Rating: Teen-13



Once upon a time, in a land far away, for is not that how these kinds of stories go, there lived a very somber young man. No, he was not a king or prince, although he did in a sense rule a vast empire of sorts. He was a very smart man in the things he knew and yet very dumb in the things he knew not--smart in the ways of business, mathematics, and gaming, not in the ways of life or of love. But for now children gather round and I shall tell this tale of the not so wise man, of the lesson harshly learned, for are not the harshest lessons the ones we learn the most from, and of a devil with golden bright eyes.


A gathering, a feast, was held to bring together the most deserving of businessmen from far and wide. It was a competition of sorts for a grand prize indeed, a contract for sole providership of gaming technology between the winner and the most powerful politician of the lands. Now, far be it for me to try and derive what the grand lord Takatori wanted with games and such as he felt they were a colossal waste of time (perhaps it was for his children, although they are another story for a later day than this). However, call forth he did the men to join him and bring with them new advances and ideas to his party, held in the fair (and for our story) centralized location of the city of Domino.


Our story's hero stood watching as the others entered the politician's revelry. A handsome man, some might and did say, taller than most with hard ice-blue eyes. Eyes, they say, are the windows of the soul, but be careful how far, how deep you look. If you only take in the surface a chill might take your soul, but deeper you can feel the fire hidden within, saved for those who would bother to find it. Chestnut hair fell gently over his face, allowing him the option of glaring at the others in the room with or without their knowledge as he saw fit. His familiar state of dress, near skin-tight black pants topped off with a similar black long-sleeved, high-necked shirt would have given most the impression he was one of the bad guys (after all anyone who reads tales of good and evil knows the good guys wear white). Alas, this was not the case, for I have stated prior, he is our story's hero. In addition, lest I forget, he did wear a bit of white--to be exact a long white coat that swept around him in the wind.


Now, as in most tales of this sort, there is a required set of objects: a hero, a villain, (I'll get to him in a moment), and
usually a beautiful princess. However as we have no prince within this story we have no princess. You did read the header above right? On the other hand, a beautiful and powerful vixen plays into our story. Now this vixen was not so powerful as most, since his company remained quite small, but fair and beautiful all the same. With sparkling emerald-green eyes that reminded one of a cat, the impression only furthered by the stealthy movements of his body. His hair long, flowing and ebony black, would surely fly wild and free if not for its imprisonment. This vixen too wore skin-tight black pants that showed off his fine form--a luscious sight for all to partake. His shirt was of a similar black fabric, but short sleeved. The entire outfit topped off with a none too simple bright red vest. Know this well my children he too, despite his vixenly ways, is one of the good guys.


As was fated, so it seems, our mighty hero and the--other hero, for he is certainly no heroine, knew of each other. Both haled from the vast city of Domino, minor business rivals though neither would suggest the other belonged in his league. Our enterprising hero, Kaiba by name, (all the easier to differentiate from our other hero, by the nom of Otogi) had partaken to glaring at all who looked his way, not caring one whit if they took offence or not. The silent glower cast from his eyes was more than enough to keep most far from his side, for people knew him across the lands as a shrewd man. Only the very foolish crossed the young master of The Company Kaiba and he did not suffer fools lightly. Therefore, it was all good and well that the one who moved closer to him was not a fool by any means--at least not in his own mind.


The golden-eyed devil watched over the interactions of the mingling businessmen although he would have argued with you over that description of himself. Well, he would agree that the golden eyed part certainly fit, although it was a little hard to tell with his glasses doing the whole "evil villain glinting glasses of doomŪ" thing. However, he would tell you otherwise about the devil part, for everyone knows the devil is a longhaired redhead (by the way he's not in this story). Looking every bit the businessman in his cream colored suit Crawford, as he preferred to be called, although the aforementioned redhead labeled him many other things behind his back, was not necessarily an evil man. If you asked him, he saw himself more as one whose actions were not good or evil but driven by desire. Now what Crawford desired no one truly knew save himself, as he kept no others council; nevertheless, as this is my story it is safe to presume the worst for our darling heroes.


Kaiba normally refused to notice things he believed to be beneath him, therefore he took no notice when Otogi moved to his side, it was not until the other boy spoke that he even acknowledged him with a bored glance. The other's mere suggestion that they socialize together since they were already acquainted made him scoff. The fact that they did know of each other, in more ways than one, did not bother Kaiba so much. No what bothered him was the fact that the boy seemed to want others to know of their clandestine relationship as well. Therefore, he hid it as best he could acting as if the sheer nerve of a commoner such as the self proclaimed Dice Master talking to him was enough to shock him speechless. Now all who know Kaiba know this was a very rare occurrence. Just ask his normal verbal sparing partner, Jounouchi--who, by the way, is not in this story either. While Kaiba’s mind processed the audacity of the other, he perceived another walking their way. Again, this was not something he would normally take care to notice but the man seemed to demand their attention as he came nearer, especially as Kaiba found he could not ignore the light glinting into his eyes off the man's glasses.


Used to, as he was, the constant flirty behavior of two of his acquaintances, Crawford had no problem at all quickly processing the manner between the two standing before him. At least the manner of one of the boys, the other exuded about as much sexuality as a block of ice, although he had heard that certain blocks of ice held quite the surprise when defrosted properly. Walking up to the two young men our villain introduced himself, not as the villain of course, but as a bodyguard and right-hand man to their host for the evening. This seemed to cause slight interest to them both, although he was not exactly sure why. The tall solemn one took note and quickly dismissed him as someone too beneath his interest; however, one should learn never to write off another so easily. The other's interest was all superficial he was certain, for the blatant way in which he had started to hang on every word coming from Crawford's mouth was nothing less than fawning-- not that that was a bad thing by Crawford's way of thinking, just annoying and besides the fact it reminding him of someone else.


To his utter amazement, Kaiba found himself irritated to an extreme extent over the ridiculous behavior of his--well what ever the hell you'd call the other in a relationship like the one they had. He found himself wondering what the proper phrasing would be. Paramour? Fuck buddy? Friend with benefits? He dismissed the last thought quickly, thinking it made them sound more like the midget and his cheerleaders. Nondescript sexual partner? Except for the partner bit that sounded about right, partner made it sound like there was something in it for both of them and as far as Kaiba was concerned the whole thing was just a quick and easy method for stress release. However, it was HIS stress release and he would be damned before his nondescript sexual partner was going to get away with embarrassing him in front of the whole town by flirting with someone else. How dare this Crawford step in between he and his property? Of course, Kaiba was ignoring the fact that no one else knew of their relationship, by his own admission. Therefore, Crawford really could not be accused of knowingly stepping between two partners in a relationship no one knew of. In a particularly non-adult and non-princely manner our hero did the only thing he could--he stormed off in a snit.


Now Crawford, in a flash of insight that could only come in a story like this, realized just how lucky he was that Kaiba was not a prince in some silly faery tale. Princes never stormed off in snits but instead, pulled out their katanas screaming "shi-ne" at the villains. Oh sorry, that's another story once again--remind me to tell you that one later. Anyhow, Kaiba had run--um stormed off leaving poor Otogi in the hands of the story's villain; however, if he hadn't we wouldn't have a plot for our story now would we? Not that Crawford minded in the least, his night was getting more interesting by the minute. Moreover, if it continued to do so he was going to see the fruition of a vision or two he had seen earlier with the lithe body of the willing Dice Master writhing beneath him.


Meanwhile, the non-prince Kaiba recognized the fact that instead of run--erg, um storming away he should have grabbed the nearest sword and run the bastard through. Well that or punched him in the face, glasses or no. Even if he did not care about Otogi, and he did not, he could not blame the boy for doing what came natural to him. He could although blame the other man for reacting to it as he was whether he knew about the relationship or not. Swiftly he headed back to where he had left the others moments before.


Crawford knew immediately, if not sooner than Kaiba did, when the boy had decided to return to their little chat. It was a good thing as well; he was getting bored with the small talk. Otogi might not be a princess, but for all the intelligent conversation they were having Crawford would be hard pressed to prove it. The visions he saw earlier of Otogi's body hot sweaty and naked under another's was no longer as interesting an endeavor as it once was--he had no idea how the hell either of the assassin/sluts he came in contact with daily did it. In any case, he had the images to keep him busy later during the night if nothing else came along to change things. There came a faint ripple in his sights as another vision came into view. A smile quickly found a way onto his face as his glasses did that "evil villain glinting glasses of doomŪ" thing again this time not looking so evil as they did it. Things were about to get very interesting. He wondered briefly if Kaiba was aware of what he was about to do.


The next few minutes seemed extremely dream like to all who were there, the only thing the party-goers could agree upon the next morning was that something did indeed happen between The Kaiba Company Chief and the owner of The Black Clown but few knew what or why. Crawford noticed as a silvery dust fell down upon the two coating them in what appeared to be glitter as Kaiba, in a very prince like move, pulled Otogi into his arms sweeping him off his feet in a move that in movies makes women wonder why their dumbass significant others can not do the same to them. Kaiba's left hand entwined with the other's right, fingers gently touching as he bent down placing his lips upon Otogi's. Their eyes closed when their lips touched, locking the image of each other in their minds. In true faery tale romance style, the kiss was one of those first love, true destiny type things that will forever be the measuring stick for all future kisses--the kind boys usually skip over when reading stories such as these.


Watching them, Crawford wondered just how long it would take before they need to separate for air when he saw a woman standing next to him. Now granted he had been busy watching the two young men going at each other but how, he wondered, had he missed her getting that close? It bothered him to have the "evil villain glinting glasses of doomŪ" thing done by someone else and especially to have it used upon himself. Ignoring the pointed looked Crawford cast her way, the woman quickly explained to him in simple words that she was a fan fiction writer and if he did not want to get stuck in a yaoi story with a certain knife-wielding nutcase he'd best behave the next time she tried writing a story with him in it. Luckily, Crawford was a very smart man so he didn't comment further but turned to take his leave of the whole sorted affair, leaving the party in a rush and just missing the moment when the two boys finally broke apart for the much needed oxygen.


Looking into each other's eyes, neither boy knew how to end the story until some silly woman who had been standing off to the side watching them suggested they take it else where--perhaps one or the other of their rooms, which they promptly decided to do. Moving quickly to the elevator leading to the upper floors where their respective rooms were located the boys escalated their actions until assuredly there were fireworks or whatever that supposedly happens during these kind of things--the author is still aiming at a PG rating here folks, sorry.


And as is typical in stories such as these, they lived happily ever after. Well everyone lived happily ever after except Crawford, who had to return home to a very perturbed redhead who did not like being left behind and not being the center of the story.

Oh, what is that? I forgot Kaiba's lesson and the moral of our story. Ah yes--don't piss off a fan fiction writer by refusing to cooperate in her other yaoi stories and you won't find yourself in something this silly with the wrong partner.

Duh, even Crawford got that.

 

Author's Notes: This was started on September 4, 2004 during Hurricane Frances after reading all 7 books in The Chronicles of Narnia within 24 hours so I apologize now for the odd characterizations and general strangeness.
 
 
 I have been given permission, by the artist, to show everyone this simply fabulous picture of the kiss between Kaiba and Otogi; this  story was somewhat inspired by the image. I just had to write a scene where I could get the two of them in that embrace. The image can be found here. Thank you 9tails for the image.