Ashes doesn't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

Chapter Six

"I'm very glad to see you all here tonight." Nori addressed the group of well-dressed media hounds from her spot at the table at the front of the room, on her feet and speaking loudly; across from her was where Kaiba would be sitting, flanked by his brother and his lover. The other four seats at the circular table were filled by Seiji – the junior advisor was seated a couple tables over – and security. As she spoke to the audience of curious would-be investors and hungry reporters, Kaiba took a moment to revel in the moment. Everyone at the head table looked the part: well-dressed, shaved, and (surprisingly) sober.

As he waited in the wings for his entrance, ignoring the people fussing over his appearance one last time -- "Make sure to smile, Seto-sama!" -- Kaiba eyed Jounouchi. They'd spent almost an hour that morning trying to work out the nuances of a suit as though the blond had never seen one before. Kaiba had been sure he'd show up in jeans and a t-shirt in utter frustration by the time they made their lunch date with Nori. Despite his attitude earlier in the day, Jounouchi was sitting up straight, smiling a bit, and sipping from the glass of water in front of him, full attention on Nori as she continued her introductions, making mention of the more prestigious guests and bringing a more friendly feeling to the room; Kaiba saw people at the other tables shaking hands and making remarks to each other already.

Kaiba had to admit it – she was irritating, but she was good.

"And of course, there is the man without whom we would not be here," she said, turning and winking to Kaiba. The audience shared a chuckle as she continued, "So please give him your respect while I turn the floor over to him: Seto-sama, if you will."

Kaiba cringed before he stepped out; he'd made it very clear that he didn't want to be referred to that way in public. Still, he made the extra effort to hide his agitation as he strode out to the front of the room, his eyes running over all the tables and guests before he spoke – he stood shock-still, watching them intently. He wanted his opening to be something everyone would remember.

"The Sylph has been in and out of your media for months. Without any knowledge of its full capability or visual confirmation of its existence, you've whetted your appetites for it. Tonight, you'll see the system that'll be more sitting in more households than Nintendo in less than a month. Consider yourself honored." Off to the side, one of the aids was frantically swiping his finger across his throat, and Kaiba glanced at Nori to see her grimace. Right – he was supposed to be likable, not shocking. He relaxed into a smile, and the tense air that had settled over the audience seemed to dissipate. "Please enjoy the dinner we've prepared for you. Throughout the night engineers and businessmen alike will present the Sylph to you in every way. You'll leave here with a sense of enlightenment. Thank you for joining us."

With a thunder of applause he took his seat between Mokuba and Jounouchi; the blond hardly looked at him, instead looking wide-eyed at the caterers that flooded the room with arm-loads of foods and drink. Mokuba, however, leaned in to whisper, "Way to go – you really had them scared for a moment." He leaned further to Jounouchi, asking, "Well, aren't you excited?"

Looking over, Jounouchi grinned, lop-sided and classic Jounouchi. "Your brother is going to knock them dead. He's always been good at getting a crowd going." A waiter stopped by to place a glass of champagne before everyone at the table – only a raised hand from Kaiba stopped the young man from servicing Mokuba, watching Jounouchi all the while. Kaiba held a cynical sort of admiration at Jounouchi's restraint; he had one sip, then set the glass down and paid rapt attention to Nori as she reviewed the media attention that the Sylph had received in the last year to the crowd, drawing attention to the more outrageous ads and claims people had made over the year. Even Seiji paused in cynically eying the crowd to chuckle at some of the ads displayed on the large screen that was set up on the stage at the front of the ballroom.

In another twelve minutes, Jounouchi's hand rose to the stem of the glass, fingering it from top to bottom, then withdrawing as though caught in a crime. Kaiba looked away.

"Now," Nori said, drawing his attention back to the presentation, "let's enjoy our dinner and – once the first course has been served – we'll open the floor for general questions. Please save any specific questions for the end of the night, after the experts have addressed the finer points of the system."

The caterers had prepared dinner without a hitch. Every last head was accounted for, and there were no surprises. Once the massive room had been completely served, Kaiba circled the table, greeting and thanking some of the more important guests, particularly the potential investors; big names from Konami and Sega alike were there, looking to see if they wanted a piece of the action. Kaiba hoped that by the end of night they'd be biting and clawing their way to get one of their games on the system.

He hadn't realized the first press session had started until he heard the first question: "Mokuba, would you play the Sylph?"

Impishly and without hesitation, Mokuba answered, "I already have! Someone had to beta test it."

"And it measures up?"

"It raises the bar ten times higher than anything out there," Mokuba replied firmly; his face was stern. "There is no competitor who could stand up. What else did you expect from Kaiba Corporation?"

The room rose with laughter for a second, and Kaiba took his seat, murmuring, "Well done."

"Thanks."

"Kaiba, how do you reply to implications that the Sylph is a last-ditch effort to keep Kaiba Corporation in the race?"

"Untrue," Kaiba lied. "Video games are the final frontier for this company to breach, and even if it were, the Sylph would be enough to keep ten companies our size standing."

"Then it's also untrue that it's been rushed?"

"Yes."

Without missing a beat that reporter took his seat and another jumped up in his place. Questions went to Nori -- "How much of the advertisement has been smoke and mirrors?" -- and some were about Kaiba Land -- "Which project is the primary focus of Kaiba Corporation?" -- and back to Mokuba -- "What is your opinion as future vice president on this jump in products?"

It was fluid, it was fast-paced, and all the parties answering questions knew exactly what they were doing; Mokuba had the instincts of a businessman that even Kaiba had to admire, and Nori knew how to direct questions into any direction she needed to if they started to slide downhill.

Then came a reporter that stood out. She was entirely too pale to be Japanese, but she stood proudly and smoothed her skirt before speaking; her accent affirmed the fact that she wasn't a native. "Lynn Mae, US Weekly. Mr. Jounouchi, how do you feel about rumors of your involvement with Mr. Kaiba?"

Nori obviously held her breath, and Kaiba waited patiently, running quickly through all possible answers Jounouchi could give – prepared for his counter. If it went bad enough they could even start it as the basis of the end of their relationship.

"Rumors happen," Jounouchi said, nonchalant as ever. "I knew it'd happen when we got involved."

"Even the rumor that two recognized rivals couldn't be together at all?"

Jounouchi smirked. "Makes it exciting. But this isn't what we're here to celebrate, Lynn. Call me sometime."

Nori jumped up, rushing so well that if he hadn't known her Kaiba wouldn't have noticed. "Well, let's take a break and enjoy our meals. In a few minutes Madake Shizu will grace you not only with her lovely presence, but also technical details of the Sylph – keep your pencils ready and sit tight."

In the time between Nori's announcement and Madake's presentation all eyes were on Kaiba; to keep their interest and wonder, his eyes often wandered to Jounouchi.

"What?" Jounouchi hissed into his glass, gulping the amber liquid; apparently all pretenses of control were off. "Quit leering at me already."

"Keep your glass down," Kaiba replied in return, taking Jounouchi's hand. For the press their fingers twined romantically -- "Reassurance as they face public reaction to the Sylph?" a paper would later read – but once it was under the table Kaiba squeezed hard enough that it hurt his knuckles. Neither batted an eyelash.

"Afraid?" Jounouchi asked. He took a drink using his other hand.

Kaiba squeezed harder before he let go. "Wouldn't want to press to know that the best I can do is a lush."

"Enough," Seiji whispered over the table. "You're going to make a scene."

"Wouldn't want that." Jounouchi glared at Seiji as he stood, excusing himself politely for the nearby guests who turned him a curious eye. Kaiba waited until halfway through Madake's talk to follow, instantly wishing he'd paid to have the bar closed down in the hotel, because there Jounouchi was, a tall can of beer at hand.

"A full bar, and you go for cheap beer," Kaiba sneered, standing behind the drinking man. Jounouchi didn't turn to face him.

"I like cheap beer. It's familiar."

"It's pathetic," Kaiba snapped – then amended coolly, "You're pathetic. What did you in – having to lie on the record, or offering an interview? That was new for you, wasn't it? You've been in the center of the press for a while, but you've never had to divert someone's attention like that. I was almost impressed."

"Go to hell," Jounouchi seethed – hell, he was fuming visibly. Kaiba saw his empty fist clench against the stone bar top. "I'm not doing an interview, anyway."

Kaiba wasn't going to let Jounouchi off that easily, not when the blond was taking such a stupid risk, right there where the dinner was taking place. They'd talked about it! They'd plainly told him to get plenty of rest and to show up with a clear mind. "You'd have to sober up for the day."

"You don't know when to shut your damn mouth!" Jounouchi's hand whirled around, but somehow Kaiba found himself more surprised by the beer can that connected to his shins, spilling down his pants and landing on his shoes, than the fist that caught him in the jaw. It wasn't that hard of a hit – Jounouchi's heart wasn't in it. Jounouchi was finally on his feet, shoulders heaving. "Like you know the first thing about having real problems. Just... shut up already." Jounouchi stormed off, and Kaiba wanted to follow, felt the itch of indignation that came with letting Jounouchi walk as though his behavior was alright. He wanted the fight – but not as much as he needed the success that staying in the hotel guaranteed.

It took less than a minute to get an assistant to get Nori; she got out almost instantly. "What happened to you – where the hell is Jounouchi?"

"Damned if I know," Kaiba shrugged. He turned to the watching assistant; the kid was waiting and biting his lip. "Kid, my driver is out front – send him back to the mansion to get another pair of pants." With the kid gone, Kaiba turned back to Nori and elaborated, "It was just a small fight; he decided a glass of champagne wasn't going to cut it, I suppose. How long do we have left with presentations?"

"At least an hour and a half, probably a little longer," Nori said, crossing her arms over her chest and sighing heavily. "The press is loving it, Seto-sama; I won't be surprised to see people camping outside stores after the papers reveal the big secrets of the Sylph tomorrow."

"Good. Go back in; I'll return shortly."

"I... what about Jounouchi?" She turned red, and tapped her toes impatiently. "My god, as though we didn't tell him -- "

"Don't worry about it now – it'll look worse if too many big names are missing from the dinner."

She nodded and returned to the table; Kaiba stood watching from a door at the back of the room for half an hour. The presentations weren't interesting for him – he knew them almost word for word, from the graphic work, to the way the games were designed, to the coding behind it all. The press didn't really care about technical stuff; they were "oohing" and "ahhing" over images from the games, the design of the console and controllers, the superficial details.

Real people were going to eat it up.

Within half an hour Kaiba was in a fresh pair of pants and back at his table; when all was said and done he entered during the third presentation of the night – capabilities for games outside what Kaiba Corporation had designed, and how other companies' games would succeed on the systems. Kaiba made a note to demote the speaker; he made it sound more like the Sylph needed third party games, when he should have been driving the point that the third party game companies needed the Sylph.

Jounouchi returned in the middle of the final presentation – he made it to his seat quietly enough, but Kaiba could smell that he was completely loaded. Still, he stayed quietly during the presentation, sat steadily in his seat. He even smiled at Kaiba in the nicest way, and Kaiba saw the flash of a camera go off somewhere in the room. The picture would probably look very sweet.

During the final question period Jounouchi leaned over and stole a press kiss, deep and exaggerated; Kaiba nearly gagged on the flavor. He couldn't even distinctly place one alcohol's taste.

Lynn Mae was the first person on her feet after that – while Jounouchi took a deep swig of his champagne, she asked, "So all is well in paradise?"

Jounouchi spoke with surprising coherence. "I guess I'll find out in the papers tomorrow."

-end chapter six-

notes
Thank you to talonthehand -- everyone needs a geek around the house when they're writing a story about a video game console, lol. No, he was very helpful early on about logical it would be for a system to come out in a press dinner... not to mention his help with the contract, but we've been there and done that. He also let me know that a dozen games was not really enough to have ready for opening day of a system, but I thought to ask that after I'd already posted that the number was a dozen so, oops. ;

I laughed at myself after looking this chapter over before it went to purklegragon (thanks, babe!) because Kaiba notices that she's too pale to be Japanese -- but that's totally the marshmellow calling the snow, white. ...Ahh, I lose at being clever tonight. Anyway, made me giggle.

Alas, I'm off to Dallas for the weekend to enjoy A-Kon -- if you're there, keep an eye out for the red-head with the camera. (Er, good luck with that!)