he would think of me as… well… But then I just got so MAD! And you probably all think I'm crazy now…"
"Yami…" Yugi began, reaching a hand out beseechingly toward my arm, but I jerked away and climbed to my feet, stumbling slightly over the rug at the foot of the worn sofa.
"I'm sorry, Yugi. I need to be alone for awhile." I turned and stalked out the door of the game shop, ignoring the worried whispers at my back.
I hurried down the sidewalk, fighting back the angry, disappointed tears that had been threatening to fall continually for the past month. To my credit, not a single one spilled down my cheeks, though my throat burned and my eyes watered fiercely; and I just kept rushing along the sidewalk as fast as I could without breaking into a run, trying to put as much distance between Yugi-tachi and myself as possible.
Yugi hadn't seemed surprised at all when he figured out my feelings for Seto. In fact, all of Yugi-tachi had been sympathetic and supportive – though at first Jou had muttered something about "not appreciating a good situation" and "letting those girls go to waste" – and since then, although he said he didn't understand my motives, Yugi had repeatedly urged me to go to Seto and tell him how I felt.
He apparently didn't understand that I had tried to go to Seto. And it hadn't exactly turned out well, to say the least.
I paused, chest heaving, in my race along the sidewalk and ran a shaky hand over my face. If I had to think about Seto or those insipid commercials once more I would…
"Yami! I've been looking for you everywhere! You haven't been answering my phone calls!"
My hand fell limply to my side as I stifled a groan. "Mr. Archer. I… er…" I glanced up at the tall, trim man, wearing a business suit, who with his short-cropped brown hair resembled Seto a little, and when I caught sight of his annoyed, slightly curious expression I lost whatever vague excuse I had been attempting to stutter and fell silent. I looked at the ground.
"Well, honestly sir I…"
"Never mind, that's not important right now. Listen, anyway, I'm so glad I caught up with you; I was actually going to your house to get you, but since you're here – I need you to come downtown with me today. It's an emergency. I'm sorry to spring this on you like this, but I've been trying to call you for days… Anyway, KaibaCorp is sponsoring a game products promotion today, and they've invited us and several of other of their competitors as well. I don't know how they managed to keep it out of the news; they probably wanted to pick their own media so they could look as good as possible. Generous enough to invite their competition, even." He snorted. "Anyhow, I really need you there, Yami. I know you haven't signed a new contract yet, but I promise you'll be paid handsomely for this… You're our best known representative; we really, really need you to be there…"
I hesitated. This was the perfect opportunity for me to tell him I was quitting, my chance to call the whole thing off and be done with this ugly affair for good – and let Kaiba get on with his life, without me. But then I looked at my boss's serious, slightly desperate face, and I lost my resolve. He really needed me… I could always resign privately, at the end of the day. It wouldn't hurt to help him this one last time.
"Alright then, Mr. Archer. Just let me go home and get ready…"
"No time," he interrupted curtly, grabbing my arm as I turned and pulling me briskly along the sidewalk in the other direction. "We've got to go now, the promotion starts in an hour."
As he dragged me along, rapidly spouting out long lists of things that he wanted me to say and do once we reached the convention, an anxious foreboding sense settled in my chest, and I wondered exactly what I'd gotten myself into.
Despite my rapidly growing popularity over the past several weeks, I still wasn't prepared for the deafening, shrill screams that greeted me as I stepped out onto the raised platform where RAGE had their product display. Although there hadn't been any official news about the event – and I hadn't heard about it myself until less than an hour beforehand – somehow word had leaked out to hundreds of frantic, screaming girls. As I eyed them hesitantly, they blew kisses and held up signs – and one of them yanked up her shirt and exposed herself to me.
My eyes widened in shock and I stumbled backward a few steps, bumping awkwardly into my boss's chest. He brusquely pushed me forward again, sending me teetering toward the screaming, lascivious throng of girls, and I barely managed to keep myself from falling, much less fight the heated flush racing to my cheeks as I stood there awkwardly in front of the enormous crowd.
"WE LOVE YOU YAMI!" a cluster of girls to my left screeched, and I moved slightly to the right, fighting to smile as Mr. Archer hissed instructions to me and a loud, bellowing voice boomed through the loudspeakers strategically circling the stage.
"YAMI MUTOU, REPRESENTATIVE FOR RAGE DUELING PRODUCTS!"
The girls squealed again and I blinked, still falsely beaming as I waved at the throng. My eyes scanned the arena curiously while I gradually tuned out the noises of the crowd, noticing that the platform where I stood was merely one of many, arranged in a circle, each displaying a different gaming company and its smiling representatives.
Then my eyes fell on the stage directly to my left, and the fake smile dropped off my face in an instant.
It was Kaiba, of course, bedecked in his typical flowing white trenchcoat and skintight black turtleneck and trousers. He stood in what looked to be the center of the ring, not even bothering with an insincere smile, instead opting to alternate between smirking at the crowd and glaring at me. Our eyes met and I was frozen in an instant, a chill running down my spine at the hostility in that cool blue gaze.
"Seto…" I murmured, though he couldn't hear me, and for a moment it seemed as if uncertainty flickered over his face before he broke our eye contact and turned away, giving his attention to the crowd once more.
The booming voice over the loudspeakers snapped me out of my reverie.
"AND NOW, A WORD FROM OUR HOST, MR. SETO KAIBA OF KAIBACORP!"
Someone handed Seto a cordless microphone, and he waited until the cheers of the crowd had settled into a dull murmur before he began to speak. "Thank you all for coming," Seto drawled in that deep, sultry voice that sent goosebumps racing across my arms and made me forget that the brunet was a complete jackass. "I've asked you here today so that we can all get a good look at our competitors and hopefully learn something about our own companies' strengths and weaknesses. This was meant to be a somewhat private session," he looked meaningfully at the starry-eyed girls, "but I expect that the members of the public in attendance will maintain their objectivity and discretion while the company representatives are speaking."
I smiled a little – genuinely this time – at Seto's words, feeling reassured and slightly more comfortable, until someone suddenly shoved a microphone into my hands. I blinked and turned questioningly to Mr. Archer, but he merely narrowed his eyes and nodded toward Seto, who had begun speaking once more.
"We'll start with a question-and-answer session, beginning with our newest competitor, RAGE. If you all don't mind, I'd like to begin." The other representatives mumbled their assent into their newly acquired microphones, and with that Seto's eyes were boring into mine once more.
I blinked, breaking the nerve-wracking eye contact almost immediately, and glanced over at Mr. Archer for his input, only to discover that I was alone on the stage. I choked in shock, my heart leaping to the back of my throat as I whipped my head around frantically, until finally I spotted him standing just behind the curtain at the back of the platform. "What are you doing!" I hissed.
"You're the representative, Yami," he snapped back harshly. "Do your job!"
"What? I didn't even know about this until you dragged me in from the street!" I retorted in a hoarse whisper. "How am I supposed to know what to…?"
"A-hem." The sound of Seto clearing his throat tugged me back into the harsh reality of the chattering crowd and the snickering company representatives. "If you're quite ready, Mr. Mutou."
"Yes… I mean I am," I replied lamely.
"Good. Now, would you like to explain for the group some of the strong points of RAGE's products? What particular aspect of your company makes your products exceptional?" Seto smirked as he continued to stare at me with those eyes, boring holes into my skull with that intense blue gaze.
I froze. Mr. Mutou? Strong points? What was I supposed to say? I knew virtually nothing about the technicalities of the company; I merely modeled for its commercials – and Seto knew it, too.
"Er…"
"Well, Mr. Mutou, what makes RAGE stand out?" Seto supplied, his smirk widening.
"Uh, well; it's American… the duel disks are very colorful… and the ads are different than other gaming companies…"
"Ah yes, the ads. Can you tell me why your company chose to advertise game products using such sexual imagery? Why would the company choose someone to represent their game based on his appearance half-dressed?"
The girls cheered at this, a few cries of "Marry me, Yami!" popping up from different points in the crowd as I stared at Seto, my eyes narrowing in disbelief.
"What? Seto, I…"
"Please address me in a professional manner, Mr. Mutou."
"But…"
"Do you not have an answer? I believe that most game corporations refrain from being so blatantly sexual, instead relying on the spokesperson's credentials rather than his chest muscles."
"I beat you and you know it!" I cried angrily.
"Mr. Mutou, once again I ask you to address me in an appropriate manner. We're both professionals here."
"We are not! I QUIT!" I hurled the microphone down and it hit the floor of the stage with a resounding boom. The crowd fell deathly silent, staring at me in wonder, but I merely stalked through the back curtain, brushing past Mr. Archer without even a glance.
"Yami, what are you doing? Where are you going?" he called after me.
My only reply was the raised middle finger of my right hand.
I leaned against the back of the building, hidden slightly by an alcove in the brick wall containing an overflowing, smelly dumpster – and, at the moment, me – as I rubbed the palms of my hands slowly over my face, trying to regulate the painful, heaving gasps wrenched from my throat as I miraculously held back nervous, hysterical sobs.
That had been, in short, a nightmare. A disaster. A train wreck. A…
"What do you think you're doing, Yami?"
I peeked out from between my fingers and groaned at the sight before me. "Go away, Kaiba."
"What happened to Seto?"
"I thought you wanted me to 'address you in a more professional manner,'" I snorted.
"That was before you threw a temper tantrum and ruined my entire convention. We had to recess after you stormed out like a spoiled child, though I doubt we'll accomplish anything the rest of the day now, anyway."
That did it. I tore my hands away from my face, only to rear back and slap Seto across the cheek with all my might. "What in the world is your problem, Kaiba? If you don't want me around why can't you just leave me alone? Why do you think you have to torment me? What did I ever do to you!" After that – slightly hysterical – outburst, Kaiba and I stared at each other for a split second, an expression of incredulous disbelief etched across his features as he gingerly touched his cheek.
I spun on a heel and stomped away, but he grabbed my arm and pulled me back around to face him before I'd taken three steps. "What did you do to me? Besides showing me up at every turn, you mean? You have to be better than me at everything – you can't just settle to be the 'King of Games,' you have to compete against me in my company, too; the only thing that was ever really mine," he snarled, his brilliant blue eyes narrowing into tiny slits. "You betrayed me. And I thought we were friends, too."
I yanked my arm from his grasp. "You're the one who said we weren't!"
"A friend doesn't come to the other's office looking for a job. A friend doesn't try to undermine his friend's work. He doesn't get a job with his friend's competition…"
"Kaiba, you idiot! I never wanted a job, and it was obvious! I was there because I wanted an excuse to see you; I was there because I like you!"
Silence. Seto and I stared at each other. He opened his mouth; then shut it. Then opened it again. "Yami…"
I looked away, embarrassment finally seeping in and overshadowing my anger, until the unmistakable high-pitched squeal of excited girls sounded around the corner. I blanched. "I have to go," I muttered, still not looking at Seto, and started to turn, but I felt his strong grip wrap around my arm once more.
"You're coming with me. We need to talk."
