Orion
by
The Pop Tart Spirits
This story is rated R for yaoi relationships and most likely some yaoi sex later on, so if you don't like it, don't read it. THIS HAS BEEN YOUR WARNING.
A note: Thoughts in italics represent a conversation between a hikari and a yami, or two yamis. Thoughts in italics with dashes (-) represent private thoughts.
Summary: The gang is in their senior year of highschool. Seto Kaiba's life has turned upside down. Yami and Bakura... working together? The mishaps that occur during the last few months of hell with flourescent lighting.
Ch. 1He's not that different from the rest of us. Yami remarked in some surprise. Yugi's tri-colored head snapped up. Huh?
Yami jerked his head to indicate a trench coat-clad figure stepping lithely from a limousine. The slam of the door made some other watchers cringe, but Yami's expression remained thoughtful. Yugi glanced at his dark half, then joined in the watching of Seto Kaiba as the cobalt-eyed teen stalked towards the main school entrance. Shooting a scathing glance at everyone and no one around him, Kaiba's eyes seemed to widen in shock when they met those of Yami and Yugi. Seemingly unnerved that the two were watching him, Kaiba rolled his shoulders and proceeded inside.
You were saying? Yugi asked, prodding Yami in the shoulder. Yami jumped a little, and flushed. Saying?
You were having naughty Kaiba dreams again, weren't you?
Yami raised an eyebrow. That's not quite how I'd put it...
Of course not. You haven't even come to grips with your feelings yet.
Yami turned to fully face a completely serious Yugi, speaking aloud. Since when were you so direct, little light?
Since my other half decided to fall in love. With his greatest rival, no less!
Perhaps that has something to do with it. Yami mused.
Huh?
Well, Kaiba and I were close during Battle City. Very close. Even though it was only because of our rivalry, I believe that closeness may have had a hand in my... infatuation.
You admitted you like him! Amazing.
Shut up. Yami growled playfully, poking his light in the shoulder. The first bell rang, signaling class would start in a matter of minutes, and both spike- haired boys groaned before standing and heading in. Yugi needed to stop at his locker, and so left Yami to enter the classroom alone. He wove through the teeming masses of students as gracefully as haste would allow, and made it through the door just as the late bell rang.
Class was different this year, without Jonouchi Katsuya and Honda Hiroto. They'd both been accepted to a prestigious school in America, and while they weren't studying, they were dueling. They hated the school but adored the country, they both said in their various letters home, so they figured the good and bad evened out. Mai and Otogi weren't in high school; both saw the members of the old gang every once in awhile, but no one really wanted to admit they'd lost touch.
Anzu... now she was a different story altogether. She still went to Domino High, but upon learning that Yugi and Yami both had homosexual tendencies, she went straight to the registrar and had all her classes changed. Didn't even try to explain it. The only one who had been the least bit disappointed was Yugi.
The sensei regarded he and his sheepish bow coolly, and Yami made his way to his seat feeling miffed. Yugi dashed in moments later, and the sensei handed him a tardy slip with the same cool indifference. Yugi accepted it with an apologetic flush and sat.
Don't look now, but he's right behind you.
Aibou, I saw him when I came in.
Oh. Well just so ya know, he wasn't glaring daggers at your back today.
Oh. Yami answered softly. Aibou, I don't ca-
His eyes are wide and...omigod.
Aibou? What is it? Yami couldn't help the panic rising in his mental tone.
Yugi's voice had filled with distress. The smaller boy couldn't turn around during class but Yugi pictured himself with worried eyes. Yami, he's crying.
Crying? Yami shot back in disbelief. Seto Kaiba doesn't cry.
Well, he could if he was in the back row. Like he is today. And if Sensei 'Bitch' didn't give a damn. Which she doesn't. And if he had something so heavy on his mind that he was staring at your back as though he could burn holes right through it... which he is.
Startled at Yugi's last comment, Yami's gaze shot from the desk in front of him to his hikari's worried eyes. Yugi had turned slightly and Yami could tell the boy was looking right past him. Yami, he's definitely crying.
Why?
Yugi's shoulders slumped a bit as he shot his dark half a rather annoyed look. The hell if I know! Yugi's irate answer took Yami aback, and he shot up and back in his seat, only to crack his back loudly over something hard behind him. His 'ow' was synchronized with a deeper, growling one and Yami turned, rubbing his back, only to gape and flinch. Seto Kaiba, rubbing his sore head, was fixing an angry and extremely cute pouty glare on the former Pharaoh.
Apparently, Kaiba had put his head down moments before Yami had decided to stretch.
Not trusting himself to speak, Yami shrugged apologetically then turned in his seat to face Yugi. Said teen looked like he would burst with held-in laughter.
It's not that funny. Yami thought crossly.
Yes, yes it is. Yugi's amethyst eyes sparkled.
Yami's eyes were clouded slightly. Did you see that pout? Adorable. I might just have to frame that memory and hang it over the bed in my soul room...
Yami. Yugi's flat tone jerked Yami out of his pleasant reverie.
Hn?
You're obsessing.
Am not. Yami pictured himself with an incredibly large pouting lip that hung to the floor. Yugi doubled over in his desk, trying not to laugh.
Yes you are! You should have seen what was running through your subconscious! You are so dirty, Yami...
Yami jerked his head a little in shock. My subcon... Aibou, what did you see?
'Innocently' Yugi bit a finger and grinned. Nothing...
Behind the dark spirit and unbeknownst to him, Seto Kaiba was softly shedding tears on to the hard desk. He hated himself for it, God knows who could see him, but he felt so helpless... his world was crashing down and he had no one to help him this time...
A small sob escaped him before he could push it down his throat again. Yami heard.
Kaiba, his head in the crook of his elbow, heard the rustle of leather and knew Yami was looking down at him. His fears were confirmed when he heard Yami's rich, slightly accented voice softly inquire, "What is it?"
Kaiba opted for ignoring him as he let that wonderful voice wash over his hunched shoulders like waves on seaside cliffs. He let it toy with his nerves, even knowing it was a weakness. He tried not to let the Pharaoh affect him, but on days like this·he was vulnerable to just about anything.
He'd gone to see Mokuba this morning, before setting off to school. He'd been greeted with the same grim news: no, the young boy hadn't woken. His vital signs were stable only with the help of those boxy contraptions he was hooked to. And he showed no signs of better or worse. He was the same. Just as he had been for about a year.
It was his senior year, but Kaiba disregarded any fantasies of college. He would stay by his brother's side until... he couldn't say it. Until... he had to pull the plug. Or, until the little black haired boy woke. Just thinking about the slate- eyed, thirteen-and-a-half year old tornado caused fresh tears to well. His shoulders stiffened slightly, and Yami noticed.
A slight sigh escaped the Egyptian's lips; he raised a hand and slid it across Kaiba's tense shoulders to try and comfort him. The friendly contact, however, only served to dissolve the rest of Kaiba's control. He sagged, sobbing softly, and Yami hesitantly wrapped blue-clad arms around the cobalt-eyed teen. He didn't ask, nor did he try to probe Kaiba's mind. He simply held the youth in their half embrace, hoping the torrent of tears would stop soon. It would not due for Kaiba to be caught like this.
Yami growled at himself as he rubbed Kaiba's back in small circular motions, trying to relieve some of the tension. Yami glanced down at the distraught teen.
As though responding to the mental question, Kaiba sniffed quietly and looked up. A lone tear still slid slowly down his tanned cheek, and Yami couldn't resist. He reached up a finger- cursing himself because it was trembling- and wiped the tear away. Turning from Kaiba to stare thoughtfully at the ground, Yami put his finger to his lips.
Kaiba was shocked. -He... he's tasting...-
Yami turned suddenly back to the cobalt-eyed teen, his gaze so intense that Kaiba gulped and looked away. Yami was suddenly concerned. Seto Kaiba did not flinch. Seto Kaiba did not look away. Hell, Seto Kaiba definitely did not cry!
Raising Kaiba's chin with two fingertips, Yami gazed into those ocean-blue depths and whispered, "Will you be all right?"
The question broke the spell Kaiba had been under, and with an almost audible crack his cold mask snapped back into place. He glared at Yami with now-dry eyes; Yami snatched his hand away as though burnt. He turned away so that Kaiba couldn't, didn't have to, see the hurt in his eyes.
He sat slumped, finding the grained surface of his desk fascinating, until the bell rang. Then he stood, gathered his things, and left.
Yami...
Aibou, I don't want to talk.
And he closed the mental connection. As Yami made his way to his next class, which he ironically shared with both Kaiba and that Tomb Robber, he ran his still-shaking fingers through his hair.
R&R, please.