HowtoLaughOutLoud

Remember My Love
By Misster Cackles
Rating: M
Warnings: Yaoi, profanity, sexual content, abuse, character death, religious hints
Pairings: Kaiba Seto x Jounouchi Katsuya
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the plot and a few OCs

Chapter Six – Memento

Mokuba jiggled the key inside the hole and pushed open the door. Only a crack, and already there was a dog's long wet muzzle to great him. Béni took a couple of sniffs of him as he came in, then barked and wagged his tail excitedly, standing on his hind legs to lick him on the face. Béni knew who he was and that made Mokuba grin wide.

"Hey there, boy; how've you been?" Mokuba asked, scratching behind the golden retriever's ear. The dog leaned into the touch in response, licking his wrist in favor. "Good boy, now, can you show me to Katsuya's room?" As though hearing his master's name, Mokuba watched the dog walk in a circle, whimper twice and lay flat on his stomach, looking up at Mokuba with puppy eyes.

"He's fine, and he'll get better soon." Mokuba looked around. The average living from an average man, nothing spectacular even though for a man's home, the place was nicely furnished, colors matched, and it was clean. There was even a hanging plant by the window. Getting back to his duty, Mokuba saw in the far corner a staircase; if he was Katsuya, he wanted to be sleeping on the top floor. Béni followed his every step to the stairs and up, racing in front of him to head into Katsuya's bedroom.

Katsuya's bedroom was a lot like downstairs; clean, colors, and spacey furnished. The chest of drawers was next to the door and something silver on top caught his eye in the morning sun. Seto's silver cross to Katsuya. He made a grab for it before he suddenly tensed up.

What. The. Hell.

Mokuba didn't know what it was, but all of a sudden he felt a shiver run up his spine, and not in a good way either. His gray eyes swept around the room and found nothing out of place, then glanced to Béni. The dog had his ears perked, looking at Mokuba with the same big eyes. He made a small growl, but it turned into a light whimper before turning his head to the large, floor to ceiling window. Mokuba followed where the dog was looking.

Nothing.

Nothing was there besides the cars and houses across the street. A woman and a baby stroller continued down the walk, and a bird in the tree next to the house dove for the ground. Mokuba let out a breath of relief he hadn't known he was holding and gave a low laugh which turned into something loud.

"Damn, I don't know what that was but it was cool; like something from a horror game, ne?" He grabbed the cross by its silver chain and clicked his tongue for Béni to follow him out. Outside, Béni looked at the bird under the tree and gave another small whine.

The bird was dead.

In the house across the street...

"God fucking dammit, Donovano!" Aizaki hollered and hit the club of his gun across the other's skull, knocking him over. "I told you not to shoot at him! If we kill Kaiba's brother, we'd be dead at the end of this, too! All we want is Jounouchi's son." Aizaki gave a thoughtful glance to his partner then to the house across the street. "You do realize you could have come to me if you wanted to know where Jounouchi lived, right? You didn't have to go after Howard."

"OWW FUCKING DAMMIT, AIZAKI!" Donovano roared, rubbing his dark bald head where the other struck him. Aizaki looked unaffected and merely crossed his arms, while easily lowering himself to the floor to sit. He glowered at the calm man and threw down his gun, reaching into his pocket for the pack of smokes. "Fucking asshole," the black man mumbled around the cigarette and lit it, "Fucking fuck face. Fuck. Fucker. Fuck..." Blink, and his face changed from angry to relaxed in a split second.

"Ah? The doctor in Hana Plaza? Well." He inhaled slowly, held his breath and let out the smoke, "He was fucking with what was mine. Almost quite literally." Another puff of smoke escaped his lips and he rummaged into the gear bag next to him, pulled out a manila folder and slid it over the floor to Aizaki. "It also gave me a chance it pick up that fuck's file."

"Mary's not yours; she's my wife." Aizaki set down his gun and picked up the file in exchange. He opened it and read the name: "Jounouchi's?" His curious became a full front grin, "Good thinking, Donovano. You got a mind, after all." He began to skim over it, finding some paragraphs interesting more than others.

The partner pointed his cigarette at the scarf-wearing English man, "Hey, I got brains. You don't have brains, British man. I'm smarter than you, Aizaki. Hehe." The other just rolled his eyes at his partner's rambling and continued reading. Sure, he knew his partner was fucked in the head, but he knew how to work with him easily. Donovano knew how to trigger his victims by the emotions on their faces, even more so at the emotion in their eyes, but that meant he was intimidated and got flustered by people who showed no emotion. Easy, but a big weakness on his count if he were to loose his partner that way. So far he had a total of six different partners, including Donovano and the five he killed.

God, what an awful habit he had.

He flipped the page, and his brown eyes continued scanning until he gave a small chuckle.

Immediately, Donovano was interested: "What? What's it say?"

Aizaki lowered the folder, wiping his eyes of emotion, but keeping the wicked grin on his lips, and pointed at the paper, "Jounouchi talks to his dead sister. Every Monday." He broke out into a fit of laughter. Donovano joined him, even rolling on the floor, holding his stomach. He dropped his cigarette near his crotch and started yelping, before making sure that the cherry hadn't fallen off and burned through his clothes.

"Fuck! What a fucking nutcase!"

Like you're one to talk. Aizaki calmed himself and finished the paragraph, "Apparently he's suffering from PTSD (that's Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, by the way)-"

"I know what it is, asshole."

"-but refuses to admit it." The scarf-wearing man started listing, "Jounouchi told Howard that Kawai taught him sign language, advised him to cut his hair, got him to start reading books-"

"Fuck, what a nerd." A cloud of smoke.

Brown eyes glared sharply at the crazy man, "Would you allow me to continue?" Donovano tensed at his stare and nodded dumbly, blinking rapidly. Aizaki gave a smile that didn't reach his eyes and looked back to the paper, "And apparently he also has large intakes of caffeine daily. Hm, odd that he didn't say anything about him learning English. Sound like anyone we know, Donovano?" He raised a brow at the black man across from him.

"Shit. I know a lot of people who like coffee," he answered, propping his upper body on an arm. "Hell, I like coffee. Not the beans, they smell funny and too strong. I like it brewed and I take it black. And not decaf, ei-"

"Oh, shut your fucking mouth already." Aizaki snapped, and closed the file, tossing it back to the other. Donovano blinked twice, sucking around the butt and inhaling. "It sounds like Kaiba, you twit. Jounouchi couldn't remember being with Kaiba so he went to the next thing that could give him comfort and his PTSD came back. Kaiba taught him sign language and English. Kaiba cut his hair. Kaiba reads a lot. Kaiba drinks coffee almost constantly. You see now, moron?" He huffed and laid on his back, "And it's you fucking fault that we're still doing this."

"Hu? How's it my fault, you Briton fucker? And I'm not a moron!" Donovano retorted angrily, the cigarette's smoke releasing from his nostrils like a pissed bull in cartoons. He finished off the last drag and put out the butt on the wooden floor.

"You were the one who had to tell Kaiba that we were still going after Jounouchi; I had suggested that we might have had a new target so Kaiba would get off Jounouchi's ass." Aizaki groaned, and palmed his forehead, "I've wasted ten years of my life for fifteen billion Yen, and when we finally find the man you just had to reassure him that, yes, we were still looking for him!"

Donovano raised his hands in defense, scooting a little a ways from his partner's yelling, "How would I know that the rich fuck would be still protecting that little fucker? I read their high school profiles; they fought like hell all the time."

The English man took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. "Kawai went to the younger Kaiba. Kaiba found out what Jounouchi-san was doing to his son. Then Kaiba seemed to make it his duty to look after Jounouchi." He smirked lightly, "And I believe Kaiba is also in love with Jounouchi."

Donovano grimaced, "Ew, man. That's just fucking gross, don't tell me that shit."

Aizaki rolled his head sideways slowly, "What's that matter with homosexuals? I was bisexual in high school, before I met Mary." The black man wrinkled his nose.

"I don't give a shit about that stuff. Sure, girl on girl stuff gets me off, but a guy liking another guy? That's kinda sick." Aizaki rolled his eyes and looked at the ceiling again.

"Whatever." He blinked, "Where's Mary, by the way? You haven't been hurting her anymore, have you?"

"You mean the kitty cat? Hehe, she would purr nicely, don'tcha think?" Donovano blinked, "She's probably at home, waitin' for the kid. And you, what about the kid?" He avoided the question about hurting her.

"Tracey? Ah, she's fine. I haven't seen her in a while. She's grown so much since the last time I've seen her." With his eyes, he traced patterns with his eyes on the bubble ceiling, thinking what to do next. Aizaki sat up and pulled his cellular phone from his inner jacket pocket, pushing the speed-dial button to call his second boss. "Be quiet, Donovano. I'm making a very important phone call to Kaiba." Donovano looked over, curious. While the ring tone was going off, he reached for his gun and held it tightly, pointing it at the floor before it was time to actually set it off.

"Kaiba." The voice answered. Aizaki started panting as though he had been running.

"Oh my God, Kaiba, sir!" he whispered hurriedly, "They've got Donovano, they've got Donovano! They knew he was a spy and I think they're about to kill him!"

"Fuck, are you serious, Aizaki?" Kaiba sounded slightly panicked, "Where are you?"

"I just got away, I got them off my back when I climbed a building - oh my God, they've got a gun!" While he was talking, he pointed the his hand gun at Donovano.

"Hey, what the fuck are you doing with that?" Donovano stood on his knees and backed up.

"Oh God, sir! They're counting down for him to tell them who he's working for," Aizaki was panting hard and sounded near to tears about what to do next, "Oh god, oh God, oh God -" Aizaki smiled kindly at Donovano before pulling the trigger.

Aizaki shot him. Donovano, before his crazy brain could actually realize he'd been shot, gave his ex-partner a short laugh until he gurgled blood out of his mouth. He fell over. Dead.

"Oh God sir! They just shot him, oh my God, oh my God! Oh my God, they're going to find me! They're going to come after me, oh God! They know what I look like! They will know who I am, oh God I'm not safe! Oh God, I'm going to die!" In high school, he was the best actor in Drama class.

"Fuck!" He heard Kaiba say over the line. Aizaki could imagine him pacing the room sweating, the thought made him smile. "Dammit, get out of there now, Aizaki!"

"Y-yes sir!" Aizaki stood, gathered his stuff and walked calmly out of the door, passing the bloody dead bodies who had own this house. He went to the car parked right in front of the front walk and opened the back door for the gasoline containers. He closed the doors and cradled the phone with his ear and shoulder. "I-I he-heard them s-saying s-something con-concern-ning Ka-Katsuya... Th-they killed his th-therapist, and," he crossed the street to Katsuya's house, looking both ways for cars, "w-will be pl-l-anning to b-burn his house d-down to-tommor-row eve-evening." He added a real sounding sob for his performance.

"God dammit, pull yourself together, Aizaki! Look," Kaiba said, "I got to go. Katsuya's here at my mansion, and Osaki just came. Once you're in the clear, call back and tell me where you are so my driver can pick you up. I want to talk privately with you."

"B-but, my wife and kid, sir?"

"They can be brought over, too - just get out of there! And, Aizaki..."

"Yes, sir?"

"Don't get killed."

Aizaki almost smiled at that. How sweet for Kaiba to pretend he didn't care. "Y-yes sir!" He set the red containers on the browning grass and shut off the cell phone, stuffing it back in his pocket. He picked the gasoline up again and walked towards Katsuya's house to torch it to the ground. Mokuba hadn't locked it, so it was an easy win for his part. First thing, first, though... He needed to find himself a memento that Jounouchi would notice immediately. His eyes roamed the room, and he even traveled through different parts of the house.

His brown eyes glinted with satisfaction when they landed on a framed picture. Aizaki smashed the glass and pulled out the photo, which was rather burned on the sides and there were creases along the middle. But what was on it was more important: a group picture of teens. The most distinguishable in the group was the pale blonde male, Jounouchi, next to a brunette and a short boy. Kawai was with two other females; another blonde and a short-haired brunette. A trio of Egyptians and a lot of other odd looking characters bypassed Aizaki's eye until he caught sight of the young Kaiba brother. If he was there, then so was the older one, and- a-ha. There he was, in the back, over the first brunette's shoulder.

Looking very intently at the back of Jounouchi's head.

This would do nicely.

"I can't believe you! How could you have taken advantage of me like that? I don't want to see you! I want go back to the hospital, now!" he spelt angrily, trying to keep his tears hidden.

Katsuya's eyes snapped open, automatically blurred to his surroundings, more so with the sleep still in his eyes. He yawn, arched backwards to stretch, and slowly sat up, still unaware of the different colored quilt on top of him. He expected to see Béni stretched out at the bottom of the bed, but he wasn't on...his... Katsuya clenched his honey brown eyes closed for a moment, thinking of the crème and green plaid bed spread that he had picked out two summers ago. His bed was not blue. Eye kept shut, he reached over blindly to his bedside table, searching for his glasses and found that he could not almost reach it. What the hell? He always kept his bed table right up close to his bed. Katsuya was able to feel for his glasses and put them on, re-opening his eyes and wishing that the blue spread would be gone.

He frowned deeply; nope still there. One thing was certain, however: he was not at his home. Katsuya glanced around the large bedroom, having a sense of déja-vu wash over him. Hm... Right. He was looking to his right, staring at a chest of drawers. The blonde man didn't turn his head just yet, trying to figure out if he could beat that weird feeling if he knew what next he'd be seeing. Chest of drawers...bedroom door? No, that was his bedroom.

Amber eyes narrowed when a word offered itself in his thoughts, spinning his head to the next furniture piece. Desk. The desk was a rich cherry, the red contrasting with the blue, a few sheets of paper cluttering the top of it and tilted towards the bed slightly. Just as Katsuya thought; he stared dumbly at it for a moment, another item coming to mind after the desk. Katsuya had a feeling that after the desk, a lamp would be in the corner. Katsuya kept his eyes on the cherry desk, trying something new: he tried to picture exactly what the lamp looked like. It would be tall...and silver... The blonde brought his hand up to rub at his temple; his head was hurting, but he decided to ignore the pain and keep trying. Jounouchi Katsuya never gave up.

Tall and silver, and the...glass shade would open at the top.

Katsuya spun his head around again, and surely enough there was a lamp in the corner. Tall. Silver. The glass shade was opened at the top. All hints pointed to one thing to the blonde man; he's been in this room before. Already, without too much thought on it, he could remember what was to come after the lamp - mirror would be in front of him, bedroom door would be across from the lamp, and the wardrobe was located opposite from the chest of drawers. Katsuya immediately picked up on the pattern: the furniture were placed in alphabetical order: Bed, bedside table, chest of drawers, desk, lamp, mirror, wardrobe. He's been on this bed before, he suddenly realized, not just in this room, but on this very bed!

A sharp in take of breath, doubling over while clutching his head, Katsuya had forgotten memories played back.

He stood next to the attractive male, chewing on his lips nervously as he slowly spelt out his feelings. The intensity of the other's lips on his made his knees weak and shake, the hot tongue sweeping over his lips, asking for entrance which he anxiously gave. Cool blue quilt beneath him, hot hands sliding over his already burning body, moaning softly at the feel of the tongue crossing over his collarbone. He clenched his teeth tightly, tugging at the chestnut hair as gently as he could, as he felt the moistened finger prepare him, noticing it didn't really hurt as much as it made him feel...awkward. About to loose himself with ecstasy, he reached his arms around the other's neck and pulled him down for a kiss, each thrust hitting the bundle of nerves straight on, exploding at the same moment he looked into the darkened blue eyes with pleasured whimpers and moans.

Heavily breathing from the erotic flashback, Katsuya returned to present times, rubbing his chest where his heart had been racing from a familiar feeling. Ok-kay... That one had been totally unexpected. He tried to replace those returned memories with something else for the moment, but nothing was working, even when he remembered he had to get to the high school. Eh...could e-mail the secretary that he was ill? Yeah, that'll do, but that hadn't removed his current mind set. Uh, uh... Not hearing from his friends in a while! No, that hadn't helped. What did he have for dinner last night! He had... Amber eyes blinked.

Right, then; he remembered his problem: How in the hell had he got there? Shit, what day was it even?

The jiggling door handle made Katsuya forget everything for a moment to turn his wary attention to the person about to enter the room. A aging man entered the room, what appeared to be a medical bag in hand, seeming quite startled that Katsuya was sitting up in bed; he made a very quick glance outside the door, and it was as though his head vibrated side-ways like speedy shakes. Katsuya turned to the door again in time to see someone dodge behind the panel.

"Who's out there?" Katsuya spelt to the doctor, feeling perturb at the other person's behavior. If the doctor didn't give him a proper answer, he could always go and see for himself who's in the hall. The medical man laid down his supplies on the desk and smiled warmly at the blonde.

"A maid, that's all." He opened the medicine bag, pulling out a roll of gauze and a stepethscope. "I told her if you were awake, I would not need help to change the bandages."

The blonde blinked, "Bandages?" He spelt quickly, "What bandages?" The doctor looked at him curiously while hanging the heart-listening device over his neck, reaching in his bag for more items.

"On your leg. I had to stitch it, so you better stay in bed if you want to walk again. Surely you remember what happened on Monday, right?"

Katsuya blinked, looking over on to the bed side table where he had found his glasses. His own silver cross wasn't there. Must have been at home. He grabbed his earring with a slow moving hand, unhooked the clasp and latched it back together on his ear. He relaxed a bit - Katsuya could believe it was a maid. "Yes, I remember." Graveyard, Seto, accident, the window catching on his ankle. Yeah, pretty hard to forget that. The blonde peered more closely to the doctor; he looked familiar, like the one he'd seen in his flashback when he was visiting Shizuka, only not as gray on top. "I think I remember you, as well. How long ago would it have been? Eleven, twelve years?"

The doctor smiled big, nodding. He turned to the desk and retrieved a pen and notepad and sat down in the chair next to the bed after gathering the gauze and medical items on top of the notepad. "Yes, it has. I'm Doctor Osaki, if you don't remember, but I'm glad it's coming back to you gradually, Master Katsuya. Do you remember where you were the last time I checked you?"

Katsuya looked around the room again, mentally seeing the young brunette at the corner, hovering with sharp eyes. "The Kaiba Mansion... I was on a bed, you were in front of me, and Seto was next to the wall. I think I was in this room here, right?" He pointed behind the desk. The elder man smiled again and jotted down some notes.

"That's right." He set all the stuff on the floor except the notepad and pen on the floor and said: "I'm going to ask a few more ques-" Katsuya blinked.

"What day is it?"

"Well, it's Wednesday, Master Katsuya. Ten in the morning, in fact."

He'd been out for two days. Katsuya winced, "Please don't call me that. I don't pay you, and I don't live here. You can just call me Jou."

Doctor Osaki seemed to weigh this, but then said: "Sure, I'll call you Jou, but only when Master Seto isn't around."

"What, is that like a household rule for the staff?" he asked. The elder nodded.

"It is, but no one here minds it; Master Seto is very generous to his staff that'd they'd even call him Buddha if he wished it! He pays me well so I can even participate in my own private studies - medical equipment might have been cheaper from North America, but I can't keep traveling over there all year."

Katsuya closed his mouth; surely they weren't talking about the same Kaiba Seto here, right? "Wow, really? He sounds different from when I knew him in school."

"Well, he softened up when you were here. You followed him around like a pupp... Oh, um." Doctor Osaki acted like a fish out of water for a minute, before flushing red in embarrassment. He looked down and fiddled with the cap of the pen before realizing it was a twist top. "I'm sorry Master Katsuya; I tend to forget my place sometimes. I heard Master Seto say it so often that it was the first metaphor that came to mind, I need to learn to think before I speak - a bad habit of mine, really. O-oh, I, I should really get to work, shouldn't I? W-well, where did I put that notebook..." he mumbled the last part to himself. The notepad was on his lap still. "I, uhm, got to get those medical questions n-now, Jou. I'll be just a minute then I can let you rest. Oh, er..."

A hand laid on top of the doctor's, and the doctor immediately tensed, looking slowly to Katsuya's face only to find him smiling big.

"It's fine, really. I've heard it from Seto so many times that I've learned to let it slip. Besides," Katsuya winked at him, pointing to himself before spelling out: "I like the term puppy more than the regular inu." Even though he didn't really enjoy it at all, it was easier to lie the little lie than handle a fumbling doctor. That might not effect him well when he had to work on his injured leg. What he was more listening to, however, was the little slip on what happened during the time he was supposed to be in the hospital. He knew, of course, that all hints showed that Seto had taken care of him some time after the fire. Could it be because of Seto that he couldn't remember much after he he'd been released from the hospital, like how he couldn't remember Seto taking him in? Perhaps he could make him slip up again...?

"Now, if you would please lift the covers and try moving you toes." Katsuya nodded and dragged his legs (not as easy as he thought it would be) out from under the comforter and let them hang from the side of the bed, making him sit up fully in the process. He tried to do as the doctor said, but only his left foot's toes wriggled. The right foot's toes barely twitched and Katsuya gave a hiss of pain.

"Oh dear, I think you might have pulled a few muscles in that foot, and by that swelling, I'd say you probably sprained it pretty bad, too; by the way Master Seto took care of it, I don't think it would be by infection. He would have know to take you to the hospital, then." Katsuya averted his eyes, knowing full well that Seto wouldn't have because he told him not to. Osaki gripped the heel and brought it on to his knee so he could examine it better. Gingerly, he rubbed his fingers along the ankle, where the large wound from the broken window had caused. His other hand came up and examined the inner part of his ankle, and Katsuya hissed again when the elder man's thumb made a quick jab at the swelling.

"AH! W'at ta hell!?" Katsuya cried out, yanking his foot back and sat cross-legged, bruised foot being soothed. Katsuya registered the fact that he had talked but let it slid, used to the random workings of his voice box. Doctor Osaki, however, looked at him like he had just sprouted another foot from the wound.

"You can talk, now? Why sign-"

Katsuya sighed, and rose his arms. "It happens. I've been able to do it before, then it just goes as it comes."

Osaki readied the notepad again, writing while he talked, "When was the last time this has happened?" He looked back at Katsuya.

"Two weeks ago." Blink, "Wait, no. I had talked this Monday..."

"Have you tried to talk since then?"

"No. I don't like to try."

Doctor Osaki gave a harsh blow through the lips and waved him off, "That's not what Master Seto told me."

Katsuya blinked; could this be another slip up, or something recently since he came here two days ago? "Oh, what did he say, then?"

"He said-"

"I said," Katsuya's head flung around so fast it was surpising that he didn't get whiplash. Seto was there at the door, leaning at the frame, arms crossed. Katsuya noted, as the tall brunette slauntered over to them, that he looked a little tense. Seto stood behind Osaki and continued, a small smirk playing at the edges of his lips, "that Katsuya was one of the most annoying-"

"Excuse you!"

"-lowliest-"

"I make a decent living, thank you very much, you rich-"

"-loud mouthed-"

"Hello, can't talk here!"

"-angry little mutt of the litter."

Katsuya glowered at him darkly, about to spell something before Seto cut in with a: "But that was why I said 'was.'" He almost smiled at the blonde when he appeared to be taken back, and Seto put a hand on Osaki's shoulder. "I want to talk to Katsuya alone now. Mokuba has his arms full setting up a space for the dog; could you go help him?"

"C-Certainly, Master Seto! Ne, Master Katsuya, keep exercise those vocals; they aren't gone forever, and don't stop trying." He stood, turned to Seto and made a short bow and as he left the room, making sure to set his notepad on the desk with his things as he passed by. Seto took the now-vacant chair and looked at Katsuya expectantly. Katsuya, fidgeting, bit his lip and adverted his gaze to the covers, and tried to overcome the blush that crept on his cheeks as he remembered this scene from his flashback. Which, unfortunately, came to the front of his mind again; he failed on keeping the blush hidden by this point.

"What-"

"Don't sign."

"Why-"

"You did just hear the doctor, didn't you?"

"I-"

"Come on, speak, mutt!"

Katsuya glared at him, "Don't-"

"A dog who doesn't follow his master's -"

"GOD DAMMIT! I'M NOT A DOG!" Katsuya hollered, fist shaking in rage. Seto smirked victoriously.

"Good boy. Now, shouldn't you repent for your sins?"

"D-DAMMIT!" Katsuya barked hoarsely, "W-won' you...jus'...go away!?" he wearily gave him a glance, trying to ignore the soreness in his throat. "F-for wh't...'ough?"

Seto didn't look effected; in fact he crossed one knee over the other and folded his arms across his chest, almost like how he had done the night before. "You said 'God', didn't you? Shouldn't you be rushing to some alter and pray that he doesn't strike you dead where you stand?"

Katsuya rose an eyebrow; it was bluntly obvious that Seto was Atheist with the bit of sneering he added when he was talking. "I-I..." He looked around, and as though Seto understood, stood and walked around to the chest of drawers where a silver jug of water and a couple of tall glasses had been set out by one of the maids. He poured two glasses of water and went to sit back down again, handing Katsuya one of the two. He set the other one the bedside table for Katsuya to drink later. As his thanks, the blonde gulped it down almost greedily, and gasped and left about a third in the glass. Katsuya tried again: "I-I w-would...'pose s-so."

Seto raised his own eyebrows, "Why would you suppose? You looked into the religion, hadn't you?"

Katsuya gave a small grin, "'At's j-jus'...it: I...looked...in'o...it."

Curious, Seto continued. "What made you look into it, then?"

"T-ta...c-c-cross s-sym-mbol."

"Why?"

"It...was 'round m-my...neck w'en I w-woke...at t-ta hosp-pital. 'At s-sil-lver...one. I w-want-ed ta...kn-know...w'at i-it...m-means."

Without even thinking, Seto said, "It's a memento." He sighed, and reached into his pocket. He fisted the cross between his fingers and held out the silver necklace. Katsuya looked wide eyed at the cross before extending his arm to take the item. As Seto dropped it in his hand, he leaned forward to twist his wrist around and entwine their fingers together, the cross in between their palms. Shocked and nervous with the flashback still in mind, amber eyes met the cooling blue.

Seto slowly stood again, keeping their hands together, and placed a knee on the bed and sunk down to sit on it, one foot still on the floor. Katsuya couldn't really think to move, too shocked by their linked hands; from this close, the blonde could see the brunette swallow.

"Do you remember what the memento was for?" Seto asked, whispering. Katsuya shook his head no, and a wounded look flashed briefly in those blue eyes. He lightly cleared his throat, "Well. Yes, that was to be expected. I had gone visiting you in the hospital, and you seemed a little upset that the person in bed next to you was getting gifts, so I purchased you this necklace."

"A...me-men-to...is to re-remember...an...event. W-why...ca-call it...'at, 'en?"

Flash.

Dazzling lights strung decoratively around the mansion. The young pre-teen even more so excited during the holiday as the days drew near to Christmas. The tree ever growing packed with presents from the three of them to each other as each day passed. The click of the tongue and the playful swat to the nose when he had been caught trying to peek in a bag. Snow had fallen the night before, and in the morning, on Christmas, the ground was covered in it, the two of them drinking hot chocolate and coffee on the front step while they watched the kid play. He leaned in closer and snuggled into the brunette's side, loving the way the other's arm came around his waist to pull him even closer. He opened the box, and was startled by the pure gold chain and cross that shined at him, yet feeling silly and awful at having getting practically the same thing. The warm bubbling feeling when his blue-eyed guardian said he loved the silver cross was almost too much, and he blushed, looking fondly of the gold cross hanging from his neck to avoid eye contact with the other. Mokuba had long since gone to bed, and he buried against the brunette for the second time that day. On his way to his bedroom, he was surprised, but blushed and smiled with glee, when the other kissed his forehead. Green and white had caught his eye, and he looked up and flushed red almost immediately. Seto leaned in slowly, giving Katsuya time to understand what he was about to do, and kissed him gently on the lips. After a few seconds, Katsuya's arms wrapped around Seto's neck and he kissed him back. When he broke apart, he took back the silver necklace, and took off the gold, giving it to Seto and wearing the silver. They had only gotten them because the colors reminded them of the other. Seto's silver cross with sapphire jewel would be around Katsuya's neck, and Katsuya's gold cross with ruby jewel would be around Seto's.

Gasp, pant, pant.

Seto was straddling over him looking worriedly, almost exactly like he'd done back in Barnes & Noble. Obviously, Katsuya had fallen backwards on the bed, kind of pulling Seto along with him- er, on top...of...him. Katsuya didn't move, nor did he push Seto away. Amber eyes blinked at the brunette's neck.

"W'ere's...ta g-gold...c-cross?" Katsuya asked quietly, eyes moving back to the blue ones, searching. Unblinking, Seto steadied all his weight on his left arm, the hand that had held the blonde's, and dug into the collar of his turtleneck, pulling out the cross pendent by the gold chain. Free from the confinement, it dangled shamelessly above the blonde's chin. Katsuya slowly took the chain in hand and lift it over the other's head, replacing it with its silver replica. In return, Katsuya lifted his head a centimeter off the bed to put the gold cross around his neck. He didn't even bother straightening it since he was going to take it off again, anyways. Seto's breathing was almost unnoticeably faster and his eyes widen a bit when he realized Katsuya's game plan.

"I-I bel-lieve i-it...w-was a...me-men-to..." Katsuya said softly, still unsure about what to do. He was extremely nervous and his heart pounded in his chest uncomfortably; he wasn't even too sure if he liked Seto or, hell, if he even liked men in general; all he had to go by was memories that happened twelve years ago. So, fisting the black turtleneck at the brunette's shoulder, he lowered him carefully. "T-ta our...f-first...kiss." His eyes closed as he reached up that two more inches to lay his lips against Seto's, quite aware that Seto almost came down on him like he had a craving. Katsuya got the feeling in his mind of the other's lips on his and couldn't help but smile contently when his mind gave him thumbs up and said that, yes; this was right.

And fantastic.

And amazing.

And was very, very...nice.

And who ever that was at the door could kindly fuck off.

"Whoops! I'm very sorry to intrude!" A man's voice cut of their quick session all too quickly. Seto and Katsuya gasped apart, and the blonde looked around Seto's shoulder to glare at the brown eyed, scarf-wearing, dark haired man in the doorway. Those brown eyes blinked in surprise, "You must be Katsuya! I'm Colin Aizaki."

Katsuya tried to act natural and smile back, but his instincts told him to hide underneath Seto.

He did not like the look in those eyes...