A/N: This was originally supposed to be the revenge chapter, but while I was on my flight, I had plenty of time to plan ahead, so it's going to be put off for just a little while later. So you'll just have to wait a little longer for the smut, but hopefully the last chapter will tide you over until then. XD I thought about changing the announcement in the last chapter, but I just decided to explain it here. But enough of that, right? This takes place the same day as the previous dream—Saturday, for those still keeping track—albeit it later in the day.
Chapter 10: A Quiet Moment
There was a soft knock at Kaiba's door, followed by the sound of his younger brother calling out, "Nii-sama?"
"Come in," Kaiba told him, saving his place in his file and turning his attention to Mokuba.
Taking a seat in the chair in front of his older brother's desk, Mokuba asked, "Would it be okay if I went out for a little while?"
"Heading back to Kaiba Land?" Kaiba asked, assuming that Mokuba wanted to go inspect the Dueling Dragon again and see if any more progress had been made as a result of his assistance yesterday.
"Maybe later," Mokuba said, "but I was wondering if I could go over to Yuugi's place?"
Raising an eyebrow, Kaiba couldn't help but recall Yami saying that Yuugi wanted to introduce him to everyone. "Any particular reason?" Kaiba asked, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. He didn't want to seem disapproving and he certainly didn't want to give away the fact that he was curious about what was going to happen once Mokuba arrived at Yuugi's.
"He said he had something he wanted to show me," Mokuba answered with a shrug. "I asked him what it was, but he said it was a surprise."
That's putting it mildly, Kaiba thought to himself, keeping his face expressionless.
"The only other thing he told me was that everyone was going to be there," Mokuba continued.
"It's fine," Kaiba consented, stretching as he did so, a few of his bones popping at the sudden movement.
Sounding as young as he was, Mokuba exclaimed, "Really?" looking happily at his older brother. "It's really okay?"
"I don't have a problem with Yuugi, it's just that Ya—" Kaiba started to say, but stopped when he realized his slip. He seriously disliked the way that Yami had wormed his way into his mind this deeply; it was as if one of his virus cards had been played against him and he was slowly being infected and destroyed by that person. Bastard, Kaiba swore at him in his mind, still annoyed.
"Ya?" Mokuba repeated, tilting his head as he wondered about the oddity of Kaiba stopping in the middle of a sentence like that.
Quickly recovering, Kaiba said, "Sorry, I just had a thought. As I was saying, it's just that yapping mutt seriously needs to be dealt with." He had to congratulate himself on such a smooth save; his brother appeared to suspect nothing.
"He can be annoying, but when he quiets down, he's not too bad," Mokuba found himself saying. Even though he would never admit it to his brother, he actually liked Jounouchi and respected his dedication to his sister Shizuka since it reminded Mokuba of his own relationship with his brother. If only for that reason, he could tolerate Jounouchi.
Having nothing further to say on the topic, Kaiba simply offered, "I'll drive you over if you want."
Staring at his brother, Mokuba couldn't help but be a little shocked. He had expected his brother to make at least some sort of disparaging remark, but none came. Still, he was a little surprised at the lack of resistance his older brother was putting up; it wasn't that Kaiba denied his requests often, but Mokuba knew where the other stood when it came to the Yuugi-tachi. "Will you?"
"Yeah, and maybe after that I'll head over to the office and get some work done," Kaiba said, hoping that in a more professional environment he would make a little more headway on his projects.
Mokuba knew there had to be a catch somewhere in all of this and there it was. "You should stay here, Nii-sama," he protested, "you still look really tired."
"It's nothing new," Kaiba replied, waving it away. When wasn't he tired?
"The dreams again?" Mokuba asked, concerned about his older brother. It had been years since he had last seen his brother this plagued by them like this, but this time something was different. He couldn't quite figure out why, but he could see that his brother wasn't as deeply disturbed as he had been the last time.
Once again, Kaiba couldn't help but marvel at the way such an innocuous question managed to get so close to the truth of the matter. "You don't need to worry yourself over it, Mokuba."
Frowning, Mokuba recognized his brother's attempt at pacifying him and he was torn about whether to push further or back off about it. "You don't seem upset like last time, but still…"
"See? It'll be okay," Kaiba reassured him, satisfied that at least in real life his voice obeyed his commands by sounding confident. Maybe that was his problem; in real life he had far better control, so maybe then he would finally be victorious against Yami. Of course, that left the problem of having to deal with Yami in this reality where there was no escaping.
Deciding that he wasn't going to get anywhere, Mokuba let it go, returning to their previous conversation. "I'll let you drive me over there on one condition."
Taking a deep breath, Kaiba willed the memory of Yami saying, "I'll let you top," from his mind. No, he would not allow himself to be distracted by such things right now, even if it did make him rage inside against such an arrogant statement. Instead he focused on the pride he felt in seeing Mokuba once again demonstrate skills that would serve him well in the business world in the future. "What's that?" Kaiba asked before agreeing.
"You have to promise me not to go to the office after dropping me off," Mokuba said, knowing that it was the only way his brother would return home. He knew that it was an impossible wish to ask his brother not to do any work and just relax or catch up on his sleep, but at least if he wasn't at the office, he would be more likely to do as such.
Smiling gently at his brother, he felt bad for continually worrying him. "Agreed," Kaiba said, "when are you supposed to be there?"
"Yuugi said I could head over as soon as I wanted to," Mokuba told Kaiba. "So I guess whenever you're done with your work?"
"Are you ready?"
"Yeah," Mokuba answered, his excitement returning.
Standing up from his chair and stretching again, Kaiba said, "Let's go, then," and began ushering Mokuba out of the room.
Watching as his brother bounded down the stairs and rushed to the garage, Kaiba followed at a more leisurely pace. Grabbing his keys off of the counter and his coat from the closet, he found Mokuba already in the car by the time he reached it. Chuckling softly to himself, Kaiba just found himself deeply grateful that his brother had somehow managed to retain his childlike qualities that Kaiba himself had never been allowed to exhibit.
Pulling out and starting the drive to Yuugi's, Kaiba wondered when it had become such a familiar route. "So what do you think the surprise is?" Kaiba asked, curious to know what Mokuba thought.
"Maybe he got a new rare card?"
"Would he really call everyone over to see that?" Kaiba asked, playing devil's advocate. "He would just show it off in his next duel, right?"
Agreeing, Mokuba took up the challenge and began to seriously think about the surprise. "Maybe his grandfather got something really awesome into the shop? He's always getting really strange games from all over the world," Mokuba mused, remembering hearing about a dangerous game involving dragons that he wish he could have seen, even if Yuugi insisted otherwise. He was certain that his brother would enjoy it, but Yuugi said that his grandfather had gotten rid of it, unfortunately.
"He could just show it to his friends at school, but he still invited you over."
Becoming more and more puzzled, Mokuba was suddenly anxious to find out the truth. "What do you think it is?" Mokuba asked his brother.
An absolute load of shit, Kaiba answered in his mind, but he knew better than to say it out loud. "Who knows?" Kaiba said with a shrug, never taking his eyes off of the road. He was suddenly overcome by a vision of his brother denying that Yami was who he said he was since Mokuba had just seen him last night at their house. The rest of the group would probably explode and demand an explanation, not because they would doubt Yami's identity, but because they would want to know why he had been at Kaiba's house whenever Mokuba wasn't there at the time. He was certain that he would have some explaining of his own to do when Mokuba returned home tonight, but that could wait until then. At least he had some time to come up with some sort of an answer.
Deciding that it was better to wait and see instead of hazarding guesses, Mokuba began to animatedly talk about the new ride at Kaiba Land instead. Kaiba was somewhat glad to be off of the topic since it meant he didn't have to actually answer the question and he listened as his brother filled him in further on the details of how he had helped the other night at the park. They passed the rest of the drive with Kaiba listening in an attentive silence to his brother who happily continued on, never running out of things to say.
Finally, they reached Yuugi's house and Kaiba pulled to a stop in front of it. Kaiba looked around, but he could see no evidence of any of the Yuugi-tachi being present or otherwise. Mokuba quickly exited the car and Kaiba did the same, leaning against his car door after shutting it. Throwing his arms around his older brother, Mokuba thanked him and laughed happily as Kaiba ruffled his hair affectionately. "I'll tell you what the surprise is when I get home," Mokuba promised, stepping out of the embrace.
"Have fun," Kaiba told him and watched as Mokuba raced up the path to the front door the Kame Game Shop. When the door opened, Kaiba noticed that it was Yuugi standing there and he could hear the sounds coming from inside where everyone had already gathered. Turning around to wave one final time at his brother, Mokuba disappeared inside the house. Yuugi also waved and Kaiba nodded in acknowledgement; that was all that needed to be said between them before Yuugi closed the front door.
Still not moving away from his place next to the car, Kaiba crossed his arms as he looked up at the window on the second floor. Smirking, he resisted the childish urge of making some sort of rude hand gesture at the figure that was standing in front of the window. It was unmistakably Yami; it was clear to Kaiba even at such a distance. Their impromptu staring contest was ended when Yami opened the window and leaned out of it halfway. "You're not coming in?"
"Why would I?" Kaiba asked, wondering if the sound of their voices would carry inside and be heard by the others. But, given the fact that he hadn't heard theirs until the door was opened, he figured that they were safe for the time being.
Resting his chin in the palm of his hand, Yami looked down at Kaiba, amused by the fact that he was once again wearing a trench coat; did he never leave the house without wearing one? "It'll be one hell of a show," Yami promised, knowing that Jounouchi's reaction was going to be the most outrageous of them all.
"You have fun with that," Kaiba said sarcastically, not having any desire to be trapped in such a small space when everything happened all at once.
"I'd rather have fun with you," Yami replied with a grin, seeing Kaiba's scowl even from his higher vantage point.
Sighing and brushing the hair out of his eyes, Kaiba asked, "Do you always have to do that?"
"Do what?" Yami asked innocently, but Kaiba ignored it.
"You know what I'm talking about," Kaiba muttered, not caring if Yami heard him or not.
Unable to resist, Yami wanted to know, "Have you reconsidered my offer?"
"Your offer?" Kaiba repeated, narrowing his eyes. "Like I asked before, just who do you think you're dealing with? Saying stuff like that, idiot."
Chuckling, Yami started to answer when he heard a soft knock on his door. Turning, he called out to Yuugi to enter before returning his attention back to Kaiba. "Looks like you're going to have to wait for your answer again," Yami said with a laugh as his aibou came closer.
Whatever reply Kaiba was going to give, he stopped as soon as he saw Yuugi appear next to Yami. He had a feeling that Yuugi already knew some of what had gone on between himself and Yami, but that didn't mean that he wanted to broadcast what was going on to the other. It was bad enough that Yuugi had seen what he had at the dueling ring; Kaiba didn't want him to witness anything more than he already had. It was then that he remembered his earlier thought in the car and Kaiba warned Yami, "Mokuba saw you leaving the house last night."
Ignoring the curious look his aibou was giving him, Yami said, "So that was him in the car," having seen the vehicle but not the occupant inside of it. "What did you tell him?"
"He thought you were a prospective employee for a Yuugi cosplayer at Kaiba Land," Kaiba quickly explained, wondering why he was telling Yami any of this.
"I'm sure I'll figure out something to tell him," Yami said, "but thanks for the advanced notice about that."
"Sure," Kaiba replied nonchalantly, uncrossing his arms and bracing them against the car. If telling Yami meant that it would spare him some questions when Mokuba came home, it would be fine, Kaiba decided.
"I'll see you later, Kaiba," Yami said, sounding far too seductive for Kaiba's taste.
Glaring at the window as it shut, Kaiba demanded, "What the fuck does that mean?" but the only answer he got was a wave and a wink before they disappeared, presumably to go downstairs to join the others. Getting into his car before that could happen, Kaiba accelerated hard and shot down the street, enjoying the instant gratification that came with the rush of speed. Would he ever have a conversation with Yami that didn't end up being infuriating one way or the other? Kaiba was inclined to believe that it was impossible. Deciding to drive around for a while to clear his mind, Kaiba headed in the opposite direction of home with no set destination in mind.
A/N: Title says it all, really. After such an intense chapter and given what's coming up next, I figured this little intermission/interlude would serve nicely as a way of easing back into posting. Not a whole lot to say about this one, other than I'm amused by him viewing things in terms of his own virus card and I really like the window scene for some reason. Because Yami is basically the only person that can make Kaiba go through a ton of emotions in a small amount of time. I was rewatching some of the Battle City stuff for reference and it really struck me at how quickly Kaiba could go through the gamut of emotions whenever Yami was around, especially in the helicopter scene. Oh, and the dragon game is a reference to something that happens in one of the early volumes of the manga, but since I don't have access to them right now, I can't tell you which one, sorry about that.
Hopefully this chapter wasn't too much of a letdown after the last two. But if it was all smut all the time, I think Kaiba's brain would break and that's not very conducive for anything, really. Don't worry though, there will be a payoff in the not too distant future. I still can't believe how long that has gotten! I can only laugh at myself for thinking this was going to be a oneshot…But, as always, please feel free to leave feedback. It really helps me gauge things and figure out if I'm on the right track or not.
NEXT CHAPTER: Shuffle
Kaiba's reflections are interrupted by the arrival of a visitor. Will Kaiba make the first move or will Yami beat him to it? But wait—where is Mokuba?
I blame the overly pensive opening on the plane flight, but I like the psychology I was exploring, so hopefully it won't seem too out of place. Besides, it's setting up important stuff for later and the last half of the chapter is proving to be a lot of fun. I think half the reason this keeps getting longer is because I'm having too much fun writing dialogue for them. But as long as you guys are still entertained by it, it should be okay, right?
Next chapter should be up in about another week, maybe a touch less. I'm still trying to get used to my new pace, so please be patient with me! But yay for internet access!