So... I've finally gotten off my lazy ass enough to make an attempt at a multi-chapter story after getting over the "shock" that WAF is over...

I find it hard to guess whether this will be up to scratch, so I'll let you decide! It took me forever to decide to post it, but I figured that since the weather here is so crappy at the moment, I might as well write something, er, "sunny" to lift the mood a bit. Something like that.

Some things that will happen later on are actually based on my family's own experience during our vacation (we've traveled southwards to Africa three times so far)... it's a rather feeble attempt at a bit of humor, just to warn you XD (I don't think that I'm so good at writing really funny things, but oh well...)

I shall now list the shippings in this story, just so nobody will be caught off-guard:

Puppyshipping (SetoxJou)
Tendershipping (BakuraxRyou)
Bronzeshipping (MarikxMalik)
Puzzleshipping (YamixYugi)
Danceshipping (MaixAnzu)

BTW: I've included Noa in the story too. Don't ask me how they "brought him back", I suck at thinking up reasonable (and maybe logical) explanations for that. It just... somehow came to be, okay...?

Yes, I'm using Japanese names for this one (except Yami, I guess, but I just can't get used to anything else, sorry folks). I'll let off the honorifics, though, 'cause I have an awful tendency to royally screw those things up. There, now that has been said as well.

Disclaimer (applies to all chapters): I don't own anything related to Yu-Gi-Oh! - Kazuki Takahashi does. The "Two Fishes" actually did exist, but it doesn't anymore (as far as I know), so of course I don't own that either. All I own are the vacation memories.

Now all that's left to say is: enjoy! (I hope...)

It was the middle of September when the gang was having an unusually quiet lunch break at college. Well, it wasn't the entire clique like it had been just three years ago; after high school, ways had parted, and it was only on special occasions that they all got together again.

Currently, it was only Katsuya, Anzu and Ryou who sat at a table in the cafeteria. The latter two were almost taken aback by the quietness at their table and eyed their blond friend, who was quite absorbed in a magazine of some sort.

"Jou, what's wrong? You're so quiet, and you haven't even touched your sandwich yet!" Anzu remarked with a twinge of worry. When Katsuya wasn't eating his food as if he wouldn't live to see the next day, something usually was very wrong.

"S'okay… I'm fine…" came a rather absent mutter as the other boy traced a line with his finger as his eyes widened a bit.

"What are you looking at?" Ryou wondered and leaned over a bit.

Instead of answering, Katsuya whooped, startling his friends for a moment. Then he pushed the magazine towards them. "Check it out! It's perfect!"

Puzzled, the other two looked at the double page in front of them. It turned out that it was a travel magazine, and the page they were looking at was advertising for a charter voyage, a charter voyage to –

"Kenya?" Ryou asked, looking up again.

Katsuya beamed and looked as if Christmas had come early. "Yeah! Wouldn't it be great? Sunshine, lots of warmth, the ocean…"

"Sort of like: catch some rays before the winter's here?" Anzu grinned.

"You said it! Would you like to come along? You know, maybe we could get together with the others again…"

"Seriously?! Sure, I'd love to!" the brunette cheered.

"Cool! And you, Ryou?"

"Actually, I would, but I'm rather worried about Bakura… you know how possessive he is…" the white-haired Briton said elusively.

"Then just tell him he can come along too!"

Ryou brightened. "Ah, okay! I'll ask him!"

"Sweet! Now all we need to do is call up the others and ask if they have some time to spare – two weeks in about a month's time."

The others agreed enthusiastically, and from then on, the day went by astoundingly quickly.

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"Wow, Jou, you look very cheerful… What's up?" Mokuba asked when the other came home in the late afternoon.

"I've just decided something! We're going on a trip to Africa!" was the answer when Katsuya gracelessly let himself fall onto the couch next to the younger Kaiba, who showed immediate approval of that idea.

"Wow, really?! Where to in Africa?"

"Kenya. Beach vacation, how does that sound?"

"Neat! When are we going?"

"The middle of October, once I've arranged everything."

Mokuba squealed with delight, but suddenly faltered, and a suspicious look dawned on his face. "How did you get Nii-sama to agree to this?"

Katsuya laughed nervously. "I didn't. I made that decision entirely on my own. Hey, if he doesn't want to come, he can stay here…"

"You're kidding yourself; do you really think he'd let you go someplace like that on your own?" another voice asked, and a teal-haired teen entered the living room.

"Hi Noa. Well, this time I'll make him decide: either he lets me go or he comes with us. I can't just stay here forever, otherwise I'll go nuts."

"Good luck. But I warn you: he isn't fond of beach vacation. He won't like it."

"As I said before: it's all up to him. I'm not letting him keep me this time," Katsuya declared, "Did he say if he's coming home tonight?"

"He said that it would be sometime later, if at all," Mokuba answered.

"It figures." He sounded a bit disappointed, the two Kaiba brothers thought. "Oh well… I'll start making dinner now…"

"Give us a call when we should come," Noa reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Go on and play your video games!" Katsuya told them with a shooing gesture and a grin.

Already arguing about whether they should play a jump-and-run or a racing game, Mokuba and Noa ran upstairs while Katsuya headed for the kitchen to start with the preparations.

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Later that evening, when the two Kaiba brothers had gone back to their gaming session, Katsuya was doing part of his homework on the couch in the living room when someone suddenly patted him on the head as if he were a dog.

"Good evening, puppy."

Katsuya looked up past the lean of the couch. "Hello to you too. I guess you'll never stop calling me that…"

"Why should I? I know you secretly like it; you can't fool me," Seto Kaiba answered with a smirk.

"Whatever. How was your day?"

"Looking up," the brunet replied with a pointed look as he rested his other lower arm on the top of the couch and started to fiddle with the blond hair with the other hand, "And you?"

"Pretty good, actually. I've decided that I'm gonna go on vacation with the gang."

"Did you, now? And where will you be going to?" Seto asked, narrowing his eyes a bit in suspicion.

"I saw this really good special offer in a travel catalogue. Picture this: sunshine and warmth at the beach in Kenya!" Katsuya answered enthusiastically, making hand gestures to emphasize his point.

"That's quite far away, Katsuya…" Seto began. The upcoming scowl was all it took to tell that Noa had indeed been right about his brother; Seto's protests against such trips usually began with that phrase.

"C'mon, let me go! You wanna have me rot away here?!" Katsuya interrupted.

"You're exaggerating; I have let you travel before…"

"With a bunch of those goons in suits watching every step I take, yeah! And besides: I wanna go see what it's like outside of Japan!" the blond complained.

"Those so-called 'goons' are only there for your protection. Or have you already forgotten those threatening letters you received shortly before high school was over? They may have just been from those blasted fangirls, but still… I just resolve to such measures on behalf of the saying 'better safe than sorry'," Seto retorted sternly.

"Listen, Seto: I really, really wanna go. You have two options: either you just let me go for once – and if you would, then preferably without an army of bodyguards – or you come along with us."

"Exactly who does that 'us' include?" Seto asked suspiciously.

"So far, Mokuba, Noa too, probably, Anzu, Ryou and maybe Bakura. They're gonna ask the others, so that's all I know for the moment."

"…I don't like beach vacation," Seto muttered after a brief pause.

Katsuya closed his book and sat up with a laugh. "Oh, come on, you don't even know what beach vacation really is like! According to Mokuba, all you do is mope around on those deckchairs! And a bit of a tan would do you good, if you ask me!" he added and attempted to playfully pinch the CEO.

In a flash, however, Seto caught his wrist. "Oh, no you don't! Anyhow, if my hearing didn't deceive me, you said something about a special offer, did you not?"

"Yep! It's a charter voyage, so it's a spontaneous decision!" Katsuya beamed. His wrist was released, and he shook it a bit.

"Charter voyage?! It's probably some very cheap offer, I may presume…" Seto sighed theatrically, "Why do you settle for something like that when you could book the same thing, but top-class instead?"

"Because I want to go with my friends, and not everyone can afford to travel top-class all the time. It doesn't always have to be the most expensive price category," Katsuya argued, "Why don't you come along? It would be lots of fun!"

"I told you time and time again that I'm not the type for beach vacation!" Seto snorted.

"Give it another shot! Pleeeeease?"

"Don't you have homework to finish?" Seto asked back as he straightened again, trying hard not to look into the surely-evident puppy-eyes.

"Aw… If you promise to think about it, I'll get back to it right away!"

"We'll see. On to a more interesting topic: is there any chance that I could expect you later tonight, puppy?" Even if Seto hadn't just said that, Katsuya would have impossibly failed to decipher the look in those blue eyes: it spoke volumes.

"On the seductive tour again, aren't you? It's a shame that I have school early tomorrow…!" Katsuya sighed wistfully.

"Early as in early-early? Well then, we could wake up together, and you wouldn't need to set your alarm clock," Seto grinned, knowing that this one point was almost impossible to resist. Without a doubt.

"Hey yeah, you're right!" The blond nodded happily, then realized what had happened. "Eh, there goes yet another time that I can't say no to you, but you can to me… how do you do that?!"

"I've just got what it takes. Now do as you said you would do – and try not to keep me waiting for too long," Seto told him in a sensual whisper.

"You can count on me," Katsuya assured him.

The taller man leaned forward and kissed him. "Good boy," he spoke before swiftly turning around and heading for the stairs. The whole thing was well-calculated, and he smirked when a marginally enraged shout reached his ears:

"I'm still not a dog you can train, Kaiba!"

Ah yes, it was predictable and absolutely typical: that protesting retort, the partially faked and partially true anger and the use of his surname. It amused him to no end, and a fair deal of that amusement still lingered on his face as he went to Mokuba and Noa, who of course didn't hesitate to pull one of their notorious persuasion acts on him…

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The next morning, Katsuya woke up when Seto shook his shoulder. Although he groaned, griped and fruitlessly attempted to rub the sleep out of his eyes a few times, he knew that waking up like this was still more pleasant than to the shrill sound of the hellish alarm clock (to this day, part of him swore that whoever had come up with that morning concept had been the devil in disguise). For occasions like this, they had some sort of ritual: Katsuya would take Seto to work in his own car instead of the limousine. And as usual, the brunet shook his head at the rather simple blue Toyota.

"Why you settle for this instead of any other better car you could afford now, I will probably never understand," he commented as they got in.

"Face it, Seto: I'm just a mediocre kind of guy in these kinds of things. It's what I'm used to. And I know that you weren't living in riches all your life, but you can't deny that it simply became a part of you."

"Oh, shut up and drive," Seto told him with a teasing nudge of his elbow. As the car began to move, a magazine was tossed into his lap. "What's this?"

"The offer I was talking about. Have a look – not a prejudiced look, though," Katsuya invited him as he pulled out onto the road and switched on the radio.

Seto scowled briefly at the lighted display – when he was driving, he never listened to music – then looked back at the magazine. It definitely looked like something that appealed to the blond: palm trees, perfect photos of the Indian Ocean and a wonderful-sounding description of the hotel. He looked a bit more closely at it and raised an eyebrow.

"Katsuya, this is a four-star-hotel."

"I've told you before that it doesn't always need to be the best and nothing else but the best. I think it looks just fine. Doesn't it just make you wanna be there as soon as you see it?"

"All advertisements are designed to have that effect."

"Don't be so dismissive for a change! Thinking about it positively for a second can make –" He stopped in mid-sentence and listened for several seconds before cheering: "Yay, one of my favorite songs! All right!" And just like that, he began to sing along.

In order to distract himself although the singing wasn't all that bad, Seto refocused on the advertisement. He thought about the other's all-too-apparent enthusiasm and how it had indeed been quite a while since their last reunion (by Katsuya's standards). Furthermore, a rather special date was approaching… While they stopped at the few red lights on their way to Kaiba Corporation, Katsuya stole a glance at his passenger and tried to hide a smile: he guessed that his idea might be on the brink of finding appreciation. As he wasn't aiming to push his potential luck, however, he didn't say anything until the first destination was reached.

"Right, then… have a nice day," he said.

"You too, Katsuya. See you tonight," Seto replied.

They gave each other a short kiss on the corner of the mouth, then Seto got out of the car and entered the imposing building of his company while Katsuya headed on to the college he attended. The lady at the reception desk gave Seto her usual smile, and he reacted in his usual way: namely, a brief glance, but no smile in return and once again giving the impression that he was otherwise stoic about the previous goodbye. Only a very skilled eye could have spotted the pleasure hidden in his face…

At school, Katsuya had barely walked through the doors when something bowled him right over. This knocked the air out of him, so even a startled yelp was impossible to manage. Now, as he lay there on the floor and other students stared at him, he was given the few moments he needed to recover and determine who had greeted him so vehemently: a mop of wild white hair with two particularly outstanding bangs and a pair of madly glittering brown eyes, so that could only mean –

"Blondie! What's up?"

"Bakura! What are you doing here?" Katsuya said with a gasp as he tried to push the tomb robber off of him.

"My dear Hikari had some interesting news for me yesterday, and I wanted to hear some more about it from you in person!" He sat up with an almost scary grin and offered his hand to the other. "And as for these people you call teachers: I'll just tell them that I'm pulling another visitor's day stunt."

The three other members of the once inseparable gang glanced at each other and sweatdropped. This would be at least the twelfth time that the former thief was doing that ever since they had started this college two years ago after a gap year, and everyone remembered the first time that "stunt" had happened: it had actually been visitor's day, and Bakura's patience had waned all too quickly – the results had been utter chaos, a stampede out of the classroom, a narrow escape of the teacher plus a missing blackboard whose presence was currently "gracing" other unfortunate souls in the Shadow Realm. It was only because Bakura had effectively threatened to send anyone who ratted on him to the Shadow Realm that he had gotten away with it just like that (as an aftermath, Ryou had been very, very angry for a whole week, and his yami claimed that to this day, it had been one of the longest weeks of his entire life).

"Um… great, Bakura, really… anyway, it's good to see you again! It's been ages!"

"For you, maybe, puppy dog. To me, it was practically yesterday."

"You had better pray that Kaiba never hears you say that, otherwise you'll be dead in a heartbeat," Anzu told him.

"Not if I would send him to the Shadow Realm first," Bakura retorted smugly.

"You're not sending anybody to the Shadow Realm! That cannot be your sole solution for everything!" Ryou huffed.

"Take it easy, Hikari; I'll behave," the albino said calmly, folding his hands behind his head. In Bakura-speak, that meant that under very lucky circumstances, only a chalk eraser might get sent to the aforementioned Shadow Realm. "Back to the original topic: tell me more about this vacation you're planning."

"You're interested in coming, then?" Katsuya asked as they headed for the auditorium.

"Are you kidding? Hell yeah! Sun, fun and nothing to do; what more could I want?" Bakura cackled.

"Oh man… alright, this is the deal…" When they took their seats in the auditorium, Katsuya showed Bakura the advertisement, and it merely took two minutes for the latter to get very excited; so excited, in fact, that when the lesson started, he kept on bugging Ryou to discuss the price issue in particular until the gentler white-haired one gave in and tried to do a balancing act of paying attention to the teacher and Bakura at the same time, basically. Therefore, the lesson seemed to last an eternity to him, and when it was over, he heaved a loud sigh of relief as they left the room.

"Well, count us in!" Bakura exclaimed brightly.

"Seriously? It's okay?" Katsuya looked downright delighted.

"Finances and everything," the thief confirmed.

"Speaking of finances: it's not dirty money, is it? As in: stolen money?" Anzu asked suspiciously.

"Not this time," Bakura told her. On anyone else, the smile would have looked convincing, but in this case, it didn't necessarily allay the brunette's suspicions.

"Say, Jou, what about Kaiba? Is he coming too?" Ryou suddenly asked.

"I'm working on it. He says that he's not the type for that kind of vacation and that he doesn't really fancy the idea of me going on such a trip – but hey, I can always hope! Remember, it's almost our one-year-anniversary…" He got a rather faraway look in his eyes as he gazed at the ceiling.

"Oh, of course! He could consider it a present for you!" Anzu squealed.

"Sure, but I'm not gonna push it… he hates persistence…"

"And what about hinted persuasion?"

Katsuya snickered. "That's something else. And for that, I have two great assistants."

"Hehe, that would make a tale to pass on for generations to come: Seto Kaiba at the beach, possibly even in swimming trunks!" Bakura closed his eyes and held up his hands as if he were having a vision. He smirked. "Ooh yes, that would be one hell of a photo op…"

"You'd be dead if he'd hear you say that too," Anzu reminded him.

"I think you all know that I'm not afraid of that penny-pincher; and besides, I don't think that you'd be so easy on him if he'd kill one of your friends, wouldn't you, Blondie?" Bakura asked casually, draping an arm around his blond friend.

"Seto can be generous if he wants to; it just depends on mood, place and time," Katsuya retorted defensively before continuing with a shake of his head: "And why is it that we're always on the topic of death with you?"

"Can I help it that it's my favorite subject…?"

"For your sake, I hope that he'll decide to come along, Jou. I know it would make you very happy," Ryou remarked.

"Yeah… I won't push him, though. Anyway, have you already heard something from the others?" Katsuya asked as they went to their next lesson (the people around them respectfully got out of the way when they spotted Bakura).

"Ah, it's good that you ask: Yugi and Yami can come, it's no problem. I haven't been able to contact Malik and Marik yet –"

"Leave that to me," Bakura advised him, "I'll probably meet up with Marik sometime next week." Then he rolled his eyes and muttered something about "not letting the vacation get disrupted by the baka Pharaoh".

"Oh, okay then. I also couldn't reach Honda and Otogi yet, so… hmm, who does that leave?" Ryou muttered, counting them on his fingers.

"Mai, of course," Anzu interjected with a pointed look.

"Oh yes, of course! Silly me!" Ryou quickly apologized.

"If she has time too, she can come as well," Katsuya offered.

"Definitely," Anzu replied firmly as they entered the classroom.

They talked leisurely about the matter a while longer until the teacher entered the room – her cheerful greeting quickly got cut off when she saw a familiar face sitting next to Ryou and glaring at anyone who laid eyes on his hikari for more than three seconds.

"Oh no… it's you…!" she gasped.

"Hello again," Bakura answered with a wicked smile and crossed his arms, "I hope I'm not…" He paused dramatically. "…disturbing you because I wish to visit Ryou once again…"

The teacher knew better than to say something against that. "Oh no, not at all!" she corrected herself hastily, though the cheerfulness on her face was as fake as could be. For the whole lesson, she acted like a cat on a hot tin roof and stumbled over her own words plus dropping the chalk when she saw how Bakura lazily fingered the spikes of his Sennen Ring at one point, signaling his boredom. Noticing that distress, Ryou had reproachfully poked his counterpart – but when his message was misinterpreted, he was forced to convince Bakura that no, this was not an appropriate time to make out …

The day was a cross between entertainment and anxiety for most of the other students and the teachers as the mere presence of Bakura made them sweat. The tomb robber himself behaved quite well for his standards, and by the end of the day, the only things that had ended up in the Shadow Realm were several chalks, a defect microphone whose occasional screech had hurt their ears one time too many as well as some girl's drawing of Ryou (Bakura had only resolved to send away the drawing instead of the girl because he didn't want to face another week of dead silence between him and his love).

"You and Marik are probably turning that place into a junkyard!" Anzu sighed when they left the school building for good in the later afternoon.

"Nonsense! And even so, there's no such thing as lack of space in that place." Bakura stretched luxuriously. "By Ra, how you guys manage this day after day is a mystery to me!"

"And how you manage to not do anything most of the time is a mystery to me," Ryou countered.

"Oh, come on, Hikari; tell me you don't want to argue now!" Bakura groaned.

Ryou grabbed his hand and smiled. "No, I don't. Now let's go home, I need some rest…"

"That sounds like a plan. Keep us up to date with that trip, Blondie, you hear?"

"Sure. As soon as I know for sure who's coming along, I'll book everything, so all you'll need to do is pack and then show up when it's time to go."

"If you get the chance, tell Kaiba that we'd really welcome him if he'd come along too," Anzu told Katsuya.

"I second that," Ryou added while Bakura merely shrugged.

"Sure, guys! See you tomorrow!" Katsuya told them brightly, and after one last goodbye, he drove home and took the liberty of turning the radio up really loud now that he was the only one in the car.

'Come on, Seto… I hope you're thinking about it! It will be great anyway, but it wouldn't be the same without you…' he thought wistfully.

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Seto continued to be quite stubborn, however, and Katsuya found it increasingly harder to stop himself from becoming persistent in the pesky way. The acts of persuasion were frequently less veiled, though even with those, he took caution not to overuse them. Mokuba and Noa stepped it up a notch when there were only two more weeks to go until their planned departure.

"Come on, Nii-sama, I'm sure you'd enjoy it too! It's not as if you would be there alone with Yami and Yugi…!" Mokuba said exasperatedly. One shared look between him and Noa was all it took to know that they were thinking the same thing:

'Thank heavens not, otherwise he'd only be dueling and not enjoying it properly…'

The three Kaiba brothers were in the living room. Katsuya and his friends were having an evening lecture plus an hour of practices, so they were alone. Mokuba had seized the opportunity and was making another brave attempt to persuade his older brother to set his prejudices aside for a change. Noa was half listening in to the conversation and half occupied with his newest obsession that made both Mokuba and Katsuya gag at the mere thought of it because it was a quite mathematical thing: Kakuro.

Seto closed his eyes and counted to three before answering calmly: "Mokuba, we've been through this plenty of times before: I am not eager for beach vacation. In fact, I'm not that much into vacation anyway. I thought you knew that by now." He eyed the book in his lap. God, he wanted to finish it tonight and go check out a new one tomorrow, but at this rate… not likely to happen.

"Do you even remember what vacation's like?" Mokuba's voice brought him back to reality. "It's been ages since you took more than two days in a row off!" Mokuba secretly readied his puppy-eyes, which still were a useful method to coax Seto into agreeing with him.

"You should take a leaf out of Noa's book, Mokie," Seto replied with a meaningful glance, "I believe that he has understood this basic principle of mine. Don't you, Noa?" he asked the teal-haired teen.

"Well… sort of…"

"There, see?"

Mokuba began to pout, and just when Seto smirked triumphantly, Noa said slowly: "But Seto, isn't it your one-year-anniversary soon?"

That wiped the smirk off Seto's face, and Mokuba snickered; he knew that his other brother certainly hadn't given up his role. Noa simply tended to persuade more indirectly than the raven-haired Kaiba – he beat around the bush more often, so to speak. Mokuba gleefully showed him thumbs-up, and the only response was a short flicker of the glance in his direction.

"…I see where this is headed to," Seto muttered.

"I knew you would. It was merely some sort of reminder," Noa claimed with a shrug.

Seto sighed. He had been thinking along this line too, and now the others had caught on… it was yet another "weapon" they could use against him.

"Exactly! Think about how happy Jou would be!" Mokuba agreed with Noa's reason.

"If you think I don't see the signals he's giving me, you're greatly mistaken… How happy would he be if I were grumpy all the time, though?"

Mokuba plopped down next to him with his best smile on his face. "How can you be so sure that you'd be grumpy all the time? Who knows; maybe you'd enjoy yourself! I'm sure you would!"

"And if I don't?" Seto insisted.

"Then you can do what you always do on vacation – at least, the few times we had gone before. But try and give it a chance!"

For what seemed like a very long moment, Seto just stared at his brother (this made Mokuba's hopes of immediate approval rocket sky-high), then simply said: "We'll see. Now please let me finish this book, I really intend to accomplish that tonight."

"Argh!" Mokuba jumped up, looking frustrated. "It's always 'we'll see', 'we'll see'! But we never see! At least not in the way we should! Ra dammit!" Then he turned around and hurried upstairs.

"Don't let me hear you use language like that again! And it's God, not Ra!" Seto called after him. As he turned back to his book, he thought that perhaps the teen had been hanging around Yugi and his friends a little too much…

"I guess that was just too much for him," Noa remarked after hearing the door slam upstairs, "…Seto, you are giving it some thought, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am. It's just that I'm not as fond of vacation as Katsuya is by nature," Seto answered, pinching the bridge of his nose, "But somehow, every time that issue comes up, people seem to forget that all over again."

"It's only because we think it really would do you good."

"…Give me a bit more time…"

"Okay, but if I heard him right, Jou wants to book the trip by the end of this week."

"Let me guess: there was this hidden yet noticeable sad look in his eyes?" Seto concluded.

"Um… yeah," Noa confirmed.

Seto just shook his head and continued to read his book while the other concentrated on the Kakuro again. A fair deal of calculating and erasing later, Noa excused himself, saying that it was time for bed soon and that he wanted to go see if Mokuba had calmed down a bit. Once he was gone, Seto glanced at the Kakuro that had been left behind, and a small smile crept onto his face when he saw that it had been completely solved.

By the time Katsuya came home, Seto really only had a few pages to go. Those would have to wait a moment, however, when the blond sat down beside him with a moan.

"That's a tale in itself, I'd say," the CEO commented.

"No kidding. God, I hate evening courses!" Katsuya yawned heartily, "Tell ya what: I'll just grab myself a bite to eat, then I'll be right off to bed."

"Before you do so: how's that trip of yours coming along, puppy?"

Immediately, Katsuya's eyebrows almost vanished in the bangs that hung into his face; ever since he had raised that issue, Seto had never been the one to initiate a discussion about it… "Well, I'm just about ready to book it. Honda and Otogi let me know that they can't make it – a shame, but oh well. And Shizuka can't come either. But otherwise, we'll be complete. …Except you," he added a bit more quietly.

"I'm thinking about it," Seto said.

"Sure. Just tell me by the end of this week, okay? Goodnight, then." He gave Seto a quick kiss before standing up again, then going to the kitchen and from there on upstairs.

The brunet who stayed behind stared emptily at his book for a moment. He felt a strong desire to join Katsuya, but on the other hand, he had vowed to finish the book tonight… Finally, figuring that his better half wouldn't fall asleep that fast, he decided to finish it, and once that was done, he decided to call it a day a bit earlier than usual. But upon going upstairs as well, he discovered that Katsuya indeed was already asleep. Marveling somewhat at that fact, Seto gingerly sat down on the bed the other kept when they didn't sleep together. Briefly, he ran his fingers through the blond hair. Katsuya shifted a bit and clutched the pillow tighter. Seto put his hand over the one which had tensed up, and it was in these situations that sight and touch were all he needed. Words either just seemed to be unnecessary or they failed him from the get-go. Moving slowly, he gave the hand one single, but very gentle caress. Once again, Katsuya shifted and mumbled something that wasn't meant to be understood; then he relaxed, loosening his grip on the defenseless pillow. Deciding not to disturb his puppy's sleep anymore, Seto stood up and left the room while allowing his mind to focus on one subject only.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

When the end of the week had come and Seto still hadn't explicitly told him whether he would come along or not, Katsuya was less than an inch away from giving up his hopes. Shortly after noon on Saturday (he was hanging around at home with Mokuba and Noa while Seto had gone to work nonetheless), he called the travel agency. It just had to be done. And it had to be assumed that Seto wasn't willing to come along, or else he would have said so.

"Nippon travel agency, may we help you?" (1)

"Yes, please. I'm interested in your special offer, the charter voyage to Kenya."

"Yes, sir. Are you planning to travel alone or with others?"

"With my friends. We would be a party of…" He silently counted them up. "…eleven."

"Very well. May I have your name, sir?"

"Kaiba. Kaiba Katsuya."

There was a brief silence at the other end, then the woman said: "Sir… I've just discovered that a very similar reservation was made yesterday, but in the name of Kaiba Seto."

Katsuya was dumbfounded, to say the least. "…Really?! What exactly did he book?"

"The same thing, except that it would be a party of twelve," the woman answered.

For a moment, Katsuya was rendered speechless, but then he fully grasped the meaning of what he had just been told, and he whooped happily. "Thank you, thank you very much! Forget what I said, it's been solved! Bye!"

"…Good day to you too, sir." The woman sounded mildly startled, but Katsuya was already too preoccupied to give it more thought. In a flash, he had dialed the number of Seto's office.

"Hello?" a female voice answered him.

"Hi Mizuki! It's me, Jou! Can I speak to Seto?"

"Actually, he's busy and told me to hold his calls –"

"Please! I really, really, really want to talk to him!" Katsuya begged.

Mizuki sighed. "Oh, I can try, but I can't guarantee for anything…"

"That's okay, but please give it a try!"

"Okay. One moment, please."

The blond bit his lip and hoped beyond hope. Suddenly, a different voice greeted him:

"Katsuya, is something the matter?"

"Hell yeah! I just called the travel agency, and they told me that the trip is already booked! For twelve people! Does this really mean that you're coming too?"

"Yes, puppy. Consider it a present for our one-year-anniversary."

"It's for real! Oh, Seto, I love you so much! You're the best!" Katsuya cried.

"If you're trying to bust my ear, you're doing a pretty good job…"

"Yeah, I know you love me too. Why didn't you just tell me that you'd come along?"

"I wanted to make at least a bit of a surprise out of it."

"Didn't you see how I was this close to losing all hope?"

"How close are we talking about here?"

"You're weird when you play dumb, did you know that?"

"You don't say. Listen, Katsuya, I appreciate that you let me know that you're happy, but I've got quite a few things that need to get done here…" As he said this, he eyed the stack of documents on his desk that he needed to look through and sign where he considered it worthy.

"It's okay! I just had to call you; I couldn't have waited until you get home!"

"I guess that really made your day…"

"You bet! Well, see you tonight! Love ya!" Katsuya chirped.

"I love you too," Seto smiled, then they hung up.

While the CEO allowed himself to daydream about the happiness on his partner's face for little more than ten seconds before getting back to work, Katsuya went straight to the gaming room, where Mokuba and Noa were having another one of their "tournaments" which they rarely interrupted. When their momentary fight was over, however, they gladly took a moment to cheer when they heard the news that the entire family would be going.

So... what do you think? I'd love to hear your opinion if you could spare the time...

:-)

(1) As far as my research went, it actually exists - of course, I don't own, duh...