26. No Relationship

"You're still here?"

Kaiba looked up from his morning newspaper and turned to look over his shoulder to where Mokuba was standing at the edge of the dining room. "I live here," he said, folding the paper and putting it aside.

"Well, duh." Mokuba slid into the chair across from him. The maid had already come and gone, so the remains of their dinner that Kaiba and Sara had never finished cleaning up were gone, and a spread of croissants, muffins, and fruit was laid out on the table. Mokuba helped himself to a muffin, rolling his eyes as he took a bite. "But you don't usually hang around for breakfast, especially if a girl has spent the night. Does this mean you actually like her?"

"Mokuba!" Kaiba intended that to be the end of that conversation, but Mokuba had other ideas.

"'Cause I like her. She's not all swoony like the fangirls, or empty-headed like the models, and she doesn't seem like she'd take a lot of crap, but she's into you anyway. You two make a great couple."

He scowled. "We are not a couple. She's a colleague of Yugi Mutou's and I've agreed to help them—for my own reasons," he added when Mokuba opened his mouth to say something. "There's nothing more to it then that, so don't start making relationships out of air."

Mokuba cocked his head and gave him a skeptical look. "She spent the night twice. Let me think now, when was the last time you saw a girl more than once? Oh yeah, that would be never."

"Mokuba, this is none of your business."

"I told you before, you're my brother. It's nice to see you with someone. And sorta almost, you know, happy."

"And I told you before, my life is just fine the way it is. I have no intention of getting involved with anyone, especially not someone who is Yugi Mutou's colleague and whose life work involves ancient Egypt. End of subject."

"Then why are you still here waiting for her instead of already at work? You've never done that before, either."

Kaiba let out a huff of air in annoyance. "If you must know, I was waiting for you."

Mokuba arched his eyebrows as he leaned back in his chair. "You don't eat breakfast with me, either."

"I need to talk to you," Kaiba said, telling himself there was no accusation in Mokuba's assertion, just a mere statement of facts. "You spent the day over at Illusions Tower yesterday, didn't you?"

Mokuba slumped. "Oh boy, here it comes. I like hanging out with them, and I wanted to help get the other Yugi and the other Seto back. And I'm bored. School doesn't start until next week, and the tutors don't get back until the end of the month."

"I'm not complaining that you were there, I just want to know something. Sara mentioned that there was some tension between Yugi and Téa."

"Oh, man." Mokuba's head bobbed up and down as he took another bite of his muffin. "It was weird. Normally Téa's like the house mom—you know, making sure everyone else is getting along—but she wouldn't even come out and hang with us in the library or the common room. She just stayed in her room all day, and when she did come out, it was just weird. She only stayed for like two minutes, and she wouldn't even look at Yugi. And Yugi was all moody and sullen, too. I was gonna ask what was up, but everyone was all weird and uncomfortable, so I figured I'd better just keep my mouth shut."

"So everyone was acting strangely? And you didn't think to mention this yesterday?"

Mokuba frowned. "Since when do you care? They're bound to be upset over what happened to the other Yugi's tomb, and you didn't even care enough to bother to go to Egypt with them, so I don't see why you'd care now."

"I don't care," Kaiba corrected him. "And I certainly didn't feel it necessary to go back on my obligation to the organizers of the British Open tournament just to see a couple of dead pharaohs' vandalized tombs, but that doesn't mean I'm not paying attention. Considering that the person who sank our ship last May and who most likely is responsible for the two tomb desecrations specializes in controlling people, it seems worth noting if Yugi and his little sidekicks are acting out of character, don't you think?"

Mokuba's eyes widened. "You think there's something weird going on, like on the island?"

"Have you ever known Yugi to not get along with any of his friends under any other circumstances?"

"No."

"This Ramesses character is dangerous, and considering Yugi has a guest staying there—"

"So that's what this is about." Mokuba flashed him a Cheshire grin. "You're worried about Sara! I knew you liked her!"

Kaiba glowered. "You're jumping to conclusions, Mokuba. I told you, don't make relationships out of air. She's going back to Cairo in a few days and that will be the end of it."

"It doesn't have to be. You could totally do the long-distance relationship thing, fly out to see her whenever you wanted to—"

"I don't want to. There is no relationship, Mokuba, so just drop it."

"Seto, I—" Mokuba stopped abruptly, his gaze falling somewhere beyond Kaiba.

Turning to look over his shoulder, Kaiba saw Sara standing in the hallway just outside the dining room. She was already dressed in her clothes from last night and was looking at the two of them apprehensively. Kaiba clenched his jaw, wondering how much she'd overheard, but Mokuba smoothly sailed into a cheerful greeting. "Morning, Sara. Want some croissants or muffins? I can get some black tea for you."

"No, thank you. That's quite all right." Sara gave Mokuba a small smile, then looked at Kaiba. "I wasn't expecting you to be here."

"I live here," Kaiba said blandly, turning back around. If she'd overheard, there was nothing to be done about it now. And it's not like he'd said anything different than what they had mutually agreed upon anyway, so there was no reason for him to feel uneasy, none whatsoever….

"Well, of course." Sara sat down at the edge of a chair at the end of the table between the two brothers. "I just expected you to be at work. You seem rather the workaholic type."

"Hm." He looked her. "Actually, I was planning on going over to Illusions Tower with you this morning to have a little chat with the dork squad. Between what you and Mokuba have told me about Yugi's behavior lately, I think it might be a good idea for you to come and stay here instead until you go back to Cairo."

As if they had rehearsed it beforehand, Sara's and Mokuba's jaws dropped in unison. Mokuba recovered first, a smile of victory spreading across his face.

Sara's expression remained perplexed. "Excuse me?"

"It's never a good sign when Yugi or his sidekicks aren't acting like themselves. I think it might be better if you stayed here," Kaiba said very matter-of-factly.

Sara gaped at him a moment longer, then turned to Mokuba. "Would you excuse us a moment, Mokuba? I'd like to speak with your brother."

"Sure." Grinning like a lunatic, he scooped up three more muffins then shuffled out of the dining room.

"Is there a problem?" Kaiba asked, impassive.

"Is there a problem?" She stared at him. "I'd like to know how we got from 'there is no relationship' to me moving in with you?"

So she had heard at least some of his conversation with Mokuba. He gave her a blank look. "Who said anything about moving in with me? You'll be here only a few more days, right?"

"That's not the point, and you know it."

"The invitation wasn't intended to be a proposition. We do have a guest suite."

"Well, of course, seeing as you entertain so frequently," she said dryly.

He folded his arms. "Hm. Do you realize you attack me every time you feel uncomfortable with yourself? What exactly is the problem? That you want to stay here?"

She flushed, her face hardening into an angry glare. "I should think it would be rather obvious what the problem is. In the less than forty-eight hours since we've met, we've slept together twice—and that's only if you're counting each night instead of each time—despite both agreeing that it was a mistake. So now, instead of doing the smart thing and realizing that for some reason we have an unhealthy attraction to each other and would be better off not spending so much time together, you're proposing I move in for the duration of my stay in San Francisco? I don't even know you!"

"Do you know Yugi and his friends any better?"

"No, but I haven't shagged any of them!"

"Well, good. You have standards, then."

She seethed. "Apparently not."

He sighed; this was going in the wrong direction. "That was not an insult directed at you, Sara, and whatever we've done and whether or not it's a good idea to do it again are irrelevant. I don't know if Yugi bothered to warn you about what you were getting yourself into before he dragged you halfway around the world to help him, but the fact is, that the nutjob who vandalized the tombs is almost certainly the same person who sunk an entire cruise ship just to get at me and Yugi. This guy is completely psychotic. Calls himself 'Ramesses' and thinks he's the reincarnation of one of the ancient Ramesses. Now, as much as I'm not one to give a lot of credence to all the mystical magical mumbo-jumbo Yugi and his groupies like to babble on about, I can't deny that somehow this bastard manages to worm his way in and control people, make them act in ways that are out of character. So when I hear that Yugi and Téa and who knows who else over there are not acting like themselves, I can't help but think that's not a good thing. Whether his methods are magical, technological or… hell, pharmaceutical for all I know, it makes little difference. He's dangerous. Mokuba almost died on that island, and Téa did, too. Frankly, I'm not interested in you being next over something you don't even need to be involved in, so I think it would be a good idea for me to find out what the hell is going on over there and for you to stay somewhere else. If not here, then I'll put you up at the Four Seasons. But I don't think you should stay there."

Most of her anger drained away and she looked at him as if trying to puzzle him out. "You're actually concerned about me."

"Contrary to popular opinion, I am not completely made of ice."

She blanched at that, and he wondered what about that statement would trigger such a strong response.

"I… no, I never thought you were," she said, faltering. "Yugi did tell me that if we ended up finding a ritual that involved the Millennium Items—those were sort of talismans the pharaoh and his—"

"I know what the Millennium Items are."

"You really do know quite a lot about ancient Egypt for someone who claims antipathy for the subject."

"Believe me, it was not intentional."

"Well, anyway, Yugi did say they were dangerous. Although he mentioned dark magic and evil spirits and other rubbish, so I didn't put much stock in it."

Kaiba scoffed. "Everything in his world is explained by magic and evil spirits. But the danger is real, and it has nothing to do with the Millennium Items."

She considered this. "But why is it more dangerous there than here? If this bloke is really able to somehow make people behave in ways that are out-of-character, couldn't that explain, well, the way the two of us have been behaving? We both agreed we're not acting like ourselves."

"I thought about that," he admitted. "But I don't see what the point would be. This isn't exactly his usual MO. He likes to separate people, make them attack each other indiscriminately. That's why I don't like what I'm hearing over about what's going on over at Illusions Tower. He operates in anger and violence and hate and this—" He indicated the two of them with a hand motion. "Whatever this is, is… heated, maybe, but not angry or violent. I doubt Ramesses is to blame, however unusual this… attraction is between us." It was an uncomfortable thing to say, as close as he cared to come to admitting there was any aspect of his life, especially his own emotions, that was not completely under his control.

She looked similarly disquieted. "I don't suppose it's the worst thing in the world. We're adults. We're unattached—or at least I'm assuming there's no Mrs. Kaiba or heiress fiancée hidden away somewhere."

Kaiba snorted. "Not hardly."

"Well, then, this… whatever it is, it might be rather irrational, perhaps, but it isn't really bad. And in a few more days, I'll return to Cairo and that will be that, right?"

"Exactly. So does that mean you'll stay here?"

"In the guest room?"

"Of course."

She hesitated before relenting. "I suppose it would make sense if I'm to be working with you."

"Good."

He met her eye and she flushed a little. He felt warm himself, suddenly, and he had the feeling that whatever their intentions, it wasn't likely that she would end up in the guest room.