Author: Wintersslayer
Rating: PG-13
Pairing: Seto/Yami
Spoilers: None that I know of.
WARNINGS: Some language maybe. AND THIS IS A STORY ON SETO/YAMI! SO DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T LIKE.
Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.
Summary: AU. Seto Kaiba is the greatest duelist ever. No one comes even close to besting him. So, Mokuba creates a hologram to challenge his big brother. However, no one ever expected the hologram to develop feelings...or for Seto to return those feeling.
Status: 10 of ?
A/N: Thanks for all the fantastic reviews! I'm so glad that people enjoyed the last chapter!
Well, I don't have anything else to say, so here's the next chapter.
START OF CHAPTER
Chapter 10
Seto Kaiba was not in a pleasant mood. Apparently, being out for nearly a week had given his dear Board of Directors the idea that they could run Kaiba Corp however they pleased. So, he had spent the past several days since he had awoken fixing the huge mess that the Board had caused- cancelling orders, cancelling appointments, declining offers, and those sort of things. But not before promptly firing every single member of the Board. He'll find their replacements later. Or, maybe, he should just do without one. They seem to cause more trouble for him anyways. And then there was that Dartz problem too. Instead of pressing charges, which would have taken too much of his time, Seto had anonymously submitted those files that Yami had found in Paradius's main frame- the ones that contained information on Paradius's past shady dealings- to the proper authorities. That should keep Dartz busy and out of his way.
Unfortunately, because of all this, Seto had barely any time for finding a way to bring Yami back. Mokuba had been a great help in handling some of the matters, and when he wasn't working on Kaiba Corp matters, he too was searching for any information that might help in bringing Yami back. There must be a way to recover a lost file. That was what the Kaiba brothers kept telling themselves- that Yami was simply "lost", and that all they had to do to bring him back was to find him. Perhaps he had disappeared somewhere within the Internet, that he was hidden, or even trapped, somewhere within in. So, countless hours were spent on scouring the Internet, even using some hacking tactics to get into the more "secure" files. But as always, their search had turned up empty.
Almost two weeks had passed since Seto had woken up, and he was still no closer to bringing Yami back than when he had started. Two very long and frustrating weeks. He had missed the hologram's presence the past few weeks tremendously, which motivated him even more to keep searching. He refused to give up. After all, he had promised Yami that he would bring him back. And he had no intentions of breaking his promise.
The younger Kaiba was beginning to worry about his brother. He thought that he was working way too much, even for being the known workaholic that he was. It seemed that the only way that he could get him to sleep or eat was by pointing out that it wouldn't help Yami much if he had passed out from sleep or food deprivation, and thus be sent back to the hospital where he wouldn't be allowed to work. However, even with Mokuba keeping a watchful gaze over him, bags were beginning to slightly show underneath his eyes, a tell-tale sign that the CEO was not sleeping too well. Indeed, Seto had spent many sleepless nights staring up at the ceiling, images in his mind flashing from that amazing kiss that he had shared with Yami, to his stunning smile, to thinking of other ways that just might bring him back.
One such sleepless night, when Seto could no longer stand just lying in bed doing nothing, he decided to get up and walk around a bit, in hopes of clearing his mind. After pulling on a dark blue robe, he wandered down the darkened hallways of his mansion, down the staircase, and into the entertainment room, where he nearly tripped over some boxes lying near the couch. Cursing a bit under his breath as he sat down on the couch, he clicked on the nearby lamp to see just what had nearly tripped him. What he found was three large boxes filled with little paper-folded birds of various colors. He carefully picked up a white one by its tail, looking at it from different angles, then glanced down at the boxes. Someone must have spent a lot of time folding these things.
"Yugi and his friends taught me how to fold those."
Seto glanced up from the boxes as his little brother padded into the room. He plopped down next to him on the couch, reaching over him to gently pick up a bird, a light blue one. "They told me that if you fold a thousand cranes, then the gods would grant your wish. I think there's almost 700 cranes in there." He smiled a bit. "I guess we didn't need the other 300, thanks to Yami."
Seto nodded absentmindedly. "Yes, I'm familiar with the folk tale." He spotted a red crane, reached out and gently picked it up, dropping the white one back inside the box as he did so. Red...it reminded him of Yami's beautiful eyes. He remembered that last sad, longing gaze as Yami had faded away while he had held him, that soft smile. He let out a slow breath, still staring at the bird.
The black-haired boy shifted uneasily on the couch. His brother had been staring at that red crane for several minutes now, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. He knew what he was thinking- the red bird must've reminded him of Yami's eyes. That was the bird that Mokuba had been folding when Yami had told him of his decision to go and help his brother. Yugi had brought him several packs of origami paper for him to fold cranes from, and out of all those packs, only one paper was red. All the other papers were white, blue, yellow, light green, even pink. But only one of them was red. Maybe that was supposed to be some sort of sign or something...
"Hey Seto? If you want, I can show you how to fold one of those. It's actually pretty easy."
"No, that's alright Mokuba. It's just a stupid folk tale." His voice sounded a bit far away as he continued to stare at the red crane."It'd be a waste of time, time that should be spent on finding a way to get Yami back."
"But it might help you...relax a bit, you know? And it did help me feel a bit better while I was in the hospital."
The elder Kaiba looked at his brother curiously, finally taking his eyes off of the paper crane. "Folding paper helped you to feel better?"
Mokuba nodded. "Yeah, cuz it gave me a goal that didn't seem so...far-fetched. It made me feel like I was actually accomplishing something each day, instead of just sitting around and doing nothing." He paused a bit before continuing. "At least something would be getting done, instead of finding nothing after hours and hours of searching."
Seto sighed. "I suppose you have a point there." At the very least, it'd give him something to do during these long sleepless nights. And if he was lucky, then he might actually fall asleep from the boredom of folding paper. With another sigh, he said, "Alright Mokuba, show me how to fold a crane then."
Mokuba grinned, taking out a sheet of paper from the pile in the box. "Let's get started then."
After another long day work and a long night of searching the Internet, Seto sighed tiredly as he lay in his bed, staring up at the ceiling. Once again, sleep would not come to him. His eyes wandered around the dark room, finally resting on his desk, where he caught sight of a small object perched on its corner. With another sigh, he slid out of bed and walked over to his desk. He turned on the desk lamp as he sat down in the chair, then gently picked up the red crane that was perched on it. He stared at it for a few minutes, remembering his promise to Yami, before gently placing it back on his desk. Also on his desk was a good-sized stack of origami paper that Mokuba had given him. Might as well get started then.
Apparently, folding those cranes did put him to sleep. He had folded about fifty or so before his eyes began to grow heavy. He had managed though, to stumble back to bed before finally falling into a dreamless sleep. This continued on for nearly a week. He was actually getting pretty good at folding cranes, being able to complete one in less than five minutes. As he folded them, his only thought would be of Yami. Each night, he'd get about another fifty done before he'd finally stumble to bed for a few hours of sleep. And so, almost a week had passed when he realized that he had folded over 300 cranes. Combined with the ones that Mokuba and Yugi and his friends had done, that made over a thousand. They all sat in five large boxes, except for the lone red crane, which now resided permanently on his desk in a glass case that he had bought. As he sat staring at the bird, he thought, If there are gods out there, or even just one, please, PLEASE bring my Yami back to me...I miss him so much...
With a tired sigh, he clicked off the lamp and went to his bed, falling asleep almost as soon as he fell into it.
When Seto opened his eyes again, he was not in his room, but instead was standing in the middle of a spacious meadow. Off in the distance, he spotted the mountain range with the waterfall flowing down the middle into a stream. The other three sides of the meadow were surrounded by tall, luscious trees. What was he doing here? The last time he had been here was when...was when Yami had come to save him. It was when they had shared their first and only real kiss, when Yami had told him that he loved him. It was the last time that he had seen him...
A loud roar was suddenly heard, snapping Seto out of his thoughts. He looked towards the mountains, spotting a small form that was growing larger by the second in the sky. He recognized him immediately as the dragon that had been there when Yami had come. As the dragon neared, he noticed he was carrying something, or rather someone, on his back. Blue eyes widened when he recognized the very familiar three-colored spiky hair. His eyes were still wide open from shock as the dragon landed gracefully beside him, crouching down low to the ground in order to let his passenger slide off. Seto blinked rapidly as Yami, HIS Yami reached out to pat the dragon's head in a show of thanks. The dragon made a low, soft noise in his throat, before turning and taking off into the sky once more.
"Yami...is that really you?" Seto whispered, finally able to find his voice. He took a slow step forward, reaching out with one hand.
Yami smiled warmly at him. "Of course it is. Now are you going to kiss me hello or not?" His smile broadened into a wide grin.
THAT snapped Seto out of his daze-like state, and he smiled for what seemed like the first time in weeks. He quickly closed the small gap between then, sweeping Yami up into his arms and into a fierce kiss. Yami returned the kiss just as fiercely.
When their kiss ended moments later, Seto held Yami close against him as he murmured, "Please, tell me this isn't actually a dream..."
"Well, actually, this IS a dream. But there's a big surprise for you when you wake up from it."
Seto pulled back enough to gaze confusedly into those beautiful crimson orbs. "What do you mean?"
Another warm smile was his answer, along with, "Well apparently, you have friends in VERY high places. Powerful ones too, who are able to do the impossible."
The CEO was still rather confused, something that didn't happen too often.
Yami laughed at the look on his face. "Just wake up and see for yourself."
Seto shook his head. "I don't want to lose you again." If this really was just a dream, then he NEVER wanted to wake up again.
"You won't lose me. But I don't want to spoil the surprise, so just trust me and wake up, ok?" He reached up and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips.
"A-alright then."
As soon as he said those words, he once again found himself opening his eyes, but this time he was back in his bed. He quickly sat up, glancing around as he did so. Early morning rays were already starting to show through the open curtains, illuminating the room. He paused. Wait a minute...he never opened those curtains. At all. Peering a bit more closely, he realized that the door leading out onto the balcony was wide open as well. And that someone, with a spiky hair style, was standing on it, looking out at the sunrise.
Seto quickly got out of bed, and rushed over to the balcony, stopping at the doorway. "Yami?" he asked breathlessly.
The figure turned, a small smile on his lips as he said softly, "Hello, Seto. Looks like you've kept your promise after all."
END OF CHAPTER Cringes. Okay, I sincerely hope that wasn't TOO WEIRD. I know I know, it was kinda stupid-ish, but that's seriously the only way I could think of bringing Yami back AND giving him a real body. I didn't really like the whole mechanical robot body thing, and this is the best I can come up with. shrugs
I'm still using Notepad, so sorry again if I missed any typos or have any misspellings.
Well, I think there's only gonna be one more chapter left, just to sorta tie up lose ends and give the story some closure. If you have any comments or questions that you think need adressing, then please tell me and I will do so in the final chapter.
Thank you so much for reading! I really hope you enjoyed this chapter, even if it was a bit...far-fetched, I guess. Please review! ;)