Chapter Text
Kaiba Seto had been in the middle of debating what his partner history project should be, tapping a pencil with mild ire and staring at the clock, annoyed by how much time had already passed.
When he blinked, his eyes felt cold and strained and he had to swallow painfully, his mouth so dry his tongue couldn't move. Kaiba could feel his heart pounding in his chest, just slightly too fast but faint, and a grim chill ran down his back. His whole body ached, like he'd tensed every muscle in preparation for a deathly blow. He didn't even want to look at the clock, but as he did he acknowledged over twenty minutes had elapsed.
"So you have those too?" Bakura Ryou asked quietly as he saw signs of life return to the other. He was sitting on the couch adjacent Kaiba's armchair, and held out a plate with toast and eggs. "I hope you don't mind. I took the liberty of going through your kitchen. I always find eating afterwards helps."
The vaguely haunted feeling, dread that coiled around his heart, kept Kaiba too disoriented to comment as he accepted the plate of food with shaking hands. Only now that his unnatural stillness was broken, his body began to tremble, and he tried to hide it by slouching into his chair in a manner much too informal for his liking. "I don't know what you're talking about," Kaiba scoffed, lying through his teeth, as he tried to breathe in and out slowly to control his heart rate. Sullenly, he gave in and did indulge in the food, folding the toast with egg on it so it was more of a sandwich.
Bakura averted his gaze and quickly amended," Right, sorry. I didn't mean to assume." He looked back tentatively and said quietly," but I've had my fair share of flashbacks and I wouldn't think you crazy if you ever wanted to talk about it."
Kaiba rolled his eyes and made a disapproving hum. "I know you're fascinated by the occult, but I prefer to ignore it all if it actually even exists."
Bakura's look of concern morphed from passively worried to actively evaluating Kaiba's mental health. "You've seen-"
"I've seen a lot of strange things, often when crazy people wielded solid vision, playing a game that centers around fictional magic beasts."
"You were there for the ultimate dark game," Bakura insisted.
"You mean that Egypt stunt? I…" Kaiba trailed off and ran a hand through his hair in a frustrated fashion. Sighing, he admitted," I can't explain that."
"Or the ceremonial duel."
Kaiba tried to will away the sick feeling in his chest, the numbness in his face, he just wanted to stop feeling so awful so he could have a proper argument with the occult freak and win. He had accepted that magic existed, he had to after going through what he went through, but he hated how that realization made so much of his life less certain and how it twisted events he'd been involved in.
Bakura feared he might be pressing his luck, but pressed forth. "It's okay to not understand it."
"Even if it is some hocus pocus magic folly, and I should accept it all, what does that change?" Kaiba sat up, his irritation enough to overwhelm the fearful trembling he was initially embarrassed by.
"Maybe you could begin to heal," Bakura offered, shrinking in on himself as Kaiba's voice got louder.
"I knew accepting you as a partner was a mistake. All of you want to press your same ideas of friendship and magic and ridiculous faith onto anyone you talk to. Just leave. I'll write up a draft on my own and send you the file," Kaiba barked, dropping the half finished plate on the coffee table with disgust.
"I- I didn't mean to-"
Waving his hand in a curt dismissive gesture, he ordered through gritted teeth," Just go!"
His chief of housekeeping was immediately at the door to his private study, ready to escort the no longer welcomed guest out.
With a long bow, Bakura apologized," I'm sorry, Kaiba." Righting himself, he said," I'll see you tomorrow in class."
Kaiba looked away, his expression steaming, but his actual feelings more akin to frigid with mortification.
~~
~~
"I got the draft you sent," Bakura began as he approached Kaiba.
Kaiba was hunched in on himself, reading some book in a foreign language, obviously looking not to be disturbed.
"I think researching more about the First Battle of Marne will be interesting. Um, here is what I looked up on it," Bakura held up a small stack of papers. "First automotive transportation of troops at war and radio intercepts… You picked a good topic." His hand dropped back to his side, squeezing and crumpling the papers slightly. He had come purposefully early, hoping to avoid other students and knowing Kaiba liked to arrive well before everyone else would start funneling into class.
"I'm sorry about yesterday. If it means anything, I don't see you any different."
Kaiba's patience finally broke, but he kept himself to a reserved tip of his head, just barely looking over his book. "Just leave the notes on my desk. I'll compile our findings later." He smiled a little smugly when the other silently did as asked. He was a fool for thinking he could go back to reading so easily though.
"I think we should make the presentation together," Bakura calmly informed Kaiba, despite his throat getting tight and his stomach growing uneasy. He hated the icy, menacing look Kaiba bore.
Kaiba gave an incredulous look and asked," You really think I want you back in my home after that 'believe and heal' nonsense you spewed yesterday."
Puffing out his chest slightly, and feeling the confidence of rolling a natural twenty, Bakura argued," I think you would hate to score poorly on a presentation because it was clear we didn't work well together when we both clearly know about the subject matter."
With an impressed nod, Kaiba decided," Call Clarice again and get your appointment set. I believe my schedule today was rather open. I should be able to squeeze our studying in for twenty minutes."
Trying not to betray his overwhelming sense of victory, Bakura gave a silent nod and quickly took his seat before class started.
~~
~~
Bakura waited in the reception hall, twiddling his fingers and waiting his turn. Even though he'd been aware ever since he moved to Domino that Kaiba was the rich CEO of Kaiba Corp, and that that kind of success must correlate with his lifestyle, it still seemed bizarre to be waiting in a mansion's reception hall to do a school project.
He'd been waiting for close to half an hour, having to work around the train schedule and not daring to be a minute late when he had only been able to schedule fifteen minutes. All their studying was done for the most part, it was only a matter of deciding how to split the information up for a seamless and equal presentation. For that, Bakura was relieved, but he still didn't like how tight that left them to figure everything out.
"Master Kaiba will see you now," the maid said from behind her desk, and Bakura stood up and nodded, ready to follow whoever was to lead him through this maze Kaiba called a home. Bakura was pretty sure he could retrace his steps and figure his way back to Kaiba's study, in fact he relished proving to himself that he could, but he didn't want to waste precious time on satiating curiosity.
Being guided back to the room they argued in yesterday, Bakura made careful note of where everything he passed was, including the kitchen he'd snooped out yesterday. During the night as it was, everything seemed desolate, probably because it wasn't economical to light such a massive building when only a handful of staff and two owners dwelled in it.
It wasn't that there was a lack of stuff, on the contrary, it looked like an interior designer's dream. Plentiful knick-knacks decorated the walls and tables, and many pictures covered the walls, with all the furnishings and properly accented pillows this place was truly waiting to be advertised in a magazine by some celebratory home decorator.
There was just… no feeling behind all of it. This was supposed to be a home, but it felt more like an office's take on households. That coupled with the bare minimum lighting needed to navigate the corridors made it quite unwelcoming. Bakura mused that perhaps he was just too used to hanging out in space owned by nerds who didn't have to impress the media and could display all their obscure game figurines.
When he finally got to Kaiba's study, he was surprised to find it was even darker than the halls, and Kaiba's deep voice flatly ordered," Tell Clarice to cancel the rest of my appointments." It was lower than usual, and every word had more weight like he was trying to keep them from flying away. His breath at the end gave away the stress in his throat that indicated he was trying to overcome quivering.
The butler who'd escorted him promptly bowed and left to do so, leaving Bakura standing in the doorway awkwardly, unsure if he should enter.
He couldn't quite see Kaiba, he could make out his form in the armchair though, hunched over and with a thin arm propping his head up. As Bakura's eyes adjusted, he could see less that it was propping his head up, and more that he was covering his eyes. Kaiba did nothing, sitting in the big armchair that still managed to be dwarfed by the dreadfully tall man.
After almost three minutes of unpleasant silence, Kaiba said lightly," It happened again. A… flashback, or whatever."
"I'm sorry."
"Why should you be sorry?"
Bakura mumbled," I have a lot to be sorry about, even if I didn't do much, more like because I couldn't do much."
This piqued Kaiba's interest and he asked," More of your occult stories getting out of hand? You were foiled by some genie or magical dwarf."
"Not a genie," Bakura refuted quietly," but a spirit who granted an awful wish much too literally."
Kaiba scoffed at this, but his typical scathing remark that it was all children's make believe was noticeably absent.
"Would you like me to grab you something to eat? It alw-"
"-always helps afterwards. I know, that's what you said yesterday. I don't think we're dealing with the same thing though. Eating just made me feel ill. It started an hour ago. I had my butler bring me some okayu straight away when I… came back to, I guess."
"Oh, sorry-"
"Stop apologizing-"
"Sorr-" Bakura screwed his eyes shut and bit his lip to try and stop himself.
Kaiba didn't comment, and Bakura tentatively opened his eyes back up to see the other slinking even further in his chair, his gangly legs folding beside him on the chair so he was more lying down than sitting. It was honestly a little uncomfortable for Bakura to see the CEO of Kaiba Corp like this. He'd never witnessed him so casual before. Bakura reasoned Kaiba must be really shaken.
"You can sit down if you wish, or leave. I don't really care," Kaiba said softly, too gently like he had lost the motivation to keep up his charade of never melting ice.
Bakura felt his legs shake, like they were about to do something of their own accord, but he managed to walk forwards into the study rather than abandon it like he'd momentarily considered. He didn't look forward to inevitably being yelled at or dismissed again, but he could tell this was Kaiba reaching out the best he could. "Thank you." Bakura took his same seat on the couch he had yesterday, resting his hands on his knees and nervously waiting for something more to be said.
He couldn't bring himself to start any kind of conversation, be it about Kaiba's flashback, something unrelated, or bringing up their school project which was the whole reason he was here in the first place.
Bakura watched Kaiba's clearly weary eyes drift closer and closer to sleep, wanting to say something because he didn't know what he should do if Kaiba actually fell asleep. It would be creepy to stay and watch, he was pretty sure, but he also couldn't bare the thought of leaving Kaiba if he had asked him in expecting moral support or something through the process of winding down from whatever nightmare he'd relived.
Following a shaky sigh, Kaiba murmured," It was the first time Yuugi- no, the… other Yuugi- and I dueled. I had it coming. I deserved every second of it. It was the one time I ever stole and cheated, and I faced the penalty." Kaiba bit his lip, hard enough that it bled. "Even after… Though I guess I didn't technically cheat to obtain the other Blue Eyes, I didn't play by the rules either."
"Penalty?" Bakura asked, knowing immediately what that meant in the eyes of a sealed Egyptian spirit. His stomach twisted, and he wondered when Kaiba's senses would snap back into place and this surreal fairy tale would end.
"He… turned me into a card. I was sent to the realm of monsters, or something ridiculous like that," Kaiba diffidently explained, resting his head on the arm of the chair and hugging his arms close to himself. "I was torn to pieces by every duel monster I could recall, and even others I couldn't. I died over and over. It was the inspiration for creating my solid vision battle boxes."
Bakura felt a pang in his chest and he wondered what that must be like. Kaiba seemed so sure that he deserved the severe, mystical punishment, and that didn't sit well with Bakura. From all the penalty games his darker half had wrought, the punishment had far outweighed the crime, or often lack there of. Atem wasn't evil like the thief was, but it still didn't sit right with him that someone should deserve to live through repeated death. "Cheating may be wrong, but that doesn't mean you deserved the penalty."
Kaiba laughed, one of those cold, humourless laughs that hurt to listen to. "My very first act after recovering from that penalty was to hunt down every Blue Eyes. I caused someone to commit suicide so I could seize their card, and enlisted the mafia to secure another."
"You have three Blue Eyes."
"I had four. I strong armed a man into bankruptcy and kidnapped Sugoroku for a private duel to win the last Blue Eyes on this planet. Then I ripped it in front of him so no one else could ever use it."
Bakura now had a conflicted feeling that maybe Kaiba did deserve the penalty, and it made him a little sick.
"After that, I put Yuugi and the others through the Death-T, and lost to… Atem… again to suffer my second penalty."
Two penalties…? One was enough to last a person a life time, but two? Bakura couldn't stop himself from asking," What was the second penalty?"
"We only scheduled fifteen minutes. You should be going home," Kaiba said, shrinking in on himself and shielding his eyes from view.
"R-right…" Bakura uncertainly got to his feet and began to walk to the door dazely. That couldn't be the same Kaiba Yuugi and Jounouchi had been fighting all these years.
Kaiba's voice called after him," Would- ... W-would you like to continue working on our project tomorrow? It's due Thursday…"
"I can't keep the train in business. It's costly to get to this side of town," Bakura said, playing with the hem of his shirt. He wanted to leave and never come back. He wanted to stay and make sure Kaiba was alright. He felt sick thinking over the moral dilemma of the past and certain parties' actions and how they contrasted with the pedestal he placed them on and-
"I'll send a limo," Kaiba offered.
"Sure, pick me up at six o'clock. I should be able to squeeze in twenty minutes for studying," Bakura said without turning back to the other, relying on his years of roleplaying to lend to a brash fighter's bravado and not betray the quivering in his chest.
"Thank you for finding the time to fit in my last minute appointment in your busy schedule," Kaiba sarcastically sneered, but Bakura knew it wasn't meant as harsh as it came off.
He walked into the halls, wandering until he found the kitchen and had his bearings in this maze of a home- no, a house- and showed himself out.