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


Chapter 4

Seto dragged me along to the other side of the building, where a sleek black limousine was waiting a good distance from the crowd. He didn't bother to wait for someone to open the door – merely yanked it opened and shoved me inside before climbing in himself, but not before I heard a particularly shrill girl's voice cry, "It's Yami and Kaiba! Over there!"

Luckily, the limo pulled away before any of them could begin to follow us, Kaiba instructing the driver to take us to the Kaiba Mansion before rolling up the privacy screen and turning to me, his brilliant eyes dark and serious. "Explain," he said shortly.

I looked away, watching the boiling crowd shrink into the distance through the tinted windows at the back of the limousine. "What is there to explain…?" I mumbled.

Seto snorted. "Why you got a job with my most obnoxious competitor, maybe?"

I finally cut my eyes in his direction, raising an eyebrow at Seto's sour expression. "Maybe I was upset… maybe I didn't like watching you in those egotistical commercials, knowing you were just doing it to rub it in my face that you rejected me," I snapped.

"I thought you didn't really want a job," Kaiba retorted.

"That's not what I meant!"

"Well what did you mean?"

"What I said!"

"That is what you said!"

"I said you rejected me!"

Silence again. Seto turned his head, his sleek dark hair slipping over his eyes so I couldn't read his expression, and my face heated up in humiliation as my last words seemed to echo over and over in the heavy air. My breaths sounded very loud in my ears. Eventually I gulped a little and settled against the leather seats, my posture tense and needlessly rigid as I fought to keep my gaze from drifting to the slim brunet beside me who still sat with his head turned toward the darkened windows.

"Would you… Could you ask the driver to take me home, please?" I asked faintly.

Seto didn't answer. But then, as my face burned even hotter and my breaths seemed noisier than ever in the dense silence, he finally muttered something incomprehensible.

"What? What did you say Seto?"

"I wouldn't… I didn't know," he mumbled.

"Didn't know what?" I asked softly.

"That you were trying to… Yami… I wouldn't reject you."

My breath caught in my throat when he finally turned his head and met my eyes again. Blatant longing burned lowly in the deep blue for half an instant, just long enough for me to see it before the emotionless shades fell back over his eyes as Seto continued to watch me, the air still thick and heavy between us. My throat closed up even tighter and I cleared it in vain, my voice cracking slightly as I tried to speak.

"You… wouldn't reject me?"

A slight shake of the chestnut head, left, then right.

We stared at each other.

Then slowly, hesitantly, I closed the distance between us, stretching until my lips hovered just below Seto's, close enough for the warm tendrils of our mingled breaths to gust across my cheek. I stretched a little further, almost – almost – touching those full lips with my own, and Seto's eyelids slipped nearly shut, only the slightest hint of blue escaping to meet my gaze.

It was there I lost my nerve. Suddenly I was hyperaware of my position, sprawled out across the leather seats, almost sitting in Seto's lap, my face shoved up against his.

I balked.

"Seto… I'm sorry… I…" I started to back away, crawling backwards along the seats until I nearly reached the other wall of the car.

Seto groaned.

And then, his arms were around my waist, drawing me back to where I had been a moment before, sprawled gracelessly across the brunet, our foreheads barely touching as we stared thoughtfully into each other's eyes for yet another long, silent, moment; until I let out a soft sigh and wrapped my arms around his neck, flinging away any embarrassment or pride as I pressed my lips against his, a muffled moan escaping me the moment I finally felt the pressure of Seto's warm mouth.

He moaned as well, the arms around my waist tightening passionately, and I straddled his hips, climbing fully into his lap as the kiss deepened and Seto's tongue joined mine inside my mouth. I ran my fingers through his hair, savoring the sensation of the silky locks flowing through my hands as our mouths continued to move against each other in a sensual dance, tiny jolts of ecstasy shooting through my veins at each motion of Seto's lips. The hands around my waist slid dangerously lower and lower until they cupped my rear, making me gasp in surprise, my eyes wrenching open from where they had slipped closed during our kiss, but Seto merely smirked, and I could feel his growing arousal against my hip.

The car stopped.

I let my arms slide from their position around Seto's neck and sat up in his lap, feeling slightly awkward under his contemplative gaze. "Well… we're here…" I said.

Seto stared at me a moment longer, his smirk widening. "Come upstairs with me."


The door shut behind me with a dull thud.

Well, here I was; in Seto's bedroom, the place I'd been fantasizing about for months, with the object of my affection suddenly pressing me against the wall as his lips found their way to that spot on my neck that burned like white fire under his nips and caresses, delicious heat spanning the entire length of my body as Seto molded himself against me from chest to knee. I turned my head, allowing him greater access to my neck as my hand roamed freely along his back; reaching under the heavy coat he always wore to feel hot skin against my fingers.

I shifted beneath him, grinding my hips against his as he kept sucking at my neck, kissing and licking my collarbone and casting me into a helpless frenzy, but at the motion of my hips, Seto's breath hitched and his palms slipped a few inches from their position against the white plaster, leaving sweaty imprints of his fingers that slowly dissolved as I watched them through hazy eyes.

I ground against Seto again, more meaningfully this time. "I want you," I murmured in the ear conveniently level with my mouth. He lifted his head immediately, engaging me in one more nerve-shattering kiss before he finally pulled away and examined me carefully with those piercing brilliant eyes.

Seto nodded.


Making a face, I sprinkled sour-smelling fish food into Crackers' bowl, where the tiny multicolored flakes floated until the goldfish greedily sucked them into his wide, gaping mouth. "No, I don't regret a thing," I told Crackers as I watched him eat his lunch. "It may have just been a one-time thing, I don't know. But I'm not going to try to get Seto's attention again – I've definitely learned my lesson about that."

Having cleared the water of all the flakes of food, Crackers swam to the edge of his fishbowl to engage in a staring contest with his distorted reflection.

"I really like Seto – think I could love him if I got the chance – and I know he likes me too," I paused, reliving very pleasurable memories, "but anyhow, the next move is up to him."

Crackers swam forward, butting his head against the side of the bowl, and swam back with a slightly disappointed expression when he realized he couldn't reach his reflection.

"And I'm done with all that RAGE nonsense, so that's a relief. It's been a media circus, though, that's for sure. I suppose I didn't choose a very tactful way to quit…"

"I know, and I'm sorry about that. It was my fault."

I nearly jumped out of my skin at the sound of the deep, husky voice at the door. Seto stood there, leaning against the doorpost, with a slight smirk painted across his handsome features. He held a plastic bag in his left hand. "Talking to a fish, Yami?" he questioned mock-seriously, his smirk widening when I scowled and looked away. "Did it have anything interesting to say?"

I ignored him and went to stand in front of Crackers' bowl, pretending to inspect the water.

But then, warm arms wrapped around my waist and a pair of supple lips found their way to my jaw, dropping kisses in a teasing line until they reached my ear. "I brought you something," Seto murmured. He pressed the squishy plastic bag into my hands. "Yugi told me you liked fish…"

Seto stepped back; eyeing me somewhat apprehensively as I finally looked at the bag in my hands. There, determinedly butting its head against the sealed corner of the plastic bag, was a goldfish, slightly smaller than Crackers; unless I was mistaken, it looked like a female. My eyes widened. "Seto, why would you get me this?"

He shifted slightly. "Things got out of control before. I thought I should apologize, if we were going to be…"

"Yes?" I prompted, an enormous grin spreading across my face.

"…to be…together," Seto finally finished in a low voice.

"So you bought me a fish," I said flatly. Seto frowned and started to say something else, but I just grinned again and quickly planted a kiss on his half-open mouth. "Thank you. I'm sorry too," I told him. Then I held up the plastic bag, carefully inspecting the tiny goldfish Seto had given me. "Hmm… You need a name…" I looked over at Crackers' bowl to see him flapping his fins wildly and staring at the new fish.

"I think I'll call you Saltine."