Disclaimer: Just own the words, not the folks.

Never Ask Me

It's been about three weeks since my aibou left. Three weeks since my other half stopped speaking to me forever. Three weeks since I stopped going to work and have been holed up in this mansion, hiding from the world. Three weeks since I lost most of my high school friends and have become trapped in this opulent prison. I know all the dots on this ceiling, having laid here in this bed and stared at them for hours. I know all the sounds this house makes, having stayed up nights listening to them all.

Like when Mokuba walks up to my door, but doesn't knock because he doesn't know what to say. Like when he leaves a plate of food hoping I'll eat it, only to sigh with disappointment when he comes back later and it's still there. Like the rare occasions that Kaiba has come to the door and stood. I can almost hear his heart beating when he's there. He wants to say something, but I don't think even he knows what.

It's not like I don't eat. I just usually do it in the middle of the night when I don't have to talk to anyone or deal with their questioning looks. I can't answer the questions they want to ask, so it's best that I don't see them.

I turn toward the door as I hear Kaiba approaching. His footfalls are very distinctive. I glance at the clock, 1:34 am, time for one of his 20-minute door starings.

His fist pounding on the door scares me half to death.

"Yami! Open up this damn door! You've been holed up in there long enough!"

"Go away, Kaiba!" I yell.

"Like hell! Apparently, you've forgotten where you are."

I hear a key turn in the lock and the door flies open to reveal a triumphantly smirking Seto Kaiba.

I roll away on the bed.

"Go away. Kaiba," I mumble, my back to him.

"It's time to stop wallowing, Yami," he asserts. "You are more than just Yugi's other half. And you wrote in your letters that other than me, you only really missed Sogoroku and he's still talking to you, right?"

I grunt affirmatively.

"So, forget those other idiots. Yugi will figure out he's being an ass eventually. Until then, you need to get the hell out of this room. 'Cause I don't plan on supporting you forever."

"Why didn't you answer me, Kaiba?" I ask after a few minutes.

There are a few moments of silence before I feel him sit on the bed behind me.

"I just got them two months ago."

I turn to face him.

"What are you talking about? How could you get them two months ago? I wrote to you for years!"

His eyes lock with mine.

"I really did have a standing order to shred anything from any of you. My secretaries defied me. Minako gave me your letters the day I threw you out of my office."

I don't know what to say. I thought he'd just ignored me, but he never got them.

"What happened to you, Yami? What happened while you were in Egypt? Why didn't you mention Corey, Pierce and Tanya anymore?"

Leave it to Kaiba to get straight to the heart of the matter.

I roll away from him again.

"Corey and Tanya are dead," I mumble. "Corey killed Tanya in a jealous rage because he thought she was flirting with me. Pierce killed Corey protecting me."

Kaiba's hand on my back in a comforting gesture surprises me.

It's painful to remember. My chest feels tight. It's hard to breathe.

"It was nearly 4 am and we were four of the last ten or so patrons at the bar. Corey, Tanya, Pierce and I had all been drinking most of the evening. Tanya and I were talking and laughing about one of the professors. Corey and Pierce were watching us. Tanya put her hand on my arm while saying something silly and the next thing we knew, Corey was screaming at her and calling her a slut. She ran to the bathroom and he followed. A few minutes later we heard yelling and screaming accompanied by a series of crashes and loud thumps. I just happened to be the first of three people to run to see what was happening. Corey came out with blood on his hands and throttled me.

I can still see Pierce's eyes when he knew Corey was dead. I know he hadn't meant to kill him, but Corey wouldn't let go of me. Another few moments and he would have choked me to death. Pierce just hit him with the bottle to get him off of me, but it shattered against Corey's skull.

"Because Pierce was a diplomat's son," I continue, glad to finally be able to tell someone what happened, "it was swept under the rug. People at the bar where it happened were paid off. Pierce was sent back to France and I was told not to talk about it. Two of my friends were dead, another had been shipped off, and I couldn't say anything. The archeologists at the site were told Corey and Tanya got Malaria and were sent home and Pierce's dad wanted him back for diplomatic reasons. Corey and Tanya's parents were told they died in a car accident. I was the only one left who knew the truth."

It's painful to talk about, though I've wanted to for so long.

"Let's go," Kaiba commands getting up from the bed.

I turn to him slowly.

"Go? Go where? It's 2 o'clock in the morning."

He looks at his watch.

"1:57 actually. Not that it matters. You've got five minutes. Get dressed. We're getting out of here for a while."

He sweeps out of the room, closing the door behind him. It's then I realize I've been lying here in just my boxers the whole time. Great.

Exactly five minutes later, he's banging on my door again.

"Alright already, Kaiba! I'm coming!" I yell, zipping up my jeans.

The door swings open.

"Could you knock first?"

"I did knock."

"Then could you wait until I asked you to come in?"

"Whatever. C'mon!"

I follow him out to the SUV after donning my shoes, jacket, hat, coat and gloves.

"Where are we going" I ask after we've ridden in silence for about ten minutes.

"You'll see."

"I'm not great with surprises, Kaiba."

"You'll like this one." A pause. "You know, it's okay if you want to call me Seto."

I stare at him, wide-eyed.

He glances at me and laughs.

"What? Is it that surprising that I'd let you call me Seto," he snickers.

"Yes!" I nod enthusiastically.

He laughs again.

15 silent minutes later, we pull up to an apartment. It sits over a dojo.

"Kaiba…" I begin.

"Out," he urges, hopping out and heading up to the building. I follow close behind. We go up two flights of stairs to a lone door. He pulls out a key and opens it, flipping on the light near the door. I step into the large space, inhaling sharply. I wander around, checking out the kitchen, the dining room, the two bedrooms and the one and a half bathrooms. There's even a small deck off the living room. I'd love to live here.

I turn to Kaiba leaning on the wall by the front door and smile at him.

"I take it you're impressed," he drawls.

"Very much," I gush. "But I thought you said it needed fixing up," I mumble, looking around again at the new carpeting and freshly painted walls.

"Yeah, well, Mokuba and I took care of that while you were moping. If you don't like the colors of anything, blame him; he picked them out."

I turn back to him with a smile.

"You and Mokuba did this for me?"

"We decided what needed to be done. The contractor took care of making sure it happened."

"So, are you my landlord now?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"No," he scoffs. "Why would I want that hassle? You answer to Minako."

"So, when can I move in?"

"Yesterday. I took the liberty of signing your lease for a year."

"You can't sign a lease for me! Besides, how do I know what it said? What if you got me a bad deal?"

He laughs heartily at that and in that instant I remember why I missed him so much. Kaiba was always so passionate about everything. Or at least everything important to him. His emotions always shone through to those he trusted and cared for. I smile at him again and his eyes lock with mine. For a brief moment I see something else there, but it's too fast to catch.

He yawns dramatically, stretching his arms above his head.

"Well, you may not have a job anymore, but I do, so let's go," he orders turning of the light.

"Hey, it was your idea to come out here!" I retort, following him down the stairs after closing the door.

"I had to do something. I was sick of you moping around all day. You were making Mokuba crazy and frankly pissing me off. You'd better find something to do tomorrow other than moping in that room."

"Or what?" I challenge, climbing into the passenger side.

"I'll think of something," he murmurs, " And you won't like it, trust me."

"Sure," I scoff earning a mock glare before he pulls off and heads back to the mansion.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Well, that went better than expected. I thought getting him out of that room would have been much harder. I'm glad it wasn't.

And I'm glad he finally told me what happened to him. That's pretty awful, especially since he had to keep it to himself for so long. I wonder if telling me really helped all that much?

I glance at him for a moment, happy to see a wistful little smile on his face. It's been a long time since I saw him smile like that. It's a welcome site.

I guess he'll be moving out soon, though part of me wishes he wasn't. I like having him in the house. Even though he spent all of his time moping at least he was there.

Hmmm, I'd better make sure Mokuba doesn't skip school to help him. The only reason they took that suspension off his record was because I assured them he wouldn't miss anymore school unless there was blood involved, most likely his. I don't like to go back on my word.

As we pull into the garage, I realize how tired I really am. These last few months have been pretty fucked up. I need things to go back to normal for a while. Or at least what passes for normal around here.

"Well, 'night," I yawn, heading up to my room.

"Good-night, Seto. And thanks. For everything."

"Anytime, Yami. Anytime."