"We could close the curtains,
Pretend like there's no world outside;
We could pretend it all the time.
And can't you see that it's just rainin'
There ain't no need to go outside."

~Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson

By the time Kaiba returned to his hotel, he was both mentally and physically exhausted from the day.

Damn you, Siegfried. Damn you.

The German's one-sided rivalry with Kaiba had been little more than a nuisance until today, when it became an actual threat to his company. He shook away the negative thoughts as he rode the elevator up to his floor. It was over now, and Siegfried von Shroeder was never going to bother him again. He'd finally learned his lesson, defeated twice by Kaiba's superior mental prowess, so he'd learned his lesson.

Maybe he should focus on absorbing smaller game companies into his own company. He might actually have some small level of success that way.

Not that Kaiba was about to advise the pink-haired narcissist on how to recover his company, but if Kaiba were running it, he would be able to revive it so it could start making real profit again.

Out of the elevator, down the hall, slip the key-card into the slot on the door—and he could finally breathe easily again.

"Welcome back."

As the door clicked shut behind Kaiba, a pair of pale arms looped around his neck, pulling him down a little so soft lips could peck his cheek.

"You did really well today. I'm proud of you." Ryou'd been watching the tournament coverage on TV, sequestered away from the KC Grand Prix for safety and discretion.

"You're a sight for sore eyes," Kaiba muttered as he enveloped Ryou in his arms, hugging him tightly.

"That bad, huh?" Ryou smiled up at him sympathetically before nuzzling into Seto's neck once more. Stress practically emanated from his aura, still seeping out of his pores, spilling off of him in waves. "You can relax now, Seto, I've got you."

Pale pink lips pressed to that lily-white neck, and they stood still like that for a long while, just embracing, letting the concerns of the world slip away. Ryou didn't need to say a word before guiding Seto over to the bed, letting the brunette flop onto it with a groan of fatigue as Ryou moved over to the night-stand and ordered room service in advance, asking for it to be delivered in a little over an hour. Kaiba needed some time away from other people, Ryou knew that. With a muted grace, Ryou perched on the edge of the bed and slid over, laying one hand on the center of that broad back and rubbing it gently. Seto stirred, turning his head and opening his sleepy eyes.

"I ordered some food for us, for later." Ryou reached down and stroked thick brown bangs out of Seto's eyes. "You can rest until it arrives, if you want."

Kaiba lifted one hand up to him, and Ryou immediately accepted it, letting Seto pull him down into his arms, cuddling up against him as those sparkling blue eyes were once again hidden from view. Seto didn't seem to want to talk, and Ryou was content to let the silence reign for now in their room. When a voice finally pierced the air and broke the stillness that blanketed their entire suite, it was Seto's.

"I never thought that Siegfried would do something so extreme."

"You never really know what someone can or cannot do until they're done it," Ryou murmured neutrally, waiting to see where those tired words wanted to take him.

"Just the thought of him makes me sick." His tone was probably meant to be acidic, but it was hard to sound as venomous as he normally would when he was holding his angel so close to his heart. "To think that he'd actually accuse me like that, in public, without any evidence."

The tension was creeping back into those muscles, so Ryou hushed him.

"He was lying. Nobody believes that you would lie or steal like that." Ryou cupped Seto's face with his hands and tilted it down to face his, their faces now mere centimeters apart. "Maybe a few people out there who don't know the first thing about you would believe him, but nobody that has met you would ever think that you're capable of doing something so horrible. We know better." With his sapphire eyes glazed over with exhaustion the way that they were, Seto's expression had become incredibly difficult to read. But when, after a few moments, he pulled Ryou into a soft kiss, sweet and tender, Ryou knew that his words had hit their mark. Seto didn't need to start doubting himself now, not when he was in the midst of such a big project, not when he was under so much pressure.

Though he was usually a gentle creature himself, just the thought of Siegfried made Ryou grit his teeth and lose his smile. If he'd only seen the slander leveled at Kaiba that was televised, what other pieces of conversation had transpired between the two, missed by the cameras and microphones? What else had he said to Seto with cruel intentions? Hopefully, he would never have to know, and Seto would forget about him entirely.

After dinner, they both went to sleep rather quickly, wiped out by the day's excitement. One of them, however, did not stay asleep.

Siegfried hardly knew what to do with himself after the tournament ended, besides slinking away with his brother in tow. He deposited his brother in his own, separate hotel room with his caretakers before Siegfried retreated to the hotel's bar, choosing a secluded corner within which to drink away his bitter sorrows. He didn't drag himself up to his room for sleep until long after midnight, the alcohol dragging him deep into the void of sleep.

Unfortunately for the German, he wouldn't be left to sleep peacefully that night.

Slinking through the shadows, slipping between cracks, and taking every security measure available to him, the Spirit of the Millennium Ring tracked his prey, stalking him through the night with the aid of sentient shades that showed him the way, disguised him as he scaled the side of the hotel building, and granted him entrance through a window that was meant to be incapable of opening from the outside. There he lay, the ignorant, haughty man who thought that he'd somehow possessed superior intelligence, superior tactics, and superior power. What an absolute and utter fool. Lips curling into a sneer of disdain, Bakura glared at Siegfried's sleeping form, muttering an ancient incantation that summoned swirling shadows at his feet, a seething black puddle of spirits that oozed malignancy and evil.

There. That would bind them to Siegfried, walking in his steps, following him in his shadow, everywhere he went. He'd never close his eyes without a fresh horror to great him and new nightmares to teach him what true fear was.

It was vengeance, for Kaiba. There was no hiding it, no denying it. But if Kaiba was going to be his ally, his partner, he couldn't let him be slandered by a man with no actual significance to his life. It was ridiculous.

Bakura left the way he'd come, slipping back into bed beside Kaiba with an air of satisfaction and his golden artifact still slung around his neck.