Chapter 26: Interception

"Shit," was the only thing Kaiba could think of to say when he looked up from the performance review he had been attempting to read. It had nothing to do with the document and everything to do with the person who was standing in his office—a person who should never have been there in the first place.

Yami was unable to decide whether he should be more amused or concerned by Kaiba's subdued reaction, so he said nothing as he approached the desk. He was just amazed that he had managed to get through security as easily as he had, but getting mistaken for Yuugi was far better—not to mention easier—than alternative means of gaining access to the recalcitrant C.E.O.

Setting the papers aside with a heavy sigh, Kaiba rubbed his tired eyes in the hopes that it would somehow make the person standing in front of him disappear, but it was of no use. "Great, now I'm fucking hallucinating," Kaiba muttered with a bitter laugh that made Yami raise an eyebrow as the other swore again.

Taking a seat in one of the chairs in front of Kaiba's desk, Yami asked with a slight laugh, "What makes you think that you're hallucinating?"

"Why else would you be here?" Kaiba countered, feeling slightly ridiculous for having such a pointless conversation. It made no sense why he would be suffering from delusions at this point; he had somehow fallen asleep while watching a movie with his brother Saturday night and woke up late into the evening of Sunday. He considered himself recovered after so many hours of uninterrupted and uneventful sleep, but his body seemed to be disagreeing with him.

Leaning back in the chair and making himself comfortable, Yami suggested, "Maybe you fell asleep."

"I know that I haven't."

Yami was at a loss as to how Kaiba was still conscious, let alone capable of functioning; his own body had shut down on him after staying up for almost two days while deliberating about what to do. Now that he was no longer in school, Yami discovered that he had too many things to think about and far too much time to do so. It was almost as bad as being in the Millennium Puzzle again; he was constantly surrounded by silence with only his troubling thoughts to pass the time until his aibou reappeared. He didn't like to think about it in those terms and he would gladly take his freedom over his former situation, but it was still frustrating to sit in the empty house by himself all day. Even if he watched the shop during the day, they had few customers since most of them were attending school. Was it any wonder he had been driven to seek Kaiba out at work? He had done his best to find a different solution, but his brief interactions with Mokuba from the past weekend had just further convinced him that something needed to be done. Yami just didn't know what that something was supposed to be.

Pushing his thoughts aside for the moment, Yami playfully asked, "What makes you so sure of that?"

"Because you haven't tried to fuck me yet," Kaiba answered sarcastically, glaring at Yami for good measure.

Inappropriate reaction or not, Yami laughed at the comment as he questioned, "Why am I here, then?"

Sounding somewhat belligerent, Kaiba said, "You tell me," as he crossed his arms defensively over his chest.

He felt a little bad for taking advantage of Kaiba's conviction that he was seeing things, but it seemed like the only way he was going to have a chance at getting any answers. "Because you wanted to see me?"

"Ridiculous," Kaiba scoffed, although it annoyed him that the other didn't seem to be taking him seriously.

"Is it?"

Without hesitating, Kaiba answered, "Yes, and I'm not having this conversation right now," before returning his attention to his paperwork.

"Why not?" Yami wanted to know, tilting his head as he tried to see what work could possibly be more pressing than the current issue.

Yami had assumed the reply would be a typical one about being too busy for bullshit, but Kaiba replied, "Because you're not real." Even though Yami knew that Kaiba was referring to the assumption that he was a hallucination, it still felt somewhat unpleasant to hear. It was why he was further surprised by Kaiba hastily clarifying, "Not that you're not real—but this you isn't and…goddamn it!" Why was he correcting himself?

He wasn't really sure what had caused Kaiba to swear, but Yami stood up as he questioned, "What?"

"Nothing."

Yami walked around the desk and stopped next to Kaiba as he asked, "Really?"

Sighing heavily, Kaiba commanded, "Go away."

"I won't," Yami told him with soft conviction.

"You will," Kaiba said quietly, refusing to look up at Yami as he did so.

Somehow it felt like they were suddenly talking about more than just Yami leaving the office. Reaching over and tilting Kaiba's head gently in order to get him to make eye contact, Yami told him with sincerity, "I'm not going anywhere, Seto."

"Yet."

Things were suddenly starting to make sense as Yami asked, "Is that what this is about?"

"How the fuck should I know?" Kaiba snapped as he forced Yami's hand away. Considering how much time he had wasted with thinking things over, it was ridiculous that he had yet to come to a conclusive answer. And why in the hell did his hallucination feel so solid? It was unnerving, but he knew that there was no way for Yami to have breached his security systems at work. "Now get the hell out of my office."

Partially sitting on the edge of Kaiba's desk, Yami simply said, "I refuse."

"That was not an option," Kaiba practically growled, angered by the smug look on Yami's face.

"What are you going to do? Call security on me?" Yami taunted. "I'm not 'real,' remember?"

How was it that Yami managed to almost always make him feel defeated no matter what sort of battle they were engaged in? Looking away, Kaiba leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temples as he tried to calm himself. Even if it was a hallucination of Yami, Kaiba still couldn't stand to lose face. He meant for his words to come out angrily as he said, "I'm so sick of this shit," but he just sounded tired. And he was tired—tired of thinking about it, tired of dealing with it, just tired in general.

"That makes two of us, then."

Yami was tired of the bullshit? Correction: hallucinated Yami was tired of the bullshit? Imaginary representation or not, Kaiba was getting more infuriated by the minute and he was attempting to control his anger and failing. "You should have fucking thought about that before you started this!" Kaiba yelled, glaring up at Yami and disliking his lower vantage point.

When Yami shrugged and simply said, "I did," it caused Kaiba to start seething inside. "I decided that it was worth it."

"You decided that it was worth it?" Kaiba repeated, clenching his hands tightly into fists as stood up abruptly from his chair. "Since when did you get to decide anything?"

"You act like you had nothing at all to do with this," Yami told Kaiba with a laugh that finally set Kaiba into action. Even though Yami saw it coming, he did nothing to avoid getting slammed back against the desk as Kaiba pinned him.

"Shut the fuck up," Kaiba said coldly, his grip tightening on the collar of Yami's shirt as he continued to hold him in place.

Doing his best to ignore the pen that was jabbing him in the back, Yami looked up at Kaiba and smiled faintly as he remained still. "Seto—"

"What part of, 'Shut the fuck up,' did you not understand?" Kaiba asked harshly, confused by Yami's calm demeanor.

"And as I told you before, I don't take orders from you," Yami told him smugly, unable to resist turning the tables despite the gravity of the situation. It hadn't been his original intention, but…it was rather tempting. "Or did you forget?"

"Bastard—" Kaiba started to exclaim, but he never got a chance to finish his sentence.

Deciding to act out on an impish whim, Yami took advantage of the fact that his hands remained free and used one to grab Kaiba's tie that was dangling in front of him. Giving it a hard tug, he pulled Kaiba down and kissed him, swallowing the surprised noise made by the other. When Yami felt resistance, he yanked on the tie again as he wrapped his legs around Kaiba's waist, effectively trapping the other in place as he continued to enjoy himself.

By the time Kaiba realized that his mind's only complaint was the loss of control over the situation, it was already too late. Instead of using his free hand to disengage himself, he was using it to balance himself as his body betrayed him once again. It felt to real to be a hallucination, so it got upgraded to a fantasy and Kaiba gave in to it temporarily; it could serve as a reminder of what it was that he was supposed to be distancing himself from in reality.

It wasn't long enough for Yami and he made a small noise of protest when Kaiba stopped. He allowed Kaiba to pull back a little, but Yami was careful to keep a firm grip on the tie that he was still holding in his hand. When Kaiba said nothing, Yami finally asked, "Why do you keep fighting this?"

The question was a stupid one in Kaiba's opinion. He had always fought everything: he had done so to keep Mokuba, to survive against Gozaburo, to maintain control over his company, to live as his own person. As for Yami, Kaiba had fought against him, fought with him, fought alongside of him, but what of it?

The longer Kaiba lingered in his position above Yami, the more ridiculous he started to feel. What the hell was wrong with him? "Stop," Kaiba said, although he wasn't sure if he was telling himself or Yami. "Just stop."

Refusing to release his hold, Yami asked, "Why?"

Kaiba accidentally reiterated, "Please," and he was disgusted with himself for doing so. It made him feel weak and pathetic—even more so when Yami relinquished his grip on the tie in order to wrap both of his arms around Kaiba's neck to hold him closer. Why did his body continue to believe that it was a good thing? He hated himself for not being strong enough to resist, hated that he was allowing himself to accept the situation based on the assumption that it couldn't be happening since this Yami wasn't real. Kaiba had to get control and being embraced by his hallucinated rival was not the way to do it.

"Seto," Yami said softly as he absentmindedly ran his fingers along the nape of Kaiba's neck. The simple action sent a shiver through Kaiba and he scowled unhappily at his own reaction. "It's okay."

"No, it's not!" Kaiba vehemently denied, pulling back just enough to stare incredulously at Yami.

"What part isn't?" Yami asked calmly, his fingers never ceasing their gentle rhythm.

Practically bristling at the question, Kaiba angrily answered, "The whole damn thing!"

Realizing he wasn't going to get very far that way, Yami decided to rephrase, "When are you going to stop resisting so much?"

The question caused Kaiba to laugh harshly as he asked with a sneer, "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"

Sighing, Yami fixed his gaze on Kaiba and said, "That wasn't what I meant and you know it."

Remembering that he still had Yami's shirt tightly bunched in his fist, Kaiba pulled back suddenly, forcing Yami into a sitting position; he was still trapped by the legs around his waist, though. "Stop acting like you know everything, asshole!"

"Fine," Yami consented as he drew himself closer to Kaiba with a smirk. "Stop running away and I'll consider it."

"Bastard!"

Yami found it interesting that Kaiba didn't argue that he wasn't running away, but he knew better than to say anything about it. He was still waiting for the rest of Kaiba's response, but the phone interrupted them with a startling ring. Glaring at Yami before reaching for his cell phone, Kaiba answered it only after he saw that it was his brother who was calling him.

"Nii-sama! Are you on your way home?" Mokuba asked hopefully.

"Not yet," Kaiba replied, continuing to stare at Yami with a frown. He just couldn't win; if he slept he'd see the bastard, if he stayed awake he'd see the bastard. There had to be something he could do to remedy the situation, but he still couldn't figure out how.

The disappointment was evident in Mokuba's simple, "Oh? Okay then."

"I'll…I'll try to be back soon," Kaiba told him in the hopes of appeasing his younger brother. "I just have a few things I need to finish up first."

"Is everything okay?"

Even though Yami told himself to behave, he couldn't resist lightly kissing Kaiba's neck. Yami could feel Kaiba tensing up, but his voice revealed nothing as he told his brother, "Yeah, I was just going through some paperwork."

Working his way up Kaiba's neck slowly with soft kisses, Yami couldn't stop the smirk at the reactions he was getting. Yami fumbled with the buttons of Kaiba's suit in order to slip his hands under the jacket and embrace the other completely. He heard Kaiba's breath catch, could hear the pounding of his heart, but Yami continued trying to soothe him with kisses. If only it were that easy.

"Okay, then I'll let you get back to it," Mokuba said, deciding that it was for the best; after all, the sooner his brother finished, the sooner he would get home.

"Thanks," Kaiba said, effectively ending the call. It was only after exchanging a few more words that he finally hung up the phone and returned his icy gaze to Yami. Why did his body insist on wanting to embarrass him by giving in to the embrace? It would have made sense if his hormones made him want to escalate things, but he had no way to explain the fact that he was perfectly content to remain as he was.

Clenching his cell phone in his hand, Kaiba tersely told Yami, "That's enough."

"I doubt that," Yami murmured as he started sucking on one of Kaiba's earlobes as if he were trying to convince him otherwise.

Kaiba did his best to ignore the way those words made the heat inside of him intensify and instead focused on extracting himself from the situation. "You would."

"You disagree?" Yami asked as he pulled back a little to look at Kaiba.

"Yes," Kaiba answered, choosing to deal with his mind's logical response instead of his body's desire to pin Yami down again and have his way with him.

"You would," Yami retorted with a grin that earned him an exasperated sigh.

Deciding that he was getting nowhere, Kaiba said, "I need to finish my work."

"You need to go home," Yami told him, ignoring all of the other things that he could have chosen to say instead.

"I have to finish my work in order to do so," Kaiba countered, pleased when it resulted in Yami obeying and releasing him.

Once Kaiba returned to his seat, Yami hopped off of the desk, but made no further movements to indicate that he was planning on leaving. Kaiba was momentarily distracted by the fact that a couple of his papers had been creased under Yami's back, but he supposed it didn't matter; he could always print more later. Wait, if he's not real, then how the hell did they end up like that? Kaiba wondered to himself, his brow furrowing in confusion as he reached over to smooth out the lines. Either his fantasies were becoming overly realistic or Yami was actually there, neither of which pleased him.

What made it worse was that he had no acceptable way of confirming the truth—it wasn't like he was going to ask the security guard and raise suspicions. Kaiba had an image to protect and inquiring about a person who most likely wasn't going to show up on security cameras could only be detrimental. Besides, what would he do if he found out that the real Yami had actually showed up? Other than firing his guards and hiring a new security team, of course.

The longer Yami stood silent and motionless, Kaiba became increasingly wary. "What?"

Taking a step closer to the chair, Yami bent over and kissed Kaiba so gently that it could easily be mistaken for tenderness. "Get some sleep, Seto," Yami told him as he pulled away, curious as to why that simple action seemed to get more of a reaction out of Kaiba.

Kaiba was struggling with the fact that he wanted to pull Yami closer, wanted to him to stay as much as he wanted him to leave. He recovered quickly enough to demand, "Why? So you can harass me there too?" His desires were unsettling to him and yet there was little he could do about them at the moment, because he sure as hell wasn't going to act out on them.

Shaking his head with a small laugh, Yami started making his way to the door. "I said it before, didn't I? Why limit myself to a dream when I can do it in real life?" Before Kaiba got the chance to reply, Yami had already left the office; he had just barely heard Yami saying, "See you later," and the sound of his faint laughter before he disappeared into the elevator.

Kaiba felt somewhat stunned by the whole thing and he struggled with the fact that his hallucination had actually bothered to open and exit through the appropriate door. He almost would have felt better if Yami had disappeared into smoke; at least that way he would have his proof that it had in fact been an imagined interaction. No matter how much he wanted to deny what had just occurred, he couldn't escape the fact that it had felt so realistic.

He was already packing up his things in order to leave; there was no way in hell that he was staying in his office any longer. There was always the chance that he would antagonize himself with ideas of what he could have done with Yami if he hadn't kicked him out of the office, but those were thoughts best left alone. Then again, what was to stop him from doing that at home? Cursing as he threw the last of the paperwork into his briefcase, he smoothed his tie down and buttoned his suit before shutting down his computer. It was only a matter of time before he had turned off the lights and made his way downstairs and out to the limo that was awaiting him.

Isono greeted him with a small bow as he held open the rear car door for Kaiba to get into the vehicle. With a nod of acknowledgement, Kaiba slid into the seat, grateful that his brother had the foresight to tell Isono to wait out front for him. Relaxing with a heavy sigh once the door was closed, Kaiba couldn't bring himself to postulate reasons why Yami had appeared to be such a tangible presence. Struggling against it was exhausting and surrendering wasn't an option, but what other alternatives did that leave him?

A/N: I don't know why my Yami always seems to be so mischievous, but such as it is.

Kaiba's denial is based on a couple of things in my mind. He would have absolute confidence in his security system (most likely because he probably had a hand in designing it), so why would he think that Yami would be able to get through to his office after hours?

The other reason—and the one that I find far more interesting—is the grounds for doubt that Kaiba would have as a result of Yami's origin. Kaiba initially considered Yami to be a figment of the collective imagination of the Yuugi-tachi and it was only later on that Yami got upgraded to his own delusion. Even after having undeniable proof of Yami's actual existence, I think part of Kaiba would still remain suspicious of it—especially since Yami hinted once that he could in fact return to the puzzle if he uses too much of his strength. Combine that with an inherent fear of…well, not quite abandonment, but something like that. The poor guy lost his parents, was always in fear of losing his brother, losing his company, (and maybe his mind, haha), so his refusal to trust would be at the core of his being. I don't think that he would be conscious of the link, but I would argue that Yami's potential for impermanence would factor into his resistance. The irony is that it was because of that same impermanence that Yami's had a permanent presence…

As for time frame, this would be on Tuesday evening around eight or nine at night. Adding his thoughts on a Yami-less school day would have made this overly long (ha!), so that'll wait for later. I know a few of you have been wondering what Bakura has been up to, so you'll get a brief glance in the next chapter, but there's more interactions later. It appears that I just couldn't help myself. XD

NEXT CHAPTER: Invasion

When Mokuba hears from Isono that Yami was seen exiting Kaiba Corporation, Kaiba's night ends up becoming interesting.

Or, alternatively: "Wait, did my hallucination just take a shower?" XD I jest, but it still amused me and hopefully earned a giggle or two as well. The pacing and tone will be picking up once again; there's only so much Kaiba angst that this story can hold. Yay for necessary plot points? I've been itching to get back to the comedy, so those who were hoping for it will finally get your wish.

The next chapter will go up on Sunday evening. I actually finished it before this one, but it still needs a few more edits before I deem it ready for posting. Until then, thank you again!