Chapter 03: A Rematch

The purple-tinted shadows were rising up and Kaiba instantly loathed this darkness. This was a darkness that he knew intimately, one that he had known ever since the first time Yuugi defeated him. He braced himself for what he knew was coming; he no longer dreaded or feared the arrival, but it was still exhausting to deal with every time.

Suddenly, he sensed movement and waited tensely for the assault to begin, but it never came. Had he been wrong? No, it was always the same dream and the attack would begin any minute, the monsters surging from the darkness to confront him.

Instead of a monster, a tendril of shadow began to work its way toward Kaiba, brushing against his neck, sending a chill through him. So cold…and another one reached out to brush against his hand. He snatched his hand away, but it was not deterred. This was not what was supposed to happen! The shadows began to multiply, all in thin lines that were wrapping themselves around Kaiba gently and he tried not to feel the rise of emotions this deviation in the dream was causing him. They traced the outline of his jaw, the curve of his back, slowly expanding as if trying to envelop him completely in their warmth. Warmth? But just a minute ago, it was so cold!

"Almost," the shadows seemed to whisper at him, more and more coming to wrap around him. Was he relaxing into it? Absurd! Shadows do not talk and they certainly don't provide comfort or protection.

It was then that he heard it, the noise he had been expecting. Those low, guttural sounds that threatened him bodily harm, and despite all of his mental preparation, despite all of his experiences with the dream, he still found himself taking a step back, deeper into the shadows that had distinguished themselves from the rest that surrounded them.

They began to reform around Kaiba, almost frantically as the sound of the approaching creature became clearer with its approach. Only then did he hear, "Found you," in his ear before everything went into light.

Blinking rapidly, his eyes tried to adjust to the bright sunshine as he found himself standing next to a river. "What? But how?" His dream had never taken this turn before; he had never been to this place before in his life!

"You were going to have a pretty nasty nightmare from the looks of things," came the owner of the voice, the one who had pulled him out of the darkness.

Kaiba spun around and came face to face with Yami once again. "You! Wait, did you just hack into my dream?" he asked in disbelief, more surprised over that fact than seeing his rival once again.

"Hack, rescue, whatever you want to call it, yes, I pulled you out of there," Yami said with a shrug as he walked past Kaiba.

Turning to face the river once more, he watched Yami carefully, but made no move to follow him. "I did not need rescuing from that!" he spat, angered by such presumptions, his fist clenched tightly by his side.

"No, I don't suppose that you did," Yami conceded before sitting down beneath a tree and leaning against the trunk for support.

Mollified to a degree, Kaiba warily approached Yami, taking a seat near him, but making sure that he kept a small distance between them so as not to touch. "Where is this place, anyway?"

"I don't know, but it seemed like a good option at the time, wouldn't you agree?" A breeze caused the leaves above them to shake and Yami closed his eyes, smiling slightly.

"It's nice enough, I guess," Kaiba agreed, studying Yami carefully, although he didn't know what exactly he was expecting to find.

As the silence lengthened between them, Kaiba began to make himself comfortable, stretching his long legs in front of him, crossing them at the ankles as he leaned back, using his forearms to prop himself up and admire the view before him. When he began to lose feeling in his arms from sitting too long in that position, he lay back completely, interlacing his hands behind his head to form a makeshift pillow as he watched the sunlight filter between the leaves.

Kaiba barely heard as Yami inquired, "Comfortable?"

"Mm."

"You don't get to do this often, do you?"

"Sit around and waste time?" Kaiba snorted with a harsh, "Never."

Yami's tone was playful as he continued, "You mean to tell me that you never waste time? Not a single moment?"

"The fact that I have had to use any of my time to converse with those people you call friends is proof that I have wasted more than a moment, if you wanted to be technical about it, sure."

"You were surprisingly patient with them yesterday."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow at that, trying to figure out the meaning behind the statement. "I'm assuming you're referring to the incident in homeroom?" he asked, shifting his body so that he could prop himself up on his left arm to look at Yami directly.

"Yes."

"You say that as if you were there." That was the kind of thing, Kaiba reasoned, that you could only say if you were witness to it. Although he supposed Yuugi could have informed Yami later on…wait, what was he thinking?

"Maybe I was there."

"If you were, I sure as hell couldn't see you."

"Just because you couldn't see me doesn't mean that I wasn't there."

Kaiba laughed but found it hard to get upset since it was so beautiful out, and besides, what did it matter? As long as it stayed inside the dream, it didn't make a difference. "So your little pyramid has a window in it now? Is that what you're telling me?"

"No, there's no window in the Millennium Puzzle," Yami confirmed, shaking his head at such an idea.

"I figured as much, because I'm pretty sure as tacky as that thing is, the windows would be made out of diamonds or something equally ridiculous." He couldn't help but wonder why the other never wore the thing in the dreams, but he quickly banished such an unnecessary thought. It's not like he cared about it or anything.

"Hey! Stop insulting the puzzle!" Kaiba said nothing more so Yami continued his previous conversation. "But yes, I could see what was going on through Yuugi. So I know that you challenged him and that you went relatively easy on Jounouchi."

"Not that he deserved any leniency," Kaiba retorted, scowling as he recalled the annoying mutt. "He seriously needs to learn to keep his damn mouth shut."

Yami chuckled at that, knowing full well just how much trouble Jounouchi's words got him into on a regular basis. "I'll agree with you on that one, Kaiba."

Somehow Kaiba felt as if he had just caught Yami in a trap card that he hadn't known he had set. With a smirk, he called Yami out on what he just said, "So it's back to Kaiba now, is it?"

"You have yet to address me by name once since we arrived here, you know."

"Yes, I know," Kaiba said with a grin, watching as confusion passed through those crimson eyes. He rolled back over into his previous position, still grinning, though he wasn't entirely sure why, but damned if he didn't feel like he had the upper hand in this situation.

Standing up, Yami stretched and his bones audibly popped in the stillness that surrounded them. "So, Kaiba," he started, walking over to close the distance between them.

Kaiba's innocent tone was completely ruined by the smug look on his face as he asked, "Yes, Yuugi?" Somehow he just couldn't resist doing that.

Yami's eyes narrowed as he stood above Kaiba, contemplating his next action. Yet Kaiba showed no signs of fear nor did he make an attempt to protect himself in away way from whatever onslaught Yami could possibly carry out on him. Smirking, Yami decided to once again use the element of surprise to his advantage, because he sincerely doubted anyone had ever done to Kaiba what he was intending to do now. "You can be such a bastard, Kaiba, you know that, right?"

"Of course, Yuugi."

At those words, Yami dropped down onto Kaiba, straddling his hips as Kaiba watched with a bemused expression, but made no effort to move. Thus, Yami began his attack, tickling Kaiba, who blinked up at him in apparent confusion without laughing.

"What exactly are you trying to do?" Kaiba asked, but he received no answer.

Frowning, Yami began going for Kaiba's right side instead and was rewarded with a sharp jerk of Kaiba's body in an attempt to get away from Yami's hands. "Stop that!" Yami refused to listen and instead focused on the area between his ribcage and hipbone that had the potential to be vulnerable to tickling, but still there was little reaction. "This has got to be the weirdest form of foreplay—"

"Is that what you think this is?" Yami asked with a laugh, still having no success in trying to get one out of Kaiba.

"I honestly have no idea what this is," Kaiba admitted, though it pained him to do so in front of his rival.

"This? This is revenge!" Yami declared, renewing his assault with vigor, this time going for both sides at once.

Kaiba laughed then, but only at the comment. "How in the hell is this reven—ahh!" Yami finally found the right spot and grinned as Kaiba began laughing, haltingly at first, before he finally removed his hands from behind his head in an attempt to stop Yami's attack. "Will you—ahhaha, stop that! Or else—haha stop! Stop!"

Yami was laughing as well, but refused to comply. "Oh, verrrry threatening, Kaiba," he mocked, avoiding Kaiba's attempts to grab his hands. It was quite amusing to see the normally reserved duelist expressing his emotions so openly, even if it was involuntarily. Continuing a little longer, he finally informed Kaiba, "I'll stop under one condition." As entertaining as this was, Yami had other things in mind besides tickling.

At that moment, Kaiba bucked his hips violently in an attempt to unseat Yami, using his arms to complete the turn over, effectively trapping Yami beneath him. "Was that it?" he asked, breathing heavily, but Yami was pleased to note there was still amusement in his eyes.

"No, but that worked, too, I suppose," Yami said, amazed at how quickly his arms had been pinned down by Kaiba. He consoled himself, though; just because he was on bottom, didn't mean he had lost complete control yet. Besides, this position wasn't entirely unwelcome, especially if he could persuade Kaiba to take full advantage of it.

"Let me guess," Kaiba shifted slightly to ensure that he wasn't overthrown in a similar manner before continuing, "your condition would have been, 'Call me by my name and I'll stop,' right?"

"But you're not going to do that now, are you?"

He laughed again, pressing himself closer to Yami, glad to have rid himself of those annoyingly strange sensations that he had been subjected to. "That depends."

"On what? I call you by your name, you call me by mine?" Somehow, Yami doubted it would be that simple.

"That might work," he said lightly, still trying to calculate an exact plan, one that would be a far more effective revenge than whatever Yami had just been trying to do.

Yami was just grateful that sentence didn't end in 'Yuugi,' because that would have been such a Kaibaesque thing to do. Instead, Yami found himself at the mercy of one of Kaiba's diversion tactics, a soft, lingering kiss that had him wishing dearly he had his hands free at the moment.

Pausing, Kaiba observed Yami's frustration, highly amused. "It depends on how agreeable you are."

Yami was still unable to speak as Kaiba once again claimed his lips, which was increasingly beginning to infuriate him, since any attempt he made at deepening the kiss was always met with Kaiba pulling back with a smirk. Kaiba was pleased since this slow torture seemed to be a highly effective tactic, even if he was getting annoyed by his own pace. He wasn't even sure why he wanted Yami to call him by his real name; wasn't he annoyed earlier at his audacity? And yet, here he was, trying to encourage it? That thought caused Kaiba to scowl.

"You're over thinking it," Yami chided, having freed one of his hands while Kaiba was distracted. Using the moment to his full advantage, he pulled Kaiba's head down to meet his, finally speeding things up with a hungry kiss that Kaiba caved into, despite his desire to maintain control over the situation. Yami allowed for them to part, but his fingers were still entangled in the other's hair. Breathlessly, he continued his previous thought, "So just stop," and as an afterthought added, "Kaiba," before breaking into a fit of laughter.

As much as he wanted to call him, 'Yuugi,' in retaliation, he couldn't bring himself to do it when in this position. It would just be too weird, so he settled for alternative forms of revenge instead. He'd have him calling his name out one way or the other, he was certain of that. Kaiba once again shifted positions, but this time to allow himself access to Yami's neck which he began to alternatively kiss and lick, enjoying the reaction of Yami's body arching up against his. "I don't think that you're in any position to be giving me orders." The fact that Yami wasn't wearing the leather choker that his counterpart always seemed to be so fond of made Kaiba grateful. It was one less obstacle he had to deal with at the moment.

Ignoring his body's reaction to Kaiba's low voice so close to his ear, he started to struggle. "What is it with you and your 'orders?' Let go of my other hand." It wasn't that he was displeased with the turn of events—far from it, actually. It was just that he'd be happier if he had both hands free to do as he wished.

"No."

Yami jerked his hand harder in an attempt to free himself of Kaiba's grip, but it was futile. "I said let go!"

Completely unperturbed, Kaiba continued without interruption. "And I said no."

Kaiba didn't see the mischievous look in Yami's eyes, so he was caught completely unaware when Yami used his one free hand to tweak one of Kaiba's nipples through his shirt. That got a reaction as Kaiba pulled back in surprise with a sharp gasp, trying to figure out whether or not that was an enjoyable sensation or not. It allowed for Yami to free his hand and he flexed his fingers, trying to get feeling back into them; Kaiba had been holding it hostage for quite some time now. "I told you to let go of me."

He supposed it wasn't an entirely unpleasant feeling, but Kaiba was stilly annoyed by his own reaction. "Cheap shot," was all he managed to say, but he didn't move yet, anticipating further retaliation.

Yami knew Kaiba was quick to anger, and if he could just push Kaiba a little further, he was pretty sure he could force him into a faster pace out of sheer frustration. "Hey, it worked didn't it?" he said with an arrogant smirk, the same one he used when trying to provoke Kaiba in a duel.

That was it, Kaiba decided; this would be an all out war! Narrowing his eyes, he abandoned his previous thoughts of slow torture and began an all out assault, eagerly renewing his efforts, and demanding entrance to the other's mouth. Yami happily obliged him, all the more pleased since he was pretty sure Kaiba was unaware that he had planned for this outcome. Then again, at the moment, Yami could care less about winning or losing, just as long as they didn't have to stop.

He didn't bother trying to hold down Yami's hands again; it was easier to balance himself now that he didn't have to worry about crushing the other's wrist, so he would allow Yami his small freedom, so long as he behaved himself. Satisfied that Yami understood he was serious, he moved on, deciding to go for his ear. It was the first place Yami had gone for in the last dream and whether it was out of sheer convenience of position or personal preference, he didn't know, but decided to give it a try. Tracing the outline of it with his tongue, the moan he received was a pretty good indication that it was being enjoyed, Kaiba determined. Taking the earlobe into his mouth, he began to alternate between running his tongue over it and sucking on it gently, enjoying the noises it was causing Yami to make.

While it was true that Yami was enjoying it immensely, he was quickly becoming impatient again. His hands began to move on their own accord, starting at the base of Kaiba's back and slowly pulling his shirt off, his fingers trailing along the skin as he left it progressively bare. Because while Yami was all for taking it off as quickly as possible, occasionally the slow techniques could be slightly more effective for his current purposes. He was rewarded by Kaiba grinding into him and moaning, "Yami," in his ear causing him to grin. Knowing that it was a subconscious reaction made it all the better; he supposed he'd be slightly disturbed if he started moaning Yuugi's name. As much as he loved his aibou and was honored to share their name as they had, right now he only wanted to hear his name on Kaiba's lips.

Of course, Yami wouldn't give Kaiba the complete satisfaction of a victory. "There, that wasn't so hard, was it Kaiba—aah!" And neither would Kaiba let such a thing slide, naturally.

Upon hearing Yami call him Kaiba once more, he bit down on the other's earlobe before sucking on it harshly. He was amused to note that Yami's gasp of pain sounded like it was laced with an undercurrent of pleasure. Letting the abused ear go, he came back up to look at Yami, who attempted to take the opportunity to rid Kaiba of his shirt, but was denied with a, "No, I don't think so," as Kaiba pulled it back down to where it had formerly been.

Rubbing his earlobe, already dreading having to explain to his aibou why he was bruised in such a strange place, he smirked up at Kaiba. "I don't think you have a choice in the matter," and with that, Kaiba's shirt disappeared completely.

Looking down at himself, he quickly looked back at Yami in confusion before scowling. "What part of 'no,' did you not understand?"

"Keep it up and the pants will be next," Yami threatened with a perverse smirk. He knew how much Kaiba hated magic, but he just couldn't resist.

Furrowing his eyebrows in annoyance, Kaiba tried to figure out just how Yami had managed such a feat. He refused to believe in something as unscientific as magic, but given that it was a dream, he supposed he could make allowances for dream logic. Deciding to test his theory, he attempted the same trick on Yami and was pleased to see him bare-chested beneath him. Now it was his turn to be smug about his accomplishment. "Is that so?"

Yami was shocked, to say the least. Did Kaiba just realize what he had done? But that thought was instantly chased out of his mind when their skin came into contact and Yami could only focus on how wonderful that felt. He found his legs wrapping around Kaiba's waist in an attempt to pull him closer, so that every inch could be felt, his arms finding their way around the other's neck. It was then that Kaiba decided to experimentally try grinding against Yami again, causing him to cry out, "Ah, Se—Kaiba!" It wasn't that Yami was opposed to calling him 'Seto,' it was just fun to torture him; it was the principle of the matter at this point.

Kaiba chuckled at that, but decided to ignore his own want to further things in order to prove his point. "It's a shame, really."

"What's really a shame is that we're both still wearing—" Yami started, but he never finished his sentence, surprised by the fact that Kaiba was once again fully clothed, much to his displeasure.

"Things seemed to have been going in a very interesting direction."

Try as he might, Yami could not remove Kaiba's clothes by means of magic or even physically. It was enough to distract him momentarily from his hormones; just how had Kaiba managed to do that? At least he could content himself by slipping his hands under the shirt to trace light patterns on Kaiba's back in an attempt to convince him otherwise. "You stubborn—"

"I'm the stubborn one now?" Kaiba interrupted, feigning disbelief, trying to ignore the pleasant sensation of Yami's fingers ghosting along his spine. "Given the circumstances, I've been—how did you phrase it earlier?—'surprisingly patient,' despite your misbehavior."

"You magicked your shirt back on! How is that patient and not stubborn?" Yami demanded to know.

"First of all, magic cannot and has never been a verb. And secondly, it is an act of patience because it continues to draw this little game of yours out longer."

Yami grinned up at him and Kaiba had a feeling he wasn't going to like whatever was about to be said. "It's a good thing you're feeling patient, then." No, he wasn't going to like it at all.

"If that means what I think it means…"

"Until next time," were his parting words before Yami disappeared completely, leaving one very sexually frustrated Kaiba all alone by the riverside.

"Bastard," he muttered, rolling onto his back once again, scowling. Next time he'd leave first, do something like set his alarm extra early in order to…no, that was nonsense. He would do no such thing, although the thought of leaving first was still quite tempting, especially if it was at a heated moment. At least that's what his mind told him; the rest of his body was strongly inclined to disagree, however.

A jarring noise drew his attention away from his thoughts and he looked around to find the source, but there was nothing around that would produce such a horrid noise other than his—

Slamming down on his alarm clock with more force than necessary, Kaiba rolled over with a groan. This has got to stop, he thought to himself, doing a quick visual scan of the room to make sure he was still in fact alone. The last thing he needed was Mokuba standing by as a witness again. Which reminded him: just how long had Mokuba been standing there last time? Kaiba wasn't entirely sure he wanted to know the answer to that.

At least today there was no doubt that he was entirely alone in his room and that suited him just fine. Especially since he was having trouble keeping his mind away from the memory of what had just occurred in the dream, the way Yami's body had felt under him, and what might have happened if they hadn't been forced into consciousness. Kaiba closed his eyes with a sigh; he would gain nothing from following that train of thought except for more frustration, perhaps. He had enough of those as it was since he was still hard from the dream and he was resisting his base instinct to finish what had been started. No, he decided, what happened in the dream stayed in the dream and he would not let it crossover into reality in such a manner.

Deciding that a cold shower was in order, he forced himself out of bed in order to get his day started.

A/N: Sorry it took so long to have this posted. It's been a long time since I've used third person, and doing that when you have two men makes some phrases complicated in that "Whose hand is doing what to which body?" sense. Anyway, since I apparently had quite a few things to add (who knew?), I'll bold the topics so you can decide whether to skip ahead or read it. Sorry about that—I'll try to keep it shorter in the future.

I had a little fun with this chapter, needless to say. I couldn't quite resist the temptation of lampooning the ease of magic during smexy scenes that sometimes crop up in other fics, though. It's just so convenient and I loved making that backfire. Plus having Kaiba view Yami's intrusion in terms of hacking made me giggle, because we all know that at heart, Kaiba is a huge computer geek and businessman, but we love him for it anyway. And I love the term "Kaibaesque." Actually, I just love the –esque ending, but that's neither here nor there.

As for the tickling scene, besides being ridiculously strange to write (it's a little bit like sex in that sense – it works perfectly fine in real life, but on the page all the sound effects make it sound a little silly sometimes…), I figured since Kaiba didn't exactly have a normal childhood, tickling would essentially be a foreign concept to him, thus his initial confusion. I suppose he might have seen other kids doing that in the orphanage, but I doubt he would have engaged in the practice and this makes for a more amusing situation anyway.

Anyway, (as if this hasn't dragged on enough, right?), I'm fascinated by the way they communicate throughout the series and it comes into play here. One of the best examples is during the fight in Battle City where they have to fight together against the mask brothers (or whatever those two guys on the glass roof were called), but Kaiba refuses to cooperate, basically. It drags out for three or four episodes, where they only argue and verbally spar against each other, but eventually it turns into an effective form of communication, allowing them to understand one another and finally defeat the other team. I wanted some of that mentality to appear in their interactions here and hopefully it came through.

Initially I thought about making the riverside scene take place by the Nile, but I decided it would take things in a different direction than I intend for this fic. Because as much fun as it is to play with the Pharaoh/Priest dynamic with those two, I think it would complicate things more than they need to here. I took the anonymous route instead because it didn't really add anything to the plot. Although the thought of one throwing/shoving the other into the river was quite a tempting – not to mention amusing – visual…

As always, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to review and I'll get back to you!

NEXT CHAPTER: Distractions and Denial

Kaiba continues to deliberate about the dream, much to his dismay. Yuugi is forced to confess about his recent mysterious behavior but it only leads to more questions. Why does Bakura seem to think that Kaiba has something to do with it? And how does any of this relate to the dreams?