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“I’m sorry. I can’t do this,” Kaiba said. He opened the front door of the townhouse, looking out at the darkened busy street.
“So is that it? Two years gone; just like that?!” But Kaiba didn’t respond. He just stood in the doorway with his back to you. “Seto?”
He turned around, cupping your chin with anguish in his eyes. He tried to commit everything about you to memory. The way your hair flowed and light danced in your eyes. The sound of your voice. “Goodbye...” he stopped himself with a sigh and left.
The door closed behind him with a deafening, soft click of finality.
You didn’t know what to do. All you could do was stare at the door. Tears flooded your vision but you refused to let them fall. You knew something was coming. Kaiba had been pulling away for the past few weeks. He was often stuck in his head. It was maddening because the weeks before had been some of the happiest you shared.
No, you wouldn’t cry. Something was going on and he needed you. You would fight for your relationship. But right now, you couldn’t get your feet to move.
With your back against the wall, you sunk down to the floor. All your moments of happiness flashed before your eyes. Unguarded smiles, all the laughter, the lessons. A lifetime of love. You let out a shuddering breath.
You needed him as much as he needed you. You grabbed at your chest, trying to somehow control the panic that threatened to consume you. The devastation. The black hole that was forming despite your logic.
You didn’t know how long you sat on that floor. It could have been hours. Eventually, the loud ringing of your phone pulled you to your feet. Robotically, you picked it off the kitchen counter and had to clear your throat to answer, but your voice was still hoarse.
“Hi, Mokuba.” It was hard to talk through the burning in your throat.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“No,” you whispered. “He wouldn't even say my name,” you told Mokuba.
“He wouldn't?”
“No.” The word was barely a breath but Mokuba heard.
As if the weather could read the mood, thunder rolled overhead and raindrops battered the large lounge windows.
“Why now Mokuba?” your voice cracked.
His heart broke for you and his brother. “Ask Seto. You guys are meant to be together. I’m begging you, don’t listen to him. Just talk to him.”
“I plan to,” you said, taking a deep breath. “Will he speak to me?”
“Don’t give him a choice. I’ll give you guys some privacy and have the staff retire early tonight.
“Where are you going to go?”
“A dinner meeting I’ve taken off Seto’s hands. It’s important one of us is there and this way you guys get all the time you need. I’ll stay over at my flat in the city.”
“You don’t have to do that, Mokuba,” you said, feeling guilty for putting him out.
“I do. Work it out. Please . For both your sakes.”
“I’ll try my best.”
“Be careful in this weather.”
You huffed a little laugh. “I will.”
It was time to fight. You had never backed down from Kaiba before, and you wouldn’t now. He always seemed to love that you challenged him, so he could expect nothing other than that now.
You snatched the keys to your Volvo off the hook and all but ran out the door to your white hatchback. The headlights illuminated the sheets of water that came down as the storm steadily got worse. You didn’t care. You launched the car onto the road driving as quickly and carefully as you could to the Kaiba manor.
The weather made it a difficult journey with the wipers only just managing to clear the water off the windscreen but you were grateful because it meant the roads were quieter.
In your mind, you went over every possible thing you could say, but what scared you was that at the end, Kaiba could still send you away. It was still possible that you were wrong and he just wanted out. But the look in his eyes when he left haunted you.
Out of the darkness and rain, you could finally make out the lights on the gate posts to the large house. You used the remote you had on your set of keys to open them and drove up the long driveway, parking the car close to the front door.
You ran inside and dropped your damp shoes by the door, noticing that the large foyer was completely deserted.
Mokuba had done exactly as he had said and now it was up to you. Part of you questioned the wisdom of dropping by unannounced but this was almost as much your home as the townhouse was.
The marble floor was cold beneath your bare feet, not that it mattered much right now. You needed to see the man you loved. It wasn’t even as if you decided where to look for him, your feet simply carried you upstairs to his study.
There you found him, sitting in his throne-like chair, staring out the window. A picture of loneliness. You steeled yourself and knocked on the door. He turned around pinning you with his gaze. His usually bright blue eyes were bleak.
“I want you to talk to me,” you said softly. “Everything was going well and then recently… Look, talk to me and if you still want to break up afterwards, I’ll let it go forever and you’ll never have to see me again.”
Kaiba tried to put his barriers back up. “Listen to-”
“No! Stop this! You avoided using my name at the house and I won't have it. You will call me Cat and nothing else,” you said forcefully. That cracked his armour. You could see it.
Not a soul knew about his nickname for you. It had come out after the first time you had been together. You loved the morning cuddle and stretched lazily when he finally said it was time to get up. There was something about the way he said it and you would love it till your dying day.
You walked over to him and sat at his feet on the plush carpet. He cupped your chin just like had done before he left and you could feel his love. See it in his eyes. It hadn’t diminished, so how had you ended up here?
Now that you were sitting before him, it was harder to control the tears that wanted to escape. “I’m not prepared to give up on our years so easily, Seto.”
“I don’t deserve you,” he said, letting his hand fall away.
“I’ll be the one to decide that.” You placed your hand on his thigh and he automatically placed his hand on yours. “Why do you think that?” you asked but he wouldn’t respond. He wouldn’t even look at you. “What could you have possibly done that you think you don’t deserve love?”
He pulled away and stood at the window, watching the lightning. “So much.”
“Tell me.”
He turned around and studied you. It occurred to him that it would be best to tell you. Then you would surely leave and he would be proven right. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“I’m listening and you know I would never judge you.”
“Even if I told you I put an old man in hospital?” he asked with an arched brow. You didn’t react. All you did was extend your hand for him to join you on the floor and with a sigh, he did. You counted that as the first battle won.
“He had the fourth blue eyes white dragon and refused to sell or trade it to me so I had him kidnapped, overpowered him with tech I knew he’d be too weak to handle and then ripped the card in half. And that’s not even the worst thing I’ve ever done.” He laughed without mirth. “I was the one that drove Gozaburo to commit suicide. Not to mention the three people I had dealt with for my ‘signature card’,” he raged, using his fingers as air quotes. “And then there’s what I did to Mokuba. What I still do.”
“What are you talking about?” you asked.
“I leaked information on my takeover to Gozaburo and blamed it on Mokuba. I threw him in that monster’s path. I treated him horribly but I knew he would never betray me and I could count on his 2% of the company.”
“What do you mean by what you still do?”
“I have not been the brother Mokuba wanted or needed for many years, Cat. There were things that Mokuba said to me once during Battle City and he was right, I am angry all the time and I know what that’s done to him.”
“You’re right, those are awful things,” you said, “but you’re leaving out a lot, Seto. Why did you need those cards so bad? Why did you take over Kaiba Corp.? Why did you set Mokuba up? Those reasons are all valid. They were hope and protectiveness.”
“It doesn’t change what I did,” he said softly.
“Seto, listen to me, you are not what you did. That’s not what defines who you are.” Kaiba looked away from you but you held his face and made him turn back. He was going to look into your eyes, at your sincerity whether he wanted to or not. “You are not even the sum of your experiences.” You placed your hand over his heart. “You are what you feel in here.”
He tried to pull away but you wouldn’t let him. There was so much that he felt so deeply. Now that you were sitting with him, the fight you prepared for didn’t seem hard at all. He just needed to see what was right in front of him.
“Seto, you’re the most feared person in Domino and I knew that when we started dating and I did it anyway. I knew there would be reasons for that reputation. I came into this with my eyes open.” You grasped his hands in yours. “I love you so damn much and I know you wanted this to scare me away but it doesn’t. It won’t. I accept all of you. Even your past.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying,” he said irritably.
“Do you know why I love you?”
“Because you’re insane.” There was a ghost of a smile on his lips and it made you want to cry out in joy.
“Maybe, but it’s because even though you were this kid with the world on his shoulders, you still made something of yourself and Mokuba. You’re determined. You’re fiercely protective. I have never felt safer than when I’m with you. You protect us even when it puts you in danger. You’re the smartest, most caring, interesting, infuriating, stubborn person I know. You’re also intense and gentle and passionate and loving. Pretty easy on the eye too,” you joked and he laughed. It didn’t matter that it was a quick chuckle. It meant everything.
“You know there’s a reason why my parents love you and Mokuba and I worship you and I wish you could see what we do. I know what Mokuba said to you. He told me ages ago and you may not be the same light hearted Seto that you were as a kid, but you’ve been through more than most people would experience in two lifetimes. It changes you. But it’s never changed your heart. And you know what?"
"What?"
"I think your parents, your actual parents would be so proud if they saw you now."
"Don't," his face contorted in agony.
"You need to hear me, Seto."
Kaiba ran his fingers through your silky hair and along your cheek. “Cat, I want the best for you.”
“And that’s you.” The tears you had managed to hold back for so long finally spilled down your cheeks. You didn’t want to say the next words but you had to. He needed to make a choice here and now. “But you have to decide if you want me to leave.”
He wiped away your tears with his thumbs. “I don’t want that.”
“Then will you let me love you anyway?”
Kaiba pulled you onto his lap and kissed you like he never had. Like you were his lifeline. You wrapped your arms around him, kissing him back. Loving him and he let you. You knew right then that you had your answer.