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As Yugi slowly roused from his sleep he found himself in a bed different then he had spent the past few days in. He slowly sat up before rubbing his eyes then gazing around to realize where he was and remember the memories of last night. He couldn't help but smile slightly then gaze to the side of the bed to see that his phantom, Kaiba was not there. Which was strange because he remembered clearly them falling asleep after certain activities. He was now completely positive that he loved Kaiba, not just from last night but by how passionate he had been for him. Yugi had never experienced anything like it before. He knew that he still had to help him control his emotions but he knew things would be much easier.

The only thing Yugi as worried about was how he was going to tell Yami. After all he had proposed to him yesterday and had just left him without an answer. He wasn't sure how he would react knowing that he had picked Kaiba over him, Yugi already knew he couldn't expect Yami to understand but he hoped he wouldn't go ballistic. Even if he did Yugi knew that Kaiba would be watching him, after all he always was even when Yugi didn't think he was. There were limits though, Kaiba had admitted that he gave Yugi his privacy in the bathroom or when he was changing out of respect.

Yugi could say that he had a guardian always watching over him, to make sure he was always safe. That was how he looked at it and finally tonight was the masquerade, what he had originally come here for and was honestly very much looking forward to it. He was really anxious to see all of the other guests in their masks and costumes. Yugi also was really looking forward to wearing his costume and showing up with Kaiba. He felt bad that now Yami wouldn't have anyone to go with but he could always ask Seth. After all he didn't have a date.

When hearing the door open Yugi glanced to it to see his handsome phantom walk in with a silver platter with a top over it. He was disappointed that he had put his mask back on but said that he had to wear it when he wasn't with Yugi. As he entered the room and closed the door behind him Yugi couldn't help but smile sweetly as he approached. He came to stand next to Yugi near the bed, he then placed the platter down on the nightstand before removing his mask then leaning close to Yugi so he could kiss him gently.

Yugi reached up as they kissed to run his hand over his cheek. When they broke after a moment he still didn't retreat his hand. "Morning Seto." he said cutely.

Kaiba kissed Yugi again before backing away from him. "Good morning my beautiful soul. I do hope you slept well." he said while moving to the coffee table to place down his mask.

"Yes! I did in fact." he stated happily while then glancing to the platter that had been brought in. "What's underneath the platter?"

He turned to smirk lightly at Yugi. "Find out for yourself."

Yugi instantly grew more curious as he picked up the platter to bring in his lap. He then opened it to see a bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with cinnamon. By the looks of it the oatmeal was apple. Yugi gazed up at Kaiba to smile. "Thank you." Yugi politely thanked as he picked up the spoon to begin eating.

The phantom moved to sit down on the edge of the bed. "Anything for my love." he stated while gazing down at his hands that weren't covered by his gloves.

Yugi also looked to his hands, quickly noticing the cuts on them. "What happened to your hands?" Yugi asked him worriedly. They looked like they were still bleeding, still fresh.

He closed his hands then gazed back at Yugi. "Nothing. Just an accident with some roses. They get me every time." he admitted.

Yugi cocked his head to the side in question. "What do you mean by that?"

"I mean roses do not like my presence. They are always cutting me with their thorns." Kaiba told him.

Yugi still didn't quite understand what he meant but just left it at that. There were still a lot of things he had yet to understand about Kaiba. After a few silent minutes Yugi gazed into his almost finished oatmeal to stir it mindlessly. He couldn't stop thinking about how Yami will react when hearing the news. He was scared he might do something drastic. "Seto…?" Yugi trailed.

"Yes?"

"I… I'm nervous about telling Yami… what if he does something… or tries to take me from you… what am I supposed to do then?" Yugi asked him. His eyes growing large with worry.

"Do not worry. He will never be able to take you from me. For if he does he cannot hide. I will find you no matter what, at any cost." Kaiba told him strongly.

Yugi looked up to still have a worried look. "But what if you can't? What if he goes out of the mansion…? Have I… broken your curse yet?"

Kaiba looked down to his lap. "I do not know… the only way I can find out if I am free of the curse is to leave the mansion."

"How is the curse exactly broken, do you know?" Yugi questioned him. Not being very hungry anymore he placed the platter back onto the nightstand.

"This curse is broken when my heart is free and alive with love." Kaiba explained.

"Well it is, isn't it? You love me and I love you. We even expressed the true form of it last night in this very bed. Your heart must be free." Yugi admitted while crawling up out of the sheets to sit down next to the phantom and place a hand on his shoulder gently. Not forgetting he could be emotionally unstable, he still had to be careful around him but Yugi felt more comfortable now that they were closer then they had been before.

"Yes, I know." he said. "But I cannot look inside myself and see my heart! I cannot tell if I am still a stone cold monster!" he suddenly began yelling. Pushing Yugi away from him to let his head fall into his hands.

Yugi had to take a moment to recollect himself after being pushed away but he came right back. "Your not a monster… please stop saying that… you were never a monster." Yugi admitted as he very slowly and softly moved behind him to wrap his arms around him and place his chin on his shoulder. "Even if you were I would still love you. I love you for who you are, not what is on the outside but what's on the inside." he explained while holding him tightly.

Kaiba brought his head up slightly. "You cannot love a heart of stone… it would be fairly one sided, even you, such a beautiful soul could not manage to love someone who couldn't love you back even how hard they tried. I love you so dearly, but I do not know if I'm feeling it truly…"

Yugi frowned. This was something he couldn't help with, it was something that Kaiba had to figure out within himself. The only thing he could do was continue to show he loved him and support him. "I know you feel it, you just don't know it yet." Yugi admitted calmly.

Kaiba raised his head completely away from his hands to turn his head and look at Yugi. He then abruptly stood, if Yugi hadn't of let go he would have gone up with him. "Yugi, there is something you need to know." he stated all of a sudden. No one could mistake the seriousness in his voice.

Yugi gave him his full attention.

For a moment he stalled. Like debating telling him what it was until he came to stand in between Yugi's legs then in a slow monition bring his hands out to show Yugi the many cuts he had on the palms of his hands. "The words written on the ceiling in the foyer, you know what it says?"

Yugi took Kaiba's wrists so in a sense he was holding his hands then nodded.

"A beautiful soul, will blaze my heart a fire. Once I who run free will now die within the rose of red." he recited before continuing. "Do you know what it means?"

"Well, I kind of understand the first part… but not the last part." Yugi confessed.

"It means that I cannot hold a red rose without it cutting me. I wore gloves to shield my hands but I wanted to know… I wanted to see if you could save me from them." he explained before leaning in to kiss Yugi.

They did not break for a few more moments but when they did and looked down at Kaiba's hands the cuts were gone.

Kaiba brought his hands up to gaze at them before using them to hold Yugi's cheeks. They just stared at each other before his expression changed to anger and he forcefully kissed Yugi, all of the anger vented into the kiss. When it became too much Yugi managed to break away and breathe heavily while gazing at him with concern.

"What is it?" Yugi asked through his pants for breath.

He stared at Yugi a little bit longer before shoving him down on the bed and walking away from him. "I know he still loves you!" he roared angrily.

Yugi sat up on his elbows and watched him.

Kaiba faced Yugi with blazing eyes. "He does not disserve to love you! No one does except for me!" he suddenly approached Yugi again to grab him by the upper arm and pull him off the bed to be held tightly. "You're my property!" he growled while holding him tighter and shaking him slightly. "How dare he think he could ever keep you from me!"

Yugi's eyes widened as the grip over him squeezed his arm so tightly that he cried out. "Stop it! Your hurting me! Please!" he begged.

Kaiba's face instantly lost all anger as he let go of Yugi's upper arm that had the imprint of his hand wrapped around it. He gained a very blank look before stumbling backwards away from him.

Yugi looked to his arm then to Kaiba with hurt eyes.

"Yugi…" he muttered while managing to back up onto the wall like afraid of something. "I don't ever intend to hurt you… understand that I can't control them… my emotions… sometimes they get the best of me… and I hurt you…"

"I know." Yugi replied while down casting to the floor.

"I don't know how I will ever be able to control them… I barely remember the last time I had spoken to someone before you came… years possibly… then you came… and say you want to help me… and love me… I didn't understand… I didn't understand how someone as beautiful as you could want to help me… or love me... when…" he stalled for a long moment. In that time Yugi gazed up at him. "When… you are so perfect… you know how to react to me and treat me as if I was normal… you are always so kind to me even when I hurt you… like you understand… I don't think I even disserve someone like that… someone who could understand a monster."

Kaiba dropped his gaze to the floor as he slowly sunk down to it. "If you want to be with him… I will understand. I know that you had loved him… I would not want to take you from a love you already have…"

Yugi slowly approached him then sat down on his knees in front of him. "I do not love him anymore. I love you, and I do have trouble understanding your emotions but I know we can work on It. In time you will remember what it's like to be around someone all the time. I will always be there for you as you have for me. So please stop referring to yourself as a monster when you aren't one. A monster would be someone who has never tried to love in their life, and you have. You love me, I know you do and soon you'll be able to feel that love." Yugi reached down to take Kaiba's hand in his and hold it tightly. "When this party is over tonight I'll be able to be with you forever. We could… we could move somewhere else and start a new life. Just you and me."

Yugi smiled at the thought of just the two of them living together. "I know I would like that very much."

"As would I." Kaiba looked to Yugi with cold eyes. "But if I cannot leave, if I try to leave I will die."

"You won't. I'll be right next to you the whole time. Nothing will happen except you'll be free and I'll be free." Yugi stated confidently.

Kaiba stared at him before standing, bringing Yugi up with him. "I do not understand how you do it." he mentioned while holding Yugi's half naked body close to him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"How you know exactly what to say to me." he replied while Yugi giggled. "Now, get dressed. It's time to tell Yami." Kaiba said while moving over to the door.

Yugi nodded while going to his clothes. He quickly dressed in his pants, shirt, shoes, and coat before meeting Kaiba at the door which was opened for him.

"I will be watching, not through the mirror but the walls. I will be protecting you from anything he tries to attempt to do. I swear this to you my love." Kaiba told him while kissing his cheek briefly.

Yugi smiled then turned away from him and quickly began walking down the long walkway towards the mirror room. With each step he took be became more and more nervous but the thought that Kaiba would be watching everything made things easier. That way if Yami tried to do something Kaiba would stop him before he could. For some reason while he almost ran down this long pathway he found it much shorter than the last time he had ran down it.

As he approached the mirror he looked around for the switch that made it pivot, when finding it he pushed it then quickly stepped past the mirror into the room. He remembered that Kaiba had told him each mirror could turn if he found the right switch for it, that was how he could appear and disappear in a room so quickly. Yugi loved when he did that, it seemed so magical and mysterious. When he was with Kaiba he always felt like he still had a strong mysterious vibe about him, something that told him that he would never know all of the secrets he had.

Yugi then gazed around the mirror room he was in. He had been right about the mirror being fixed after the last time he saw it in shards on the floor, who knows how it was replaced so fast but Yugi did not question his phantom. There were things he could do that seemed almost impossible but Yugi made no move to ask him about it, though he did often wonder how he was able to do the things he did.

When Yugi spotted pair of blue eyes staring at him he smiled. "Before I go tell him… can you tell me something?" Yugi questioned the mirror. Which to anyone else he surely would have looked mad.

"I will tell you anything you want to know."

"I've been wondering this for awhile… but what does amour mean?"

"Amour? It means love."

"So… all those times before you were saying love…" Yugi approached the mirror and place his hands small hands on it. Then frowning remembering when he'd seen the blood run down the mirror the day before. How he wished he could rid himself of that memory.

"What is it? Why are you frowning?"

"Yesterday… when there was blood on the mirror… and when it cracked… I felt so guilty… I had hurt you so bad…" Yugi felt tears well in his eyes. "I'm sorry…"

"You did, I felt betrayed. Do not cry though, you are mine now and that is how it will stay."

Yugi removed his hands from the mirror to wipe his eyes. He then nodded before turning and hastily leaving the room. He walked quickly down the hallway, nerves still festering inside of him. How was Yami going to react to this? Surely not very well.

When he reached the room he took a deep breath then slowly opened the door. Instantly he saw Yami sitting on the bed, staring at his lap. His shoulder's were slouched like he was in a forlorn state of mind. He didn't appear to have even heard the door open.

"Yami?" Yugi called softly.

Yami shot his head up then got off the bed to take Yugi into a hug. "Yugi! I've been so worried about you… I thought that creature had found you and hurt you."

Yugi sighed. This was definitely going to be very hard to explain. "Yami…"

"Your not hurt are you?" he questioned while bringing Yugi out of the hug to gaze over him worriedly.

"No. I'm fine, but we need to talk about something…" Yugi trailed as he broke from the grasp on him.

Yami rose an eyebrow. "What is it?"

Yugi stared at him for a long moment. Not sure how to begin. He didn't want to hurt Yami but he needed to tell him that it was over and he was going to be with the phantom. "It's about… about what happened yesterday… when I had to pick between you and the phantom." Yugi began. "I went outside to think a lot about what I should do…" he decided against adding the part about how he'd found Kaiba in the ballroom and they went back to his chamber for the rest of the night. "And I decided."

Yami suddenly smiled. "You did? I'm glad, now we can finally rid ourselves of this phantom and go back to how we were." he stated gladly as took Yugi's hands in his.

This was going to be a whole lot harder… Yugi took his hands out of Yami's grip who looked hurt by the action. "Yami… I… I didn't pick you." he confessed with a heavy heart.

Yami stared at him for a very long awkward moment. He then unexpectedly laughed. "Don't mess with me like that Aibou!"

Yugi frowned. "I'm not… I really did pick him." he said again. Was Yami about to go into some kind of denial? Is that why he had said that and laughed?

He grew silent once again. Unaware to the two boys but a faint laugh was heard inside the walls of the room.

"You… picked him? A phantom? Someone who kidnapped you! Yugi, did he brainwash you? Put you under some kind of spell? Is he blackmailing you?" he began shouting worriedly.

"No!" he cried in great offence. "He is not doing any of those things! Yami, I love him. I'm sorry but it's just not working out between us anymore."

"Your picking a creature over me? Someone you haven't even known a week?" Yami sounded as though he was getting angry. Very angry.

"He's not a creature and yes! He cares about me and loves me!" Yugi told him.

"How do you know that? How do you know he won't just dump you aside?" Yami asked seriously as he crossed his arms over his chest. A scowl forming on his lips.

"Because he's not like that! He would never just dump me aside! How could you say that!" Yugi almost shouted.

Yami suddenly grabbed Yugi's wrist harshly. "He must to have brainwashed you." he pulled Yugi close to him and forced him into a kiss.

Yugi fought him as hard as he could until breaking away. "Stop it! He didn't! Yami I'm sorry but I just can't marry you…"

"What kind of sick hold does he have on you? Why do you keep speaking like this? What happened to the Yugi I knew?" Yami questioned. He grabbed Yugi once again but much softer and by the shoulders.

"He hasn't changed. I'm still the same Yugi I just… love someone else…" Yugi admitted. Hoping that Yami would eventually understand.

"You clearly aren't! The Yugi I knew loved me!" he shouted before shaking the small boy slightly. "What has he done to you?"

Yugi's eyes welled. "Nothing! Why do you think I'm not me! You're the one who has changed, Yami. When I first met you I could tell you loved me! You were so sweet and kind but just a few months prior to this you wouldn't even let me cuddle with you, what changed? Why did you just suddenly stop doing the things I loved so much? I could tell we were drifting apart but I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want it to end. I wouldn't know what to do or where to go if I didn't have you, but now… now I have the phantom. He's more than you ever were!"

Yami stared at him in disbelief. Yugi had never spoken to him like that and it was a shock. As the things said began to sink in, tears streaked down his face. "Fine Yugi! You want to be with him! I don't care! I don't care about you! And guess what! He was right, I had done more with Seth and that kiss wasn't a mistake!" he yelled out of spite before viciously pushing past Yugi in an emotional rampage and left the room.

Leaving Yugi in tears. He ran to the bed and fell onto it while letting out a sorrowful muffled sob into the sheets. How could Yami have been so mean? Not once had he ever acted like that and just because Yugi had fallen in love with someone else. He also should have believed the phantom about Yami cheating. He knew that kiss hadn't been a mistake but again he didn't want to admit it. Now at least he was free of Yami. He just hoped that this would blow over someday and they could at least be friends. That was hard to see after the fight they just had but Yugi hated losing people close to him and he didn't want to lose Yami over a stupid fight about something like this.

"My love… don't cry." Kaiba said as he seated himself down next to Yugi on the bed.

Yugi pulled himself out of the sheets that were stained with his tears. He gazed at Kaiba who had a sort of curious yet blank look, he probably didn't know how to comfort him what so ever. Yugi then moved to bury his face into Kaiba's lap and cry. He knew that this would have ended badly but what Yami said really hurt. How could he say that he didn't care about him?

He didn't know it but Kaiba was watching him cry in his lap. A sad frown upon his lips, he wished that he could somehow find it in himself to cry with Yugi. So at this moment, he wasn't alone.