Title: The First Time

Author: Wintersslayer

Rating: Pg-13

Pairing: Seto/Yami, sorta Joey/Yami

Spoilers: None that I know of.

Warnings: Maybe some language. And please, LOOK at the pairings listed. If you don't like, then don't read.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yugioh.

Summary: AU- 10 years ago, Yami had a beautiful relatoinship with Seto that ended tragically with Seto's death. Now, shortly after his engagement to his long-time best friend Joey, Yami meets a man named Seth, who curiously looks alot like Seto...

Status: 1 of ?

A/N: A couple of background notes, since this is an Alternate Universe fic. First, a note about Gozaburo (spelled right?). Seto and Mokuba were indeed adopted by him, but he's not dead at the beginning of the story. So, Seto is not yet a CEO, and KaibaCorp still makes weapons. I think Gozaburo dies when Seto is 16, so at the beginning of this story Seto is 15, and a sophomore in high school. Second, Yami and Yugi are brothers (so Yami obviously has his own body then), so while most people will be sophomores in high school, Yugi is a freshmen. But he's still friends with everyone. Duel Monsters is just starting to gain popularity (though it's been around for a while), and Duelist Kingdom, Battle City, the Doom Arc, yeah, none of that has happened. Umm...I think that's it.

START OF CHAPTER

Chapter 1

A young man walked slowly along the familiar pathway, his boots crunching against the fresh snow beneath him. Tall trees loomed above him on both sides of the pathway, the limbs long-bare of any leaves. He shivered slightly as a sudden cold chill picked up, whipping slightly at his clothes and at his hair. He absentmindedly brushed back his golden bangs with one hand as his memories began to overtake him, taking him back to where it all had begun. It had been winter as well, when he was just a sophomore at Domino High School. Even though nearly ten years had passed since then, he still remembered every little detail as if it had just happened the day before. For who could ever forget the time when their life had changed forever, when they had met the one and only person that they were meant to spend the rest of their life with, only to have fate tragically intervene...

It had been a clear, crisp day when he had first met him. As usual, he had been running late to school, sleeping in a bit too late. His brother Yugi, who was a year younger than him, had already left the Kame game store, which was owned and ran by their grandfather, Sugoroku Mutou. The two boys lived with their grandfather in the small rooms above the store. Yugi hated being late to school, and as much as he loved his brother, refused to be late because of him.

As he neared the school gates, he noticed out of the corner of his eye a long, black limo approaching. Curiousity took over him, and he stopped to watch as the driver got out and walked over to the side of the vehicle, opening the door. He stared as a rather tall brunet stepped out of the limo, carrying a metal briefcase in one hand. The boy was wearing the Domino High school uniform, but had replaced the usual school jacket with a long, dark blue trenchcoat. Deep blue eyes gazed up at the tall structure of the school, and a slight frown flickered across the boy's lips, gone in the next instant. Then, surprisingly, he turned towards Yami, and their eyes met for the first time. A small smile crept across the brunet's lips, and it was still there as he swept past him, his trenchcoat flowing behind him. Yami continued to stare after the other, not exactly sure what had just happened. Suddenly, the late bell rang shrilly, snapping him out of his reverie and causing him to rush madly into the school.

Luckily for him, the teacher was in a good mood, and decided not to give Yami detention, instead giving him a stern warning not to be late ever again. With a sigh of relief, he slid into his seat, next to his best friend, Joey Wheeler, who looked as if he had just woken up, his messy dark blond hair falling into his eyes. Joey leaned over and whispered in a hushed voice, "Hey, did ya hear? We got a new student coming today."

He whispered back, "This late in the year?" It was already late November.

Before his friend could reply, there was a soft knock on the door. Everyone looked as it opened and in stepped a tall brunet, wearing a long, dark blue trenchcoat. Crimson eyes widened upon recognizing him as the boy he had just seen at the school gates. Murmurs and giggles ran throughout the classroom as the students whispered excitedly about the new student. The teacher tapped his ruler sharply on his desk, clearing his throat loudly as well. The room immediately quieted down. "Class, please welcome our new student, Seto Kaiba."

Everyone politely applauded hello. However, the new student seemingly ignored them all, instead focusing solely on one student, one who had wild red, black, and blond hair. A small smile once again crept across his lips, but disappeared quickly and was replaced by his usual impassive expression. Usually, people would turn away from his stare, but this one didn't. How...intriguing.

The teacher directed Kaiba to his seat, on the other side of Yami, then began the morning's lesson. Yami couldn't help but glance over to his side from time to time, making sure that his golden bangs covered his eyes slightly, but didn't interfere with his vision. He was rather surprised to see that each time he took a quick peak the brunet wasn't at all paying attention to the teacher, instead choosing to read a novel. He found it a bit difficult himself to concentrate on the rest of the lesson.

The morning passed by quickly, and at lunchtime, Yami, Joey and Yugi, along with their good friends Tea Gardner and Tristan Taylor, made their way over to the new student, who was sitting alone underneath a tree, reading his novel. Even though Yugi was a year younger than the rest of them, he was still good friends with them, and they all often hung out together after school. It was the younger Mutou who spoke first. "Hi there! Your name's Seto, right?"

Without even a glance up, the boy replied in a flat tone, "It's Kaiba."

The friends looked at one another, before Yugi spoke again. "Oh...right. Well Kaiba, I'm Yugi, this is my brother Yami, and our friends Joey, Tea, and Tristan." The other hardly glanced up as he gave the introductions, so he continued on in a hurry. "We're all going to play Duel Monsters this afternoon, and we were wondering if you would like to join. If you don't know how to play, then we can teach you." He smiled brightly, even though the other wasn't even looking at him.

Kaiba gave a short laugh. "You think you're in my league? I'm good enough to compete at the national level."

"Then I'm sure that you won't back down from a challenge."

The calm, confident voice got Kaiba's attention. He finally glanced up from his novel, but was hardly surprised at whose voice it belonged to. "Yami, is it? Are you challenging me?" He rose to his full height, his eyes boring into the other's.

As he expected, the crimson-eyed boy met his gaze with ease, without wavering. A small smirk appeared on his lips. "Do you accept?"

"Hmph. See you after school then." He picked up his briefcase with his free hand, and walked off towards the building.

Joey frowned at his actions. "Yeesh, can that guy be any more of a jerk?" He turned towards Yami. "Hey Yami, how about you let me take care of Mr. High-and-Mighty? I can take him, one two three!"

Yami didn't reply. He found himself once again staring at the back of the dark blue trenchcoat. There was something...strange about this boy, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. He smiled slightly. He wanted to get to know him a bit better.

His blond friend noticed that small, odd smile, and where, or rather towards whom, it was directed at. And he didn't like that one bit. He had also seen Kaiba staring at Yami earlier this morning in class. He didn't like that either. His eyes narrowed slightly in the direction of the school building. He'd just have to show Kaiba this afternoon after school that Yami was already taken.

Unfortunately for Joey, Kaiba won the duel quite easily. Almost without contest, really, the taller duelist not losing a single lifepoint, and looking extremely bored by the end. After all, he had only agreed to duel Joey in order to shut him up. And to make matters worse for Joey, throughout the duel, he had noticed that Yami wasn't paying any attention to him, but was rather focused on Mr. High-and-Mighty. Grumbling that he had just been caught off-guard today, he sat in a backwards-facing chair, resting his arms across the backrest, as Kaiba and Yami prepared to duel. Somehow, he'll beat that jerk one of these days. Him and his stupid Blue Eyes White Dragon.

The duel was quite good, and quite long as well. Kaiba's mouth dropped open in complete shock as his lifepoints dropped to zero. Him, the current national champion of Japan, losing to this...amateur? He shook his head a bit in disbelief. The boy was quite a wonder, he had to admit to himself. Certainly the most challenging he's ever faced. He'll enjoy quite a bit the challenge of finding a strategy to beat him.

Joey, absolutely delighted that his friend had creamed the new student, grinned widely. "So, Mr. I'm-good-enough-to-compete-at-the-national-level, how does it feel to lose?" He didn't notice the disapproving frown that Yami was giving him.

The brunet just ignored him, and instead stared without expression at Yami. This ticked off the blond even more, and he was about to say something, when Kaiba suddenly got up and briskly left the room, without so much as a good-bye or a backwards glance. The friends just stared at one another. "Who does that guy think he is?" Joey said angrily. "Man, he really ticks me off!"

Yami continued to stare at the door. "He's quite...peculiar, isn't he?" he murmured, almost to himself.

Joey snorted. "Peculiar is definitely not one of the words I'd use to describe him"

"Aw come on Joey," Tristan said with a laugh. "You're just jealous that he creamed ya, that's all!"

The blonde fumed at this. "What! Me, jealous of that prick?"

The two continued to banter back and forth. Yugi sidled up to his older brother. "I have to agree with you, Yami. He is rather peculiar." His brother nodded absentmindedly. "Maybe you ought to get to know him a bit better?" he said with a knowing smirk.

A small smile was his reward. "You know me too well, Little Brother." Yes, he'd certainly like to get to know Seto Kaiba a bit better. Like at lunchtime, he got the feeling that there was much more than meets the eye to him, something that was irressistably drawing him to him. Something that he could not just ignore...

It was nearly ten in the evening when Seto Kaiba finally made his way out the grand doors of the Kaiba Corp building. As usual, his adopted father, Gozaburo Kaiba, had kept him late working on company business. Kaiba Corp was well-known for their weapons manufacturing, a fact that Seto greatly despised. He knew that Gozaburo had only adopted him and his younger brother, Mokuba, in order to train him to take over the company one day, hoping that Seto's brilliant mind would propel the company even further in its weapons business. Seto, however, had other plans for the company. When he became the CEO of Kaiba Corp, he was going to turn the company into a technology-based gaming company, one that would make the lives of others better, instead of destroying them like the current corporation did with its weapons. He wanted to make a good life for him and his brother, but he wanted to do it his way, and not his hated adopted father's. One day, he'd make his dreams come true. But for now...he'd have to play by Gozaburo's rules.

As he neared the waiting limo, he heard sounds of a struggle in a nearby alley. Normally, he didn't pay any heed to the lives of others, with the lone exception being Mokuba. Tonight however, he happened to recognize the voice yelling out.

"Get your hands off of me!"

Yami...?

"I'm warning you, bastard! Let go of me, or else!"

Seto dropped his briefcase as he rushed towards the alley. What he saw angered him: Yami being pinned to the wall by a huge dark haired man. The man had his wrists pinned above his head with one hand, the other hand fumbling with Yami's belt. His jacket was already torn open, and he was struggling wildly against the man. Even though the man was twice his size, he still had managed to get at least one decent punch, as evident by the slight trickle of blood from the man's nose. However, Seto realized that the man was much too big, too powerful, for Yami to handle him on his own. So, Seto did the first thing that came to his mind: he strolled over, harshly pulled the man off of Yami and slammed his fist into his jaw. The man stumbled back in surprise, holding his jaw in one hand, cursing loudly as he did so. The future CEO stood protectively in front of Yami, icy blue eyes glaring fiercely.

Yami stared at his rescuer with wide, surprised eyes, his heart still pounding madly in his chest. Is that...Seto Kaiba?

The man rubbed his jaw with his hand as he got a good look at the guy who punched him. His eyes widened in disbelief- some punk hit him? With an angry growl he lunged at the boy. However, his rather intoxicated mind caused him to lose his balance while doing so, giving Seto another shot at his head. This time, the man fell to the floor in an ungraceful heap, obviously out-cold.

Seto turned back towards Yami. "Are you okay?"

He nodded as his heart slowly started to return to its normal rhythm. "Yes, I'll be fine" He paused briefly. "Thank you." He pushed himself off of the wall, gazing at the tall brunet with curious eyes.

Blue eyes returned the gaze steadily. "Don't mention it." His gaze never left the other's. "We should go." He gently placed his hand on the small of Yami's back, and guided him out of the alley and towards the limo. He kept a sharp look out for any other thugs who might be lurking about. Once they reached the limo, the driver was already waiting to open the door, Seto's briefcase in one hand. Seto noticed the driver's curious glance at Yami, but knew that he would not ask any questions, nor would he be telling his father about any of this. The staff tended to stay out of Kaiba business as much as possible, not wanting to risk possibly losing their job if they did so.

Once they were both seated comfortably inside the spacious limo, Seto asked Yami where he lived, then told the driver to head directly there. The privacy glass was put up after, and they rode in silence for several long moments. The duelist champion gently cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the other occupant in the limo. "So what were you doing way out here anyways?" He wasn't sure exactly why, but for some reason he was curoius.

"I like to take walks to clear my mind. Usually, I go to the Domino City Park, but I guess tonight I wasn't paying much attention to where I was going."

"Well, next time you should be more careful." He smirked a bit. "I won't always be around to save you, you know."

Yami smiled in return. "I'll keep that in mind."

Silence once again fell upon the limo. This time, it was Yami who broke it. "So, what were you doing out so late? Don't tell me you were just out for a walk as well."

The other gave a short laugh. "I hardly have the time for leisurely walks. Actually, I just got off from work."

Crimson eyes widened slightly. "So late at night?"

Seto shrugged. "Yeah, my father can be a bastard like that sometimes."

Yami sensed that this was a touchy subject for the other, so decided to drop it. He quickly thought of something else to say. "Hey, I'm sorry about my friend's comments this afternoon. He was just upset that you beat him."

Again, the other shrugged. "It's no big deal. I'm used to dealing with amateurs like him. Now you on the other hand...Where did you learn how to duel?"

"My grandfather taught me. He also gave me his deck."

"Well, I haven't had this good a challenge in a long time. I look forward to dueling you again."

"Likewise. You're quite good yourself."

The limo pulled up to the Kame game store, and the driver got out to open the door for Yami. The sophomore looked at the other. "Thank you again for your help tonight, Kaiba."

"You can call me Seto."

A smile was his reward. "Well, good night then, Seto. I'll see you tomorrow in school."

"Good night, Yami."

END OF CHAPTER

Ooookay then. Hope the characters weren't too OOC, particularly Seto. He should probably be a bit more cold and stand-offish, but uh...yeah. And I tried to make Yami not so...girly, I guess.

So, what'd you think? Like it, like it alot, hate it, hate it alot? This is going to be one long story, and I don't even have all of it planned out yet. They are going to be in high school for a while. A bunch of stuff must happen first before we can move on to 10 years later. I know this chapter was a bit slow-ish- a lot of staring and smiling it seems. I was going to end it earlier, but decided to put in that last scene cuz I thought the chapter was too slow anyways.

If you couldn't tell from the first paragraph, this is all supposed to be happening in the past. Somebody (you can guess who) is remembering.

Oh, and another thing, Joey isn't so good in this fic. So if you like Joey, you probably don't want to continue reading it. Sorriez. I don't mean to pick on him (even though I don't particularly like him), but he just seemed like the right type of person to fit the part, you know? Hopefully you'll see what I mean in later chapters.

Well, thanks so much for reading! Please review. I'd like to know what you think of the story so far. Thanks again! ;)