Disclaimer: I do not own YuGiOh, however Ari and all other OC's in this fic are of my own creation.

Precious

Chapter 25

I would live in your love as the sea-grasses live in the sea, Borne up by each wave as it passes, drawn down by each wave that recedes; I would empty my soul of the dreams that have gathered in me, I would beat with your heart as it beats, I would follow your soul as it leads.

-Sarah Teasdale-

The clock chimed nine when Seto stepped in the door. It's good to be home, he sighed as he set his briefcase down.

"Mokuba?" he called as he absently shuffled through the mail. There was no answer to his call and he set the mail aside, heading for the spiral staircase.

"Excuse me, Mr. Kaiba," a quiet voice spoke and he turned to see one of the maids.

"What is it?"

"Young Mr. Kaiba has retired early, sir."

"And Ms Nieche?"

"She dismissed me a few minutes ago after assisting with her bath and redressing her injuries."

Seto nodded and turned away, striding up the steps in twos. The last two days had been hectic beyond imagination demanding attention to smooth over the aftershocks of Matzu Omaka's death and Joko Omaka's arrest. It was promising to be a high profile case and an exceedingly unpleasant affair. And I've been ignoring the victims in my own home.

Mokuba was indeed sleeping peacefully but Ari was not to be found in her room. A distinct vanilla fragrance clung to the air, taunting him with her absence. She seemed to favor the scent ever since the night they spent together in the hotel. Where could she have gone? The balcony doors were slightly ajar and he stepped out to confirm his suspicion. A wraith in faint starlight, Ari walked the lower veranda overlooking the gardens.

She only paid half a mind to the cold night air seeping through her violet silk pajamas. Damp hair clung to the nape of her neck curling where it had begun to dry, potential for heralding a severe cold, but she didn't care. Horror replayed incessantly before her eyes, guilt smothering her heart. A tear trickled down her cheek and she angrily wiped it away. What do I have to be sad about?

A telltale quickening in her heart warned her just moments before a blanket draped over her shoulders. It always seemed to know when he was near.

"You'll catch your death out here," a stern voice chastised.

"I don't care," she murmured.

Kaiba stared at her for a moment, curiously disturbed by her broken disposition. Leaning his back against the stone balustrade, he looked up at the stars above the mansion.

"Gozaburo pushed me hard in my studies. He took away all of my toys, my games…. I wasn't permitted any form of recreation and I rarely saw Mokuba," he spoke quietly. "When I thought I could take no more, Mokuba managed to sneak me my Duel Monsters deck in a hollowed out book. He drew me a Blue Eyes White Dragon because he knew I always wanted one. I still have it."

"Why are you telling me this?" she wondered softly.

"You once asked why the Blue Eyes was so important to me," he replied simply.

"I thought it was the power."

"Power is very comforting to a ten year old boy who has none."

"I understand," she relented. "If life were a duel, I would wish the Blue Eyes to be in my deck as well."

Seto glanced at her profile gazing out over the gardens. She looked far older than her nineteen years, and lost.

"Inspector Otsuki has informed me there will be no charges against you. The security tapes were very," he hesitated as he vividly recalled the black and white footage, "enlightening."

"I'm relieved," she said without conviction.

"Ari," he gently took her hand and stared down at the fresh white bandage where blood had flowed freely before. "Some scars won't fade, but that doesn't mean the wound will never heal."

"I killed a man."

"You saved my life."

She closed her eyes.

Seto stared at her thoughtfully. "Were you ever going to tell me what happened?"

Ari swallowed hard. He saw the tape. "Does it matter?"

"I get the distinct feeling you don't entirely trust me."

Hesitantly, she pulled her hand from his grasp and cradled it against her chest. "He took my necklace," she whispered.

"You mean this one?"

The diamond seemed to capture the starlight and sparkle as no stone should on a moonless night. Ari stared at it resting in his open palm in disbelief.

"It wasn't important to the investigation, so it was returned to me and I had the chain replaced," he explained. "Turn around."

She obediently turned away from him, pulling the length of her damp hair over her shoulder.

Clasping the chain in place, his fingers gently brushed the faint scar on the back of her neck. Acute guilt seized him at the proof that he had failed her yet again. His hands dropped to his side, the seductive fragrance of vanilla assaulting his nerves. Ari turned back to lean against the balustrade, tentatively touching the icy jewel to be certain it was there, real.

"Better?" he asked.

"Yes, thank you," she returned shyly and his heart faltered at her rarely expressed gratitude. I'm getting soft, he thought disagreeably.

"Tell me something, Ari. Why Mokuba? Why the patent?"

"Omaka couldn't take what was no longer mine and…there was no one else I would rather leave my inheritance to."

"You had it the whole time, didn't you?"

"No," she looked up at him, pale eyes honest. "Kaska had put it in a safety deposit box and given the key to Lil. I knew nothing of it. She gave me the key shortly before Mokuba and I were attacked."

Kaiba studied her curiously. "Is that why you stopped selling programming to Omaka?"

"Yes. Without the prototype, the program was worthless to both of you so it was a betrayal I could live with." She looked down at her hand resting on unforgiving stone. "I hated you so much but I couldn't…I couldn't hurt Mokuba."

"I'm sorry," Seto spoke suddenly and she glanced up surprised.

"What for?"

"I promised I would never let anyone hurt you, but I hurt you."

"Don't. Please don't," she pleaded softly and his troubled eyes darkened.

"I'm not a man given to making apologies, Ari, so you best take what you can," he warned.

"Maybe you just need practice," she found herself saying. "Try being wrong more often."

A deep rumbling chuckle shook him and he smiled. "You mean be foolish like you more often."

Ari frowned. "Fools rush in where even angels fear to tread."

"Alexander Pope," Kaiba grinned. "You're well read, for a child."

"I'm not a child!" she snapped, her eyes flashing faintly.

"Not so much anymore," he agreed softly and Ari felt her heart flutter as it was prone to do when his voice fell to that tone. She looked away, not trusting the story her eyes might tell even in starlight.

The cold reached through the blanket to nip at her skin and she shivered. Am I always going to feel cold and empty when he is near?

"Ari. There is something else you must explain."

Her stare drifted to the ground below the veranda, his shadow looming beside her own. "Being?"

"When you, when Matzu—." How can I ask this without making her feel guilty? Seto shook his head in frustration. "You said you would not let him take what is yours," he finally blurted out and watched her figure grow very still. "What did you mean?"

That. He had to ask about that, didn't he? I can't tell him! I can't tell him my greatest fear is losing him. I can't—.

Warm fingers lifted her chin and she was forced to look into those piercing eyes. "What do you have that is so precious to you?" he asked softly.

"Why didn't you let me go?" she demanded and his eyes widened in surprise.

"What?"

"He was going to kill you. You should have let me go."

"You belong to me," his tone dropped dangerously.

"You traded me for Mokuba."

"You went on your own free will and letting you go was the hardest thing I ever had to do. I won't do it again!"

Her breath caught in her throat and her heart shuddered in pain. "I'm property," she whispered.

Seto's eyes softened and he gently stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. "Is it such an insult that I have placed value on you?"

"The program is almost complete, Mokuba has the prototype… I have nothing left to give you."

Kaiba's eyes narrowed in threat. "This habit of underestimating yourself is irritating." Electricity shot through her spine as his hand swept beneath the blanket and cradled the small of her back, pulling her towards him.

"What do you want from me?" she asked in exasperation.

He stared at her silently for a moment and she thought she would crumble into ash. "I'm going to ask you one question. I demand you answer honestly."

"Y-you think I wouldn't?" she asked hesitantly.

His lips twitched. "I know your habit of evading the subject. You've done it effectively this evening. I will have your word on this one."

The firm hand on her back warned her she had little choice, as seemed the norm since Seto Kaiba had entered her life. What if it is a question I cannot answer?

"I don't feel well," she spoke as she tried to step back. A knowing, challenging smile swept across his lips and froze her heart.

"No."

"What do you mean 'no'?" she gasped.

Blue eyes gleamed as he pulled her securely against him. "I will have your answer."

The blanket slipped from her shoulders as she desperately pushed against him, crying out as pain shot through her injured hands. He immediately grasped her thin wrists in one large hand and held them immobile against his chest.

"Stop it, Ari," his voice rang sharp. "Don't fight me."

I have nothing left to fight with. Her body relaxed slightly under his touch.

"That's better."

"Ask it," she whispered in defeat.

All of her walls were down when he captured her lips. There was no time to raise a defense and even as she cried out desperately to her heart, it ignored her and reveled in passionate glory. His touch was tender and she wanted to lose herself in it but feared the consequences, feared being lost within him and abandoned in return. Lies failed her and with fears and all, she fell.

Seto could sense her inner struggle as her body fought for control, decision. She will not win this time, he determined as he deepened the kiss in pursuit of the lingering warmth he glimpsed when he caught her off guard. Defenses undermined, her surrender came suddenly and shot clear through his soul. He had his answer.

"As I thought," he breathed huskily when he broke the kiss.

Ari fell limp against him, having lost the will to fight. This man had taken everything from her and now, willingly, she had abandoned herself. Why? Why did he ask that?

"Do you understand now, Ari?" he asked as he entwined his fingers in her damp hair. "Do you understand why I can never let you go?"

I don't want you to!

"Ari," he lifted her chin and her gaze. "You are my most precious possession."

Unbidden tears freed themselves and he tenderly kissed them.

"Curse you, Seto Kaiba," she whispered and he chuckled deeply.

"Still?"

A timid smile swept across her lips. "Get used to it."

He kissed her forehead and suddenly released her. Retrieving the blanket from the ground, he swept it around her shoulders. "I'll not have you getting sick on me," he spoke lightly though the familiar set of his expression told her there would be no arguments.

"You worry too much," she admonished as she turned away from him only to find herself recaptured, his arms stealing around her waist and pulling her back against him. She draped her arms comfortably over his but made no move to free herself. His embrace dispelled the cold far more effectively than a hundred blankets and she could wish for nothing more.

"With you, I'm afraid I will always worry," he murmured.

Ari looked up at the stars and wondered if they were envious of the diamond about her throat, twisting and shattering their distant light into fractures echoing the feelings he had locked within its glorious stone the moment he gave it to her so many days before. Even then, he loved me and I was too afraid to see. I'm not afraid anymore.

"Ari," he spoke suddenly.

"Yes?"

"So I'm a Blue Eyes White Dragon, am I?"

She tilted her head back to look at him peering down at her with that mischievous gleam that frightened so many others. Tracing up the length of his firm jaw line, her fingers grasped his thick brown hair and pulled him towards her.

"Mine," she said possessively as she claimed his lips and proved it true.

-End-

A/N- Coming soon to a computer near you, the eagerly anticipated sequel to The Possession. Continuing Ari and Seto's story only one month from where we left them, Seto Kaiba will find that when his two greatest obsessions collide, only one of them will remain whole. The choice may not have been his, but the consequences are. Having failed too many times to protect the one he loves, will he lose her forever? Will Ari listen to her heart over the mirage of truth and lies she has fallen into?

Keep your eyes open for within two to three weeks you too may be swallowed by The Obsession.